craigowl

Had this done to VR6 in August last. top mount 357412331A top mount bearing 1J0412249 You need 2 of each cost about £36 including VAT and with 10% discount. Labour at local garage (about £41/hour) - £123.38 incl VAT Had "top mounts loose" for a couple of years on MOT advisory, but they never failed car on it. IIRC some on here say this looseness is common and not a serious problem. I did not notice any difference in driving car before and after - good either way!

After some time consuming investigation found that fuse no. 10 for fog lights was missing! :brickwall: I do not remember removing it, but may have done so for some reason concerning work I was doing on car. I suppose it is reasonable to expect that if you drive your car to a garage for an MOT and the fog lights do not work, the car fails. That is doing it by the book, yes? However, I have been going to this garage for years and they have done plenty of helpful things for us. I cannot help thinking that because I did not ask for a full service and MOT together for 200 squids or whatever, they might be saying "Hell mend you". Was a holiday weekend coming up, too, and place looked quiet at 2.30 yesterday afternoon. Now I have to try and get a slot for MOT retest before 10 days are up. I think they said they are booked up to next Friday. Oh, and they said the foglight problem will require further investigation by the autoelectrician! :censored: Garages, what do you make of 'em? - even the ones you think are great can throw a wobbly.

Yes, no probs, Walesy. Sometimes the obvious can be the cause when we mere humans are involved! I have just dismantled the indicator and fog lights and all are ok. What I have found now though is that battery is flat. I wonder if low battery will fail to activate foglight relay? Charging battery now and will post anything of interest.

:censored: Just failed MOT with C looking and working wonderfully - or so I thought. The foglights and their switches do not light up when you switch on (when you have headlights on, too, of course.) I reckon the problem has occurred because of coolant system work I did on car in October. Front of car, bumper, and all lights had to come off to fit gruvenparts pipe, new water pump and thermo housing, etc. Any ideas, guys, as to what I may not have plugged in on reassembly?

I would be prepared to invest £3-4k to keep the Storm and be able to use it more often, knowing that the engine is almost state of the art, and using no more fuel than are millions of modern (boring) cars. Newer 1.9 TDi 105 in, say, latest Octavia (Band C 121-150 g/kgm CO2) claims 119mph/0-62 in 11.8 secs and 57mpg overall. 1.9 TDi 140 (still Band C) claims 129mph/0-62 in 9.6 secs and 51mpg if you prefer to sacrifice economy for performance. I do believe, though, that fuel costs will become an overwhelming consideration for most motorists when considering their next purchase. With a modern diesel engine, the Corrado would have a longer term future, become a much more desirable purchase to a vast audience and perhaps even appreciate in value. No? Cheers "the weasel in the diesel". :lol:

I know the VR6 engine is the reason many people have a Corrado powered by it. Tax and the price of gas may well become too expensive for all but the rich to run them, though, unless we as a community protest. I don't commute every day and only do about 1500 miles max/p.a. in the C for god's sake! :brickwall: Probably thousands of people who own interesting cars are in the same position. One could still keep the C if the engine was replaced by one of the new generation VAG turbodiesels like the 1.9 PD130. We have seen this on the forum, non? I tentatively asked my local garage man about an estimated cost for the transplant. He mumbled something about "donor car - electrics, etc, etc". and I have heard no more. He is in racing (Ecurie Ecosse, IIRC) and his father has a Ferrari. Oh, and they own a garage business. I expect he thinks I am nuts. :nuts: I don't think I am - but I know I may well be an even poorer motoring git soon! Any comments/estimates, cheps/chepesses? PS - A lot of us will be thinking the same way right now. Yesterday we did 140 mile run - mostly M90 - in Pug 205D, not going above 60mph to see if consumption will better the normal overall 50mpg/tank. Was against all previous instincts, I have to say, but honestly found it pretty relaxing. All that concentration required in overtaking/slotting back in dispensed with as most cars overtake you and plenty of other things run at 60 as well. Will check consumption at next fill up. Maybe a primitive diesel able to run on anything oily will ultimately become more desirable than the VR6 Corrado!

Water pumps are usually cemented in with gunge that has been trying to weep out. You may have to tap firmly around where it fits engine block. Don't overdue it such that you may crack thick metal, though! You can use softer items than say a steel hammer.

