craigowl

The new vicar at my wife's church is a Phillip, but is known as "Pip". Until he arrived, I had thought "Pips" only occurred in Dickens novels. He's English, of course. PS - Nowt against most Phillips, by the way! PPS - Nor the English - the missus is one!

kev wrote: Due to 1) thicker oil 2) battery leaks power quicker due to increased dampness anything else?

VR6 grille badge from VAG ran out over a year ago. I was told this by two VAG parts departments - they gave the exact date it became unavailable. I feel I have to keep the original badges off the car and in the house now. My "Storm", "Corrado" and "VR6" grill badges on the car are either replicas or patched up old ones. From a distance, 99% of motorists would not be able to tell, I guess! You have got to laugh - what a fuss, eh?

For the past few weeks I have been trying to establish the lowest voltage the battery delivers and is still able to start the car (it is kept in the garage and I realise starting may be depend on temperature, too.) My findings so far are: After good run, fully charged battery reads: 12.30 to 12.47 volts Then voltage at battery drops about 0.02 volts per day if car not used. Still starts at 11.83 Starts once at 12.02 but will not start a second time just after that. Clearly, with the good weather meaning I have actually been taking the car out more than usual, I have not reached a non-starting situation yet. But reckon it may be about 11.5V. If I can, I will advise the forum what I find in the colder weather. NB - All readings are subject to the accuracy of the cheap Maplins meter. Figures seems reasonable, though? What do you guys reckon?

My Varta 62ah from VAG dealer is 4 and a quarter years old (£58.75 incl VAT). It runs down too much to be able to start car after about 3 weeks, but if I trickle charge it from time to time it is perfectly fine. I think most of us, in our time, may have mistakenly ditched batteries that we thought were kaput. Corrado seems to be a car that tends to make us think a new battery will improve things.

Blimey! - It's got so bad even the doc has flipped! Could see the way things were going the last few times I was in a car down in that area. Getting like that up here, too, I'm afraid.

We know it is too much, but do all of the chinless wonders who read the Sunday Times know that? Worth a stab IMO.

Thanks for that, Supercharged. I fitted a new electric coolant pump a couple of weeks ago, so that's one less at risk.

Dr_mat quoth The malt whisky went down OK, as did the Port, as did the Schnapps....

I did mine a few weeks ago. Cost a fair few Dundonian oaths which I had thought I had forgotten, and gained a couple of the good old skinned knuckles but once done you can convince yourself it would be easier if you had to do it again. pm me if you would like to phone me and I will try and advise you as required.

Not suggesting kevHaywire will rush out and buy this one :shock:, but this week Lidl had 5 litres of oil for £6.95, I think. I cannot recall what viscosity it was, but it was one of the common ones. It was "made in Germany" and conformed to VW 505 00 among others. Would not put it in my own VR6, but if anyone is running an oil smoker as a second car or wants to flush out an engine with a cheapo, this one could be OK. Be good if someone in the industry could tell us exactly what "make" it is. A friend of the family works in the whisky industry and tells us that the Single Malt whisky Lidl sell is actually a well known respected type fetching almost double Lidl's price. Apparently when Lidl are making any kind of deal with the whisky distributors, they are particularly agressive in chasing after a low cost for supply..

VEEDUBHEV wrote: Dont mention it. Just my fatherly concern for the young. I do warn the males about the dangly bits, too - you know, jewelry, silk scarves, large bunches of keys, etc!

Supercharged wrote: Good point, man. My garage man broke one of the the brittle heater matrix pipes when tightening the hoses. I had to have a new matrix. They only charged me cost price so I was happy to have the 11-year old original replaced. What other plastic elbows etc did you have in mind, supercharged?

Pic might help explain 2 breather hose replacements coming with Samco kit. One, I still have to fit, if I can be convinced that the elaborate filter system of the original setup can be dispensed with. Red Samco at right easily replaces black original seen just below and to left of silver insulating material next to extreme top of engine compartment. Just whip old one off and replace with Samco. The easiest of all to do. I have to thank other forum members who gave me this gen a while ago when I had got the Samcos.

Had no trouble at all with leakage from my M reg VR6 after having Samcos fitted about 3 years ago. Hard to imagine shiny new Samco hoses having a leak, to be honest. Who fitted hoses? Were good adjustable hose clips used ? Dont give up on them - most people who have them wouldnt and those who dont have them are always hankering after them. If there is a leak it may manifest itself as a wet patch of coolant under the car when parked. Also, leaking coolant dribbling from the pipes in the engine compartment can nearly always be seen as a coloured, crystalline/powdery deposit when dry, even if there is not enuf to make anything wet. Possibly coolant is only being lost when engine is putting liquid under pressure, though? Watch you do not get burnt or that your hair or other dangly bits do not get caught up in idling engine if you are going to nosey under bonnet!! Out of 2 breather hoses supplied, I left one out as the original hose setup incorporates some kind of valve/filter gadget and I felt it was best not to dispense with it. I have always meant to ask on the forum what effect doing away with the more elaborate breather system would have, but aint got round to it. Maybe some kind auto technician-type chappie will tell us now! Will post pic of left over hose soon. Welcome to the forum, by the way.

Sorry for you, chum. One thing's for sure - if you own something special, it will get some saddo bitter and twisted.

Picking up the girlfriend and then going into limp mode? Sorry - good luck with your investigation!

I believe from years of reading that, overall, Fiats (and Alfas) are dogged with reliability problems, particularly electrical. Dealers/garages also seem to do be among the worst in customer surveys. However, even the most unreliable cars of today are more reliable than those of 2 or 3 decades ago. I would only have a Fiat if I was desperate.

adevr6 wrote: "A Stradivarius is only wood and catgut."

squiggleH3R4POR wrote Normal, rather than bad. Despite your lowering sperm counts it is interesting to see that the modern young male is still interested. :wink:

Dr Mat wrote: the doktor talks sense. I have always enjoyed getting my car shiny, but then felt too high profile and a bit stressed going out in it, particularly with cars like the C. Look how we worry so much about venturing into busy places with them in case some old biddy's shopping basket scuffs that pristine flank. (We know how long that "parking in 2 spaces" thread became, too.) I will never forget how relaxing it was owning and driving a Citroen Dyane (orange - it was 1975 after all) knowing that you did not give a damn if the paintwork was filthy or likely to get scratched. The possibility of a dent or bend in the bodywork worried one not, even tho it was a new car. For peace of mind in today's hectic world, get rid of your Corrado and drive a fairly worthless but functional dog of a vehicle! PS - Many do, of course, and they are going to park right up close to you at the far end of Homebase's car park where you thought it was safe. Are we daft, or what?!

Jim wrote: When you get to my age you will have doubled that amount of things in containers, Jim. Yesterday I bought an aerosol of "leak detector" at my local builders' merchants 'cos it was only 60p reduced from about £2.50. Thought it might be useful for finding leaks in vacuum lines then realised it is for gas coming out of pipes rather than being sucked in. Maybe it will be good for cleaning stains off paintwork?!

Welcome to the forum, madam. You have just seen a demonstration of how basic the masculine line of thought is. Watch the number of viewers of this post soar just because there is the possibility it might contain something to do with the female of the species. Caught me, too, and I am too old to fully remember why we chase women.

Passat or Octavia.

My coil from ecp is by Beru. Original might have been by Telefunken, cant remember for sure.