davidwort

you wouldn't have litres on a US spec car dash though?

yeah, that'll be it, the solenoid (connector) changed for the 1992 onwards cars, I would have thought they all came with that little bush on the drive end though.

AFAIK all KR Corrados have the same starter, the solenoid live connector changed in 1992 when the 2.0 16v came out but if you change the female spade connector block on the KR loom you could still use a 9A starter. also pretty much any 4cyl passat from 88-92 will have the same starter, I'm using a 2L 8V one on mine ATM.

yes, there's a bit of room for adjustment there.

ageing wiring and switchgear certainly causes problems on old VW's, check the voltage at the lights on the average (un-relayed up) Corrado and you'll be lucky to see 11.5 volts!

please, if you want a KR to run right, get it set up by someone who really knows K-jet, the reason so many run badly is they've had idle speed CO on the metering head and various other fiddlings done in no particular order to try to correct rough running. To do the job properly you need the fuel pressures checked, the engine timing and ignition timing checked, and a CO meter to set idle CO, and preferably a rolling road to set the Warm Up Regulator and metering head if needed. A partially blocked fuel filter or poor injectors or something else pretty fundamentally wrong won't be fixed by tweaks to the CO setting. a well set up Kr shouldn't need any adjustments for running on a K&n type panel filter or an un-baffled exhaust although the latter may actually rob you torque.

yeah, I've seen a similar diagram on Vortex before, but I thought the starting problem was just due to a weak ageing solenoid which gets even weaker once hot, when I swapped to a newer solenoid the problem went away, but providing a better feed to the solenoid would obviously help an old one kick out when hot.

I haven't actually taken mine to bits yet, but as I've said before, I think it's only the fixed column that you can replace the bottom bearing on, the adjustable column is a non-service unit, both bottom and top bearing (I think)

I've been lucky enough to keep my corrado over 5 years and two kids, but without the 4 door golf too we couldn't have managed it. It's difficult to get to car seats in the back of a Corrado, checking seatbelt tensions etc and then they can't see out very well when they are that little bit older and want to. The Corrado uses more fuel and although it's never let me down (running out of petrol excluded!) I just don't feel as happy doing longer journeys with the kids in an older car. I looked at BMW 3 series tourings and Audi A4 avants and even those couldn't accomodate a twin seat 3 wheel buggy with the luggage cover over it, we ended up getting a roof box for the golf which has been great for a weeks holiday away. Despite what people might think, you never have enough space for the kids stuff, a large 3 wheel buggy is essential if you want to go anywhere other than perfectly smooth pavements or shopping centres, they are so much easier to push about. I've borrowed my fathers A6 Avant and father-in-laws new shape mondeo hatch and they are great, so much more space for everything, but as we generally only do a few long runs with all of us a year, a mid size 4 door hatch is the best for us. And don't forget air-con, that helps no end when everyone's hot and bothered in the summer!

spare loom feed to a pressure sender for oil pressure gauge? See if you have the same colour wire unused on top of your oil filter housing, where the oil pressure warning sensors part of the loom ends.

I guess you could paint it Magnolia for that neutral colour to appeal to the most potential buyers, perhaps even get Sarah Beany to pop by and give some advice.

Jim, I cleaned mine up ages ago when I had the engine out, the manifolds are relatively soft and I found the best way was with a manual wire brush or a large wire brush attachment on a slow speed drill, it's very messy but the result is a nice clean finish without looking aftermarket. Just give a good wipe over with some WD40 every now and then and even the front part of the inlet that the salt spray attacks stays looking pretty good, mines been on for several years and probably over 40K now, I've only wiped it with WD40 a few times really and it still looks pretty good. I just used some engine laquer from halfords to paint the 'DOHC 16V' with and that lasts at least a couple of years before starting to break up and come away.

beat me to it... early 16v corrados only had dash mounted speakers, but I think the rest had built in crossovers for the VW units, think these were actually built into the speakers, but in any case far better to get a set of components with crossovers designed specifically for them. The VW door pods aren't very accomodating, most drivers will stick back into the door too far and most likely be up against the door membrane, that's why a lot of people go for the audioscape door pods.

