CorradoWannabe

Today i went to Excel Autos to pick up my car after brake pads change and saw a black H-reg [or G-reg cant remember for sure] G60 - looked the business 8) - it was having the starter motor changed - pretty sure it was a forum member as no one else would think of taking a Corrado there - as officially they specialise in French cars!

So own up whoever you are!

Had the car in the local garage the other day for the pads to be changed all round just for a service - and i had had an issue with the hand brake being rubbish and sticking.

The pads were all changed for me - but when picking it up i was told the rear calipers gone and that is why the handbrake is not effective.

Looking on the forum the consensus is that the mk4 golf ones are the ones to have - but this needs a few mods - then the mk3 ones are recommended - but if i use mk3 golf calipers would i need to change the brake pads again?

Ideally i am looking for a solution where i can keep the existing brake pads. The pads are new but i think are just standard 16V pads [whatever they are].

Any advice apprecaited.

Whenever you have new brake pads in [in my limited experience] it takes a while for the brakes to feel as they should - they feel spongy and they engage later in my experience - you case sounds more serious than though - how are they now?

the flux capacitor needs serious attention

That has to be my fav part! Ahh the good old flux capacitor - thought up whilst the crazy doc was on the toilet as well! GREAT SCOTT! :D :D :D

Your Corrado is looking great there Rusty - i gotta agree with you - i drove a 1.8 Golf 8V the other day - and off the mark its quick - but id take the Corrado anyday due to its great handling and just the soid feel of the whole thing - its much more fun to drive than the Golf's ive had in the past 8)

Im sure that last post should be in the FOR SALE section!

I just got a new windscreen and lupo wipers in my valver - yet id get about £500! :(

Retrodal - I live down the road from Romford in Dagenham and just outside my flat there is a Corrado parked everyday - and two roads away there is another regular - and mine too - so not as rare as you think in east london :D

What model do you have? Mine is a valver.

Yep Chris I agree with you - i picked up my car in a bit of a state for £900 - and thought that tidying up the body work etc would mean i'd maybe even be able to sell for a profit further down the line - but then comes gear linkages - door handles - windscreens - and all the other weird and wonderful tweaks that need doing - and then you've ended up spending more on the car than you'll ever get back..... which is why i plan to keep my valver for a while and just enjoy the drive and with the millage at 101K i hope to get another few years out of this engine yet 8)

The sad truth is that often you'll get more for stripping and breaking the car up and selling the parts than selling it whole and keeping the Corrados alive.

I agree with VR6storm - on quite a few adverts for the VR6 Corrado i've seen the advert say something like "Future classic as mentioned by Top Gear" or words to that affect. The VR6's are appreciating or holding their value - sadly for ppl owning the 16V'er like me - they seem to be getting cheaper and cheaper.

I finally got to the bottom of this - the illumination light that goes in to the stereo is part of the same ciruit as the numberplate and dash lights - the short circuit was being caused by that wire not being properly covered and insulated. With that made safe a new fuse went in without blowing and the dash lights and numberplate are now back - thanks for everyone's help 8)

Checked the fuse - and it had blown despite being changed perviously - i put a new one in and number plate light came on - i increaseed the brightness using the dimmer / rheostat and the fuse went again.

So there's a short somewhere in the numberplate / dash circuit. I wired in a stereo not too long ago - one of the wires out the stereo provided current when the car lights were on i think - i think this may be part of the same circuit and causing a short - now just need the time and motivation to sort it out [plus gotta find the keys to take the stereo out!]

I've had this too and posted a message here :) it was just that the oil level was low - topped it up and that sorted it :)

Anyone have any other tips for what to check on this before i have the bulbs replaced? Reason i think its something else is that the heater controls do not light up either. The switch has been changed - the number plate light works.... any help appreciated!

Fuse 3 is marked as the number plate light - and on the golf i used to have number plate light and dash lights were from the same fuse - i've replaced this and the number plate light works again - but still do dash lights - looks like it must be the bulbs after all :|

I bought a 2nd hand switch from this forum for £15 - replaced it - and still no lights :( I cannot seem to find any of the fuses saying that they are for the dash lights - any ideas anyone?

Thanks for ur help henny - replacing the fuses for the full beam on both sides cured the problem 8)

The indicator stalk does change the brightness of L1 in the toggle way we'd expect - but L2 doesnt come on at all - fuses of bulbs in L2 i think. I'll check that out. Thanks again.

Thank you greatly for that Henny - what has made this harder is that the full beam bulb doesnt come on. Im pretty sure my car isnt US spec.

I think the fault is just with the full beam lights. I will focus on those.

Thanks for ur detailed breakdown! (and for adopting my L1 L2 terminology i made up there - it helped!)

Diagram of the front lights:

[ L1 ] [ L2 ] [----GRILL---- ] [ L2 ] [ L1 ]

L1 works fine - no light in L2.

Im not even sure if L2 is a separate light. Thanks again!

Only the sidelights seem to be coming on - been like this since i bought it - side lights + full beams have given me enough light to be just about able to see :roll:

When the light switch is in the 2nd position, the dipped headlights should come on, are these the inner lights either side of the grill? - There appear to be 4 lights in total on the front of the car [excluding the fog lights].

The inner lights do not come on in any position. Are they actually separate lights? I could try changing the fuse, but i think the right side and left side use different fuses and its strange they both dont work - also that the outter light does come on.

Is it easy to access the bulb for replacement if that is what i need to do?

Sorry for the stupid questions! Any help / guidace appreciated.

Wow funkster - what an amazing guide that is - very useful indeed, thing with mine is that the headlights come on fine - so not sure if i'll try opening it up etc in case the switch stops altogether :roll:

Yeh - that is a good way to describe it - it really varies wildly - looks black at night - and almost grey in the sun.

Here are some interior shots -the interior of this car was actually very clean - it was an H-reg - but only had done 88,000 miles when i bought it - and no rips in the seats or nething.

Just took a few of these today too - the car is Helios Blue - and it looks totally different in different lights. I think this sort of light is best for it - its a bit too dark in these photos though - but helps cover up the dent and off colour door :roll: :wink:

And here are the more recent ones. The door still needs the laquer done to complete it - the mirror has been changed and generally the car tidied up a bit - but the dent in the drivers wing is still there :(

But overall i cant complain - i got the car cheap - and its not cost too much to get the bits to make it look better - thanks to this forum and EBAY :)