yeeeeeeesssssssss ive fixed it lol. it got to the point where i was down at work late on tues night sitting on a chair staring at it, drinking some kronenbourg and talking to it lol. i decided to check every single wire from start to finish, eventually i found that the knock sensor plug had broke and the terminals werent making contact, so stuck em back together and its been fine ever since, it was a real sneaky brake in the plug tho, was quite lucky to find it. so its all ready for santa pod this weekend, thanks very much for your help and ideas guys and look forward to meeting some of u soon. dan.