Blinky16v

Hi all, I hope the below is of some use, over the past few months I have been changing the switch colours of my car from the green to red, however the heater controls have always proved a problem and the options here are indeed superb (LED's, EL sheet, light pipe changing etc) but these require a certain amount of competence, money and time, none of which I have.. soooo I found a solution using EL Wire and the results IMHO are excellect, its cheap, does not take long and requires very little electrical knowledge, hell I did it so anyone can!. So here is what I did: Tools required: - Philips screw driver (to remove ashtray housing) - Electical wire cutters (to nip away plastic to make room for EL Wire) - thin snub nosed plyers (to assist is removal of plastic ^^^) - Electrical insulation tape (Keeps you circuits sealed) - Electrical Multi-tester (To find a live when the lights are on) Parts descriptions I have no idea what the proper names are but here is what I mean: - Heater panel = The front panel which you want illuminated - Heater Matrix = The part of the heater the front panel attaches to. (houses light pipes etc...) Time scales Took me about an hour, budget for 2 - 3 if you've not had your ash tray and ciggie lighter out before. Most important, do not rush, take your time! What to do 1) Search around e-Bay for some thin "EL wire" with a 12v DC car inverter (in the form of a ciggie lighter attachment). I got some for £6.00. This kit included the glue, 12v converter and of course the EL Wire. They come in various colours and you'll find them on e-bay no worries. I used 2.3mm diameter EL Wire. 2) Take off the front panel of the heater controls, (pull the knobs off first) use you fingers to pry off the panel from the bottom corner. (You might find using a flat ended screw driver helps) 3) Remove all the light pipe accessories from the back of the heater panel, one green one from the center dial and the two clear ones from the other two. 4) You are now left with 3 thin rings on the back of each dial, they are the misted white rings, leave these in place as they will help spread the light evenly. 5) Remove the ashtray and ciggie lighter housing. If you have gauges installed under the ash tray (you'll need to remove them), I would put the converter behind them so run the EL wire up from there to just above the circular ciggie lighter housing hole, there is a small rectagular hole there you can use to run the EL Wire out of and into the Heater panel. If you do not have gauges you could house the converter behind the ashtray, so run the wire to the ciggie lighter housing from here. 6) Using the glue which comes with the EL Wire or a hot melt glue gun, carefully glue the EL wire to the back of the heater panel, hold the panel up to the light and you'll see where you need to stick the wire. 7) You will need to over-lap the wire in places as in effect you want to loop the wire around each dial hole so you get good illumintation. 8.) You will need to hack a bit of the plastic on the heater matrix away to make space for the EL wire but you'll see this and be able to determine the amount of hacking required. It is nothing serious and as you have removed the light pipe accessories from beind the front panel dials, so these plastic bits are not required. 9) You'll also need to just nip a bit out of the edge (near bottom right heater matrix screw) so the EL Wire can fit nicely into the back of the heater panel unhindered. 10) Re-fit panel (this is where you can figure out if you hacked enough plastic away from the front of the matrix!) 11) Take the converter which plugs into the ciggie lighter, you will note that the end has a metal post which is sprung. Unscrew the housing this is in and turn the post around (through 180 degress and attach a piece of wire to it (this will be your live wire), feed the wire through the hole the metal post used to go through and screw back on. Use the electrical tape to seal this up. The power on the ciggie lighter is activated when thie post is depressed, so turning it through 180 degrees will allow power to flow to it as it depresses the fuse. 12) You will note that there are two sprung clips on either side of the converter, attach another wire to one of these and again wrap the electrical tape around both these clips to prevent any shorts. This is your negative wire. 13) Using your multitester find out which wire gives you 12v when the lights are switched on, I used a feed from the ciggie lighter itself, then, find a good earth. 14) Wire in the live and earths from the 12v EL converter into you newly found live and earth, then job done!! Anyway, the above may sound complicated but this is probably my description rather than what is actually required. As soon as you take off the front panel of the heater controls, all will become clear. Hell for 6 quid you can't go wrong and for the hour of two you'll spend doing this the results (providing you do a good job of course) are great, better then I expected!. Good luck and hope this helps. Further notes: You may have excess EL Wire left over, you can cut EL Wire to length if you can be ar5ed to, I used the excess on mine to light up my ashtray in red instead of the standard green. You undertake the above at your own risk.

Been in the same situ mate (stupid b1tch in a Ford Ka). The advice above is sound, post all correspondance to your insurers after you speak to them, then forget about it. Just make sure your no claims bonus is not affected by the actions of your insurers.. Have a cold beer and chill dude, your car is fixed, your not hurt and this cock end will no doubt burn in hell when his miserable existance on this lump of rock ceases :)

My gauge is in psi and came with a sender so no worries :) When its warmed up the engine idles at between 10 - 20 psi (1 - 2 bar) and being driven its about 60 - 80psi (4 - 5bar) depending on the ol' lead foot playing up... I got the Pressure Gauge because my Oil warning light was always flashing after the enginer was warm... So I replaced the Oil Pressure sensor (Dash Light) for the Oil Pressure Sender (leaving the sensor disconected)... but the Oil warning light still flashes.... most odd. Might just take the bulb out!

Sweet cheers for the info dude. In the end I ran it through the bonnet release cable hole on the drivers side... was easiest to get to. If anyone is interested I used an old wire coat hanger, ran it down inside the rubber grommet, then taped the wire to the hanger and puled it through, very easy.. which is nice.

