Marky

progress, where the passanger side drain plugs into the sunroof tray that was blocked up with crud so i've cleared that out now.

yeah just pulled off the corner of the roof lining and theres water getting in around the edge of the sunroof cutout.

heres what i found today. If you remove the glove box you can put your hand up so you can see your fingers in the corner of the windscreen. Well that ledge is wet and the water is running down the fan blower casing. I could also see that the drain pipework was connected up ok and wasn't wet. The space is very cramped but I'm going back out in a minute to see what more I can do.

Just looking at the sunroof drain channels that run alongside the edges of the sunroof opening; The drivers side has drained but the passanger side still has water in it as though there could be a blockage. maybe need to poke something along there.

Has anyone got any more ideas on sunroof leaks? I've been looking at it again today. The carpets are out and lots of the dash trim removed. When I spray water on the roof, the drain grommets are working fine, theres plenty of water comig out but I'm still getting water running down the kick panels on both passanger and drivers side. Is it possible to get a new seal for between the sunroof glass and the car body?

Theres a smell of petrol inside the car(esp if a window is slighly down) for the first five minutes of driving from cold, then it goes away. Could this be some valve opening? its hard to pinpoint where its coming from.

unfortunatly no machine polisher, Its a black VR6 from '94 do you know if the paint has a laquer finish? I don't want to cut through the laquer. To be honest the whole car could do with a machine polish.

yeah had another look, its definitly some head gasket issue. I'm surprised that much oil isn't constipating the catalytic convertor. Looks like I'll need to change the head gasket.

I noticed I spilt some touch up paint on the rear quarter panel when I was touching up some scratches in the roof the other week. whats the best way of removing the excess paint without doing any damage?

As a follow on, just had a look at my ABS unit. There are three plugs going into it: One to some kind of resistor, one to the side and one underneath. Which one will deactivate the ABS?

Just had a look at that spark plug again after 300 miles. The whole end including tip is completly black and covered in oil. Also there is oil sitting ontop of the spark plug whilst it is screwed into the engine. If it is a head gasket oil leak into the cylinder why would there be oil outside of the engine on at the lead end of the spark plug?

ok, theres no visible smoke on the overrun which is good news for the valve stem oil seals. Maybe oil is entering the cylinder from the head gasket, thats looking increasingly likely.

I'll find out on the way home tonight. The car does use a lot of oil, typically a litre per 300 miles, wirh no visible external oil leaks.

How easy is it to replace the upper guides? The searches I did describe changing the chain so its hard to work out what needs doing just for the guides, for example, can the cams be left in?