:) that wiring is fun too, if you do attempt to remove the unit just make sure you take a few pics of where everything is routed and clips in. if you use the manual handle/knob that's on top of the drive unit to raise and lower the spoiler you can 'feel' if there's any resistance in the mechanism, and whether it might be corroded inside

it's not really the 'tubes' that are the problem, if water gets into the drive cables they can rust up pretty badly and the whole mechanism starts to sieze, the only real cure is a new complete spoiler unit, it's possible to work some oil into the cables but once the corrosion is in there it makes a mess. I've been through this before, tried talc, silicone spray etc. on the spoiler supports and tubes but the squeak stayed there, eventually it would jam either up or part way, once I took the whole thing out and apart I found the damage.

good point, I don't know if VW still stock the early UJ one other thing, I'd check the four rack to subframe mounting bolts, just to make sure it isn't the rack that's moving a small amount

I was thinking that, as mine has had a damaged seal for years to no effect, it's only there to stop clutch dust potentially getting into it. these things usually last forever, although I think there have been some with manufacturing faults (metal going porous or something), the feed flexi hose lasts about 10 years but the cylinders themselves aren't usually a problem, If it was me I'd pick up a second hand one, from a later VAG car, a tenner is about right.

:lol: no, it's just a case of using a UJ that matches the rack you have, there's early racks with 36 spline inputs and 36 spline bottom connection on the UJ's and late racks and UJ's with 22 on each.

oh yeah, d'oh, 8v heads always look so tiny.

it does look like a small block engine, far too small to be a 2L crossflow head like the beetle engine and the brake reservoir looks like mk1 to me, perhaps it's in a mk1 cab or caddy?

the post office does work sometimes then, glad the relay worked too, or I'd be in trouble :wink: I did say if you had relay 19 it was an upgrade (being no. 99) and that early Corrados didn't have the no. 99, your old one should have the part number and relay number on it :)

the UJ and rack input changed to 22 spline around the time of the facelift, 1992 ish the two pinch bolts referred to in the top ETKA diagram are simply the one holding the UJ to the bottom of the column, and the other end of the UJ to the rack input shaft they shouldn't be too difficult to change, I took a polo one out the other day in a few minutes and the column and rack is the same, was a bit of a fiddle coaxing the bolt out and turning the steering so it had clearance to slide out, the carpets etc were in the way a little

I was going from the Bentley manual: "Notes: The height-adjustable steering column cannot be disassembled. The steering column is to be replaced complete if there is damage to the column tube, column or universal joint." ah, no, that's referring to the joint in the column itself at the top that makes the height adjustment, which is technically a UJ I was referring to what most people call the UJ, which is the column to rack connector.

the UJ is very much replaceable on it's own, some VWs aren't. the adjuster mech is part of the column and not fixable though, and I'm not sure on the adjustable column that the bottom bearing is replaceable, that may only be on the rare fixed column, which is what I'm going to replace mine with. It may be that my symptoms are not identical to yours, I get a clunk when correcting the steering after making a sharp turn, e.g. off a roundabout, and if I hold the wheel straight ahead and try to move it in a sort of diagonal 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock sort of position you can feel play in the top joint, holding the UJ under the dash you can feel the movement of the column in the tube at the bottom bearing too, definately loads of play there.

I think the guy at the garage is pretty way off the mark, the racks don't wear that badly and certainly shouldn't be shot at 115K, when they do fail it's usually through leaking seals/valves far more likely it's like mine, a combination of wear in the height adjuster mechanism and the bearing at the bottom of the column. it could also possibly be a CV joint (outer) if it makes repeated clonks/knocks on full lock, try triving at low speed on full lock, particularly when it's cold don't think it's the UJ either they are pretty strong.