Hi All, Wiring up an Oil Pressure sender in my 93 2.0L 16v. Does anyone know how or where to run the wire through the bulkhead into the engine compartment from the bin below the ashtray? I figure there must be a loom somewhere into the engine bay but cannot see it.. anyone help or know of a better way of getting the wiring into the engine bay? Cheers

hehehe I guess the next question to you fellow valver owners is.. what Oil Pressure do your valvers run at? Cheers again :)

Gentlemen, thank you! Plenty to get on with and all my questions answered as usual! I'll check that out tonight but looks like all options are covered. Cheers all and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!! Doug

Hi Guys, Got myself an Oil Pressure Gauge and sender. I just need to know 2 things: 1) Where in the engine does the Pressure sender go. Does it plug into the sensor which operates the Oil Warning Light? If so where is that? 2) Does the Oil Temperature sensor connect to the same sensor as the Oil Warning light? I have a 1993 2L 16v 9A engine. I have searched through the forum but not found much on the 9A engine (plenty on the KR mind you!) From what I gather the Oil Temp and Oil Pressure warning light sensors are in different parts of the engine, one in the block (Pressure sensor) and one on top of the Oil Filter housing (Oil Temp Sensor). If this is correct, I can replace the Oil Pressue sensor in the block with the Oil Pressure sender and simply loose the Oil Warning light, yet still maintain my MFA Oil Temp readings.... does this sound correct? So any ideas you chaps might be able to field will be a great help. Cheers!

I caught a numpty who did this to me in his new mini at some motorway Services, not a scratch on his car and a dink in my door, I confonrted him politely asking for some monetary renumeration and he just shrugged his shoulders and walked off. :mad: When I left there was a large foot shaped dent in his car door and four flat tyres, can't think how that happened....

Black stabdard 16v or 8v (no engine identifier on back) A316 Westbound 14th Sept morning, sat in traffic heading to work..,it turned off toward Twickenham Center just before I caught up. Purple Corrado at Richmond Roundabout 16th Sept about 7-30pm, didn;t see what it was but it looked low.

40 grand!!

Nice one lads, looks like you had a good 'un... So whens the next one? :)

Nil point pour moi! Thats none in 15 years of driving. Been flashed loads, and caught by a talivan, had to go to court for one of them... but the filth and scamera partnerships are total monkeys in court, they never get their evidence and if you write a letter to them contesting they usually bin it because most drivers just cough up. Play hard ball and always fight, you'd be suprised at what you can get away with. PS. I may drive fast but only when appropriate, I do not take risks, do not drive fast around town, never suffered road rage (although had a few 'birdies' flicked my way) and have never caused an accident. Once the piggies switch on the SPEC's system fully, thats when we are all f*cked and they and the government become very well off... Gav's got the tight idea of heading to Oz, I'm off to SA as soon as I can!!

Thansk to Gav for the headlight loom. Easy to fit and I can now see at night... very novel. Quick delivery, easy instructions to follow and phone assistance if required... excellent service!

Was putting in new headlight loom the other night in Twickenham, London, Black C went past and hooted. By the time I looked up he was off down the road, managed to get a wave mind you.. If thats you soz for slow responce m8y, I thought you were in a BMW!! (Didn't have my glasses on!) Looked good with Blacked out (Lexus??) lights...

Ok saw a few over the weekend: 1) Dark Blue VR6 in Croyde on Saturday 20th August, just turning right at the post office heading up towards the Thatch, none standard wheels but nonetheless very nice, couple of lads in it 2) Dark Blue VR6 again in Croyde but parked up in a house garden on the way to Georgham, totally standard looking. 3) Yet Another Dark Blue VR6 travelling on the M5 Northbound on Sunday 21st August just North of Bridgewater. If you were the guys I spotted in Croyde, I was the bloke by the post office looking a bit pale because your car looks just like mine, same style plates, same alloys, same colour, same noise, quite honextly I had a brown trouser "cars been nicked" moment :) All Corrado's were fine examples and before you ask, no they were all different cars... common as muck these dark blue VR's ... hehehe

Thumbs up guys thanks for the help. I have a 12v LED and Lamp and the only issue was finding where it earthed to. I'll take a look for pin 31. :) G60Renshaw: Did you fit the Golf Mk IV sun roof switch and light unit to your C m8?

I had the same when I changed my rear clusters, the ones I removed had a blanking plate over the lights and the new lights didn't. I didn't need a loom though just plugged in a couple of new bulbs and wayhayy, job done....

BUMP Tried again last night to get the LED working in the roof switch but still no joy! It seems to have nowhere to earth to! Has no one done this mod at all? The roof switch is the late rocker type switch... Cheers

I have not had time to read through the entire thread I'm afraid, but I had similar problems with mine for ages, slowly got worse and worse. After wasting money on VW Service, Porsche, Bosch and numerous other garages who showered parts on it, a mate of mine found a small hole in the Vaccum pipe between the Inlet Manifold and ISV. I replaced ECU's, ISVS, Fuel metering heads, Lambda sensors the works because I would not believe a small hole in a 7 quid pipe copuld cause so much grief... Sorry if this has already been mentioned...

Its the later Rocker Switch type m8

Anyone who's done this have any ideas on this? I have reached a stopper here and have no idea what to do next....

Just a quickie to feedback on my experiences with Chris (CF Username: Vortech) from Japspeed. I got in touch with Chris through this forum requesting some UK Road Legal plates with the Euro stars and "GB" printed on the left hand side of the plates. Chris was easy to deal with and despite my sketchy description of what I wanted managed to get me exactly what I was after. If you want plates, whatever style, your first stop should be Chris, he'll sort you out or point you in the right direction if he cannot help.

Hi Flusted, For the LED change I used, among others, this web link which tells you what to do, its quite basic but should give you an idea. http://www.corradoclubmd.com/technical/ ... ights.html Hope this helps

Hi Again, Managed to get the switch off the sunroof switch and wired it in, only to find it doesn't light up. On thing I found was the negative side of the LED appeared to plug into thin air...? Anyone who's done this mod know where the LED earths to? Cheers