andy

What exactly was the fine for?

Hehe. Nope thats been knackered since I got the car! Need a new one, there don't seem to be any for sale :(

Just remembered.... My new Water pump says you should use sealant, that suprises me tbh. It has a rubber o-ring, thought that would cope, any thoughts?

Yeah it only £28, 'm fitting a GSF one as they had it on the shelf as opposed to a 2 day wait and exchange only from my stealers. That's a good point about finding the next weakest point, I hadn't thought of it like that. My dad reckons new coolant is known for finding leaks. I should but some shares in G12+ i reckon!

I had an unlowered C as a project, it had 17s on it and it looked dreadful, so much better with the original 15s on, big wheels are ok but they have to fill the arches.

I'm hoping it won't be the heater matrix, not fancying that one much.

About 2 months ago I changed my coolant, ever since then I've had nothing but problems (having previously had none)! 1) The hose between the head and the bulkhead developed a hole and took pouring out steam when hot. Replaced that. 2) Auxillary water pump failed, split in two. Got a new one. 3) Thermostat jammed shut. Replaced along with worn out housing. 4) Main water pump has started p*ssing water now. Got a new one ready to go on. When will it end! I could buy a new car on what I'm spending on this beast! Any guesses what will be next!!

On my old golf, the full closure system used to shut all 4 windows and the sunroof at the same time, looked brill. The Corrado's method of routing all the electric window cabling from the front doors, through the car and into the e/w control unit in the back quarter panel and then all the way forward into the front doors again to the motor is sooooo ridiculous. Even with its special control module it can only manage one window at a time too. Whats wrong with a switch, and a motor ffs! Anyway back on topic I hate the interior rattles, sooooooooooooo many of them. I'm considering taking mine off the road for the winter and rebuilding the thing, it's ruining it a bit tbh.

Indeed the VAG one is part Sachs and part LUK. £120 from stealers.

Plenty of non storms have heated leather.

I know not to take the first offer, quite often its three offers etc etc. What is confusing the issue is whether the valuation is based on what it will cost her to buy another one privately or another one off a dealer's forecourt. The difference is about a grand, which in this case is approaching 25% of the car's value so pretty important! It seems wrong to accept trade price, as not being a trader she won't be able to buy another one of the same age/spec/condition etc for the same money, on the other hand it would seem fruitless to insist on dealer forecourt price if there's no chance if them paying that. hmmm

My sister has just had her car written off, I've looked up the car's value on Parkers/Autotrader etc. Their valuations give several prices, ie Main Dealer, Independant Dealer, Private, Private Poor and Trade. Which one of these would an insurance company base its offer on?

I haven't read your link but you can get Compression Guages for less than £20, I've got one and used it on virtually every car I've owned, I changed at least 5 head gaskets as a result of the test results, excellent piece of kit. Much better (and cheaper) to do these things yourself if you have the interest.

Much more like a Mk2 than a MK3 to drive, the Mk3 is finished much nicer and better built (interior wise) but is uninvolving and handling is not quite right, you can get them to handle but only by destroying the ride. The Mk2 for whatever reason was always more capable in this department, a standard Mk2 GTi feels very good imo, solid but not tooo heavy, much like the Corrado.

That's true, I hadn't though of it like that.

Sonds like a good example, the faults you list aren't much imo. The electric window is never going to be too much, its probably the relay you can hear clicking, it's never going to cost a fortune to fix. The residue probably isn't much either, if its restricted to the filler cap it's unlikely to be a headgasket, more likely it's been used for short runs and not been warmed up properly for a while. The timing chains are potentially the most expensive to repair, are you sure its them, 70k is very low milage for them to start acting up. At that price...its a lot of car for the money.

I would have thought that taking the multiplug out of the central locking unit in the boot (rhs behind the panel) might disable the central locking to a point. Then try getting the door to unlock with either the interior handle/pin or key from the outside.

Yep, the test is performed online now, the tester has to log on to a website, enter the car details etc and enter the results of the tests "live" as they go along. There's little scope for letting a car go through with a dodgy bulb/tyre as long as its fixed within or day etc. There are also no free retests for this very reason.

I had to buy a new VR6 thermostat housing on friday, I know its only plastic but its a pretty elaborate beastie, I fully expected three figures and it was only £25 including VAT on the shelf or £14 something from GSF. Unbelievable. Its almost as unbelievable as the £90 odd they want for the plastic dash trim...there's just no telling it seems.

Printed on an HP Deskjet? Hehe no, all in the bank now...mmm.

He means aux water pump, its defo supposed to be on all the time the ignition is on, as you say you can feel them running.

That's the one, see I'm worse than him! Made me chuckle though! Mansell doesn't look anything like 82 btw, fair play for winning :-P

Hi, Nice pussy you've got there :-P Welcome, nice Corrado too, I've not seen many white ones, looks the business.

...."Mansell is the fastest driver ever....except that is for Schumacher.......and Senna and xxxx (whoever else it was)!"...

The overheating could easily be caused by a blown h/g. It may not have been such a problem above 40mph because of the extra cooling you get at that speed.