I changed the pump last year and I am old and decrepit (62). :confused4: You have to involve the engine mounts when raising engine. Easy to do, though, but you may hit a snag if unlucky. Cautionary note: On retightening rear off side bolt for engine mount, it sheared. Had to get garage to change mount/bolt. Cost about £150 including new mount and bolt. I suggest that you have replacement bolt(s) to hand. They are cheap (about £1.50?) and VAG do say somewhere that they are ONE USE ONLY, so I reckon you might as well renew it/them. You will never know if the bolt you have tightened up to torque is on the point of failing if you reuse an old one.

Our eldest lad has one several years old that he has had for about 3 years. He and his wife are hoping to go on a European tour with it this summer then sell it. Not for me, personally, this type of car, though the engineering, etc, is engrossing.

I had same 2 left over. They dont carry coolant. See pic for one of the positions. The other replaces that bit of hosing with the funny PCV valve thing so I did not use it. Will explain with pic if you dont get what Im on about.

Similar views from me. The one-owner-from-new VR6 that came up for sale at a very local garage I could not resist visiting "just to look" happened to be a storm. Probably paid about £1500 over the odds, but they seemed a better investment, too, in 2002. Perhaps not now, though.

Helpful posts you are doing, 3corsameal. Well done - will be appreciated. When I refitted cable (old one) after putting front back on car, I found that the spring-open action of the bonnet worked best if you pulled all the slack out of the cable (quite firmly) then tightened the thing on the end. Doing it too slack meant that only one side freed. Good luck.

3corsameal - the Bentley diagram is not like on my C. I and others seem to have 3 bolts each side. I think the guy on the other thread seemed to have the centre bolts missing. Best do more research/asking around. I am almost certain I only removed the centre bolts of the sets of 3 as described by Goldie.

I am certain I did 2 and they were the mid ones of the sets of 3 on each side - I found that info on here - even photos.

3corsameal, see this thread. I knew I only undid 2 big bolts as advised by Goldie. :salute: I think you have to AVOID the other 4 bolts or the engine can drop. Use search or read around October 2007 when I replaced most of my cooling stuff with the front off. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61983

Yes, I had noticed that batteries had almost doubled in price in the last year or so. The quality calcium one I saw in Halfords for the VR6 was just under £100. I was quoted £50 for a Bosch Silver by my local tyre and exhaust man about a couple of years ago. I bought a trickle charger and have never had a problem since with my 5.5 year old Varta. I did read tucked away somewhere (Autoexpress?) that the price of lead had escalated recently. S'funny this horrific price soar of batteries has escaped wide attention. The Corrado itself is to blame in a lot of cases of battery drain, IMO. I have said before on the forum that many good batteries will have been ditched when they were "innocent, guv!". I think dr_mat is of this belief, too, IIRC.

Mind you, if oil at blood temp is acceptable, say, 37C, the engine isn't going to be scorching hot and the metal bits will not have expanded that much? Or is it not as simple as that??

I got the bumper off last October without a breaker bar and I'm 62 and not a gorilla. (just a pussycat, ectually :camp: ) It was the biggest job I have done and you are best to have someone help when you put bumper back on. Lay something on ground like an old sheet to protect bumper from scratching on ground. I seem to remember only 2 big bolts, but perhaps others will confirm.

Mine bought for storm from VAG in 2005 (BBS) were no: 1H0601171BBXF £34.92 for 4 incl VAT

esure Storm VR6 £197 fully comp. limited mileage. claim protection. garaged.

That's more like it, Traverse! We limeys know your weather phenomena are much more dramatic than ours. We get 20-minute news coverage of weather when it is nasty enough to cause the street lamps to shake and flood a trailer park. :roll:

Yes, our fog is really good. :wink: Not as peasoup as it was prior to the clean air act of 1956, though, thousands of people died in London in 1952 iirc due to smog. We still get good water fogs, and as Walesy says, those coastal fogs on the moors - talk about spooky, listen out for werewolves, but do not rush into the nearest pub - you will cause a stony silence to descend on the place as the locals sus you out for robbing/bugger!ing, etc. :wink: Pic is on M9 Edinburgh to Stirling motorway in December a couple of years ago.

Alternatively, you could just join your rich neighbours in their picnic. :grin:

Come on, T, get that C out in some nice spring sunshine in your heimat and send us some pics, please. :cheers:

Since the Nissan Figaro perhaps? That was a cool car. Funny you should say that, corradodude. I saw my very first one of them in the flesh yesterday in our town parked outside "Homebase".