davidwort

looks like your engine timing is Ok then, to test hall sender, remove connector from TCI unit (under scuttle panel) connect diode test lamp (not bulb as current will be too high for the electronics on the car) across pins 2 and 6 on the connector plug operate starter, diode test lamp should flicker, if not you need to replace hall sender if you want to check the coil, TCI unit etc, I can let you have the full test procedure details but it's looking more like a compression issue?

could be a partial air lock expanding as the temps rise.

pretty sure the systems run at slightly different pressures, pumps themselves are the same but accumulator and filter are different part No.s

a corrado doesn't sound like a great idea to me, a polo or mk3/mk4 golf would be a better bet and would be much easier to see out of.

dunno why no-one replied to your first post, all out sledging probably saw your post title and my first thought was main/rear wishbone bush, sorry, not much help now am I? Glad you got it sorted though.

ah, there's more to this, just spoke to my dad who used to work for a VAG garage, apparently on the old matrixes the inlet/outlet/cap part of the matrix can bulge away from the core, result is not visible but will allow hot water to flow into and out of the matrix without flowing through the cores, it won't leak, but wont give you any heat either and yet appears to allow a flow of water into and out of it. So flushing/reverse flushing won't help in this case, matrix is sha99ed.

pumps dirt cheap, even from VAG, hoses vary, 10 quid or so upwards from VAG, some are pretty expensive though.

just been chatting to my dad about your car, few other things to think of, ignition side, it is possible to have a spark at the plugs but under compression in the engine the spark isn't strong enough, hall sender and wiring to/inside dizzy can be a problem (insulation breaking down), coils occasionally fail engine timing, are you totally sure you haven't got the inlet cam a tooth or two out from the exhaust cam, whip the cam cover off and you should easily see if any inlet valves are partially open at the wrong time just from the position of the cam lobes, engine should spin way too fast on the starter and turn more easily by hand if inlet timing/cam timing is wrong, it may not be enough out for the valves to touch the piston tops when you checked the engine over. also if you have spun the engine over a lot, especially in this cold weather (fuel atomisation poor) you could have washed the bores clean of oil and have no/low compression from no sealing on the rings HTH

If you turn a healthy 16v engine over by hand (socket on the crank pulley bolt) you should clearly feel and hear the compression from each cylinder as you turn the engine round. I presume you're getting plenty of fuel (smell) in the engine then from what you've said, so the only other possibliity is the ignition side. Even if you had no compression on one or more cylinders you should still get it to fire up. I've had tappets out a fair few times and although they can take a while to fully pump up I've never heard of them all failing in one go and preventing an engine firing at all :scratch:

there's several hoses near there, bottom radiator to waterpump (and then the plastic thermostat housing) the water pump itself (which can eventuall go,and leak) and then two more hoses from water pump, one is the large 3 way hose that is most visible and goes up to the head front flange and the short hose that often pops, which goes from pump to metal water pipe all of these will probably cause water to run to the area you described

sounds like the matrix is blocked then, you don't need to loose all your new coolant as it's the high point in the system, I'd probably remove the bottom hose to the header tank, drain down to that level through a funnel into a clean bottle, something like a 2L coke bottle would be plenty big enough, then you can save and reuse what comes out. Then try to flush and reverse flush the matrix itself by removing the hoses to and from it and wedging a garden hose (not too high pressure) into the bulkhead pipes.

I'm feeding you duff information again :roll: the metal one should indeed work in any direction, It's just cast metal and has no valve in, the arrows show flow from one large end out of both the other large and small pipe, but there's no one way valve so you will be able to blow both ways down it.

PG (G60 corrado) has the same front mount as 16v if you're following bentley instructions. If you get your hand under the alternator a physically lift the engine upwards if the front mount is shot you'll see the top of the mount lift up way further than the 1 or 2 cm it would if new. Equally as Jim said in the other thread, you could put it in gear with the brakes on and lift the clutch to biting point, engine will lift up a lot if the front mount has gone, need to get someone else to help watch/operate clutch obviously. With the mount off the car it will be quite easy to see the problem, the worn mount will have the rubber splitting and breaking away front the top bolt and if it's the hydraulic filled type it may well have spat oil out.

KE jet has an ECU that controls fuelling as well as ignition, you'll notice there's no warm up regulator or fuel lines to the WUR either as an electronic unit on the side of the metering head performs that function, the ECU must have a fixed time it triggers the cold start injector, or probably also related to the temp sensor/signal the ECU reads from on the head.

think I'd prefer downlight red LEDs like the Audis have often thought about lighting the heater vent controls and door pulls, would be nice if the audi vent wheels with the inbuilt lights fitted but I'm pretty sure they don't.

suck on them :lol: if you put a finger over the small bore by-pass connection on each, then each one should only blow/suck air through the path with the arrow marked, i.e. in on one and out on the other, block off the out side on either and the small bore exit should blow the air out if left open.

it'll just use a lot of fuel as it's going to think it's at the start of the warm up cycle temp-wise, probably wouldn't do the cat/lambda sensor a lot of good if you drove it like that for ever, but I can't see it will be a problem for a short period.

try to get some rides in appropriately equipped cars, try before you buy :)

I hope nothing froze in your cooling system :shock: but they may well have stuck with the temp being so cold and everything contracting so much at -10 deg.

as long as the coolant has enough anti-freeze in it to stop it freezing solid (in which case left standing is your problem, not running!) and the coolant level is OK, i.e. not losing any, then if the engine is running OK at idle and the hoses all start to get warm after a few minutes, so you know the water pump(s) are OK, then you could simply put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator so the airflow doesn't cool the water in the rad too much when you are driving. You may still find the car runs a little too cool but it should get enough warmth in it to drive fine. I had this on my old mk1 years ago, stat stuck on a long journey on the A14 one night, PITA to have to keep pulling over to let the engine get a bit of heat into it, then it driving OK for 2 minutes :mad2: :lol:

if the stat is stuck open it will cool the engine far too much as soon as you drive away, in fact in these temps probably at idle too, so it sounds like that.

I agree, even the ones most exposed to engine heat last a good 10 years with high mileage. Another option though is something like the silicon off-the-shelf lengths and elbows that SFS hoses sell, most are around a tenner and even the most complex bends can be replicated with regular and reducing elbows with alloy connectors, you can also go for black if you want to roughly match existing OEM hoses.

that's what he means, two by-pass valves ones metal the other black plastic, linked with a small bore hose, and are situated just before the bulkhead where the heater hoses enter/exit the dash. take them off, soak in vinegar overnight and you might free them off.

Yandards found a place that does this, may be the same, apparently there's a demand for doing this on MGF lights. IIRC it was about the price you say.

you do need to bear in mind what is taking the force of the engine movement under acceleration and gear changes, if it's not the mounts absorbing the energy it's something else, that would be the subframe/brackets, CV joints, gearbox, front crossmember bushes etc... It's much the same as fitting aftermarket suspension, stiffer springs and dampers will wear your top mounts faster. The extra vibration is a constant annoyance, other parts failing might only happen rarely but could cost you a lot more. Pay your money and make your choice, like I said I'm not totally against stiffer mounts, but there are pros and cons. Some people like all poly bushes, others find them far too harsh and unforgiving. Few of us have ever driven a nearly new corrado, or one with all new VAG suspension and drivetrain components, they were pretty good from the factory TBH.