Rpmayne

MrBeige, It's a '94 VR6.

They certainly packed alot of wires behind that fusebox, wonder what's not going to work next everytime I go near it. Hope yours is sorted. I checked continuity and visually chased the connection between the Speedo (pin 7) and the spoiler relay (pin 8 ) and the blue / white wire is connected ok on mine. Have got most of the dash out at the moment so perfect time to sort this.

Thanks mrbeige, don't think I'm getting anything out of the clocks. Between the bl/wh (pin 8 ) and br (gnd) I've got a constant 12ish volts regardless of speed. Between the bl/wh (pin 8 ) and blk/bl (supply through S16) I get 0-1 volt regardless of speed. The stereo isn't in at the moment but the bl/wh was still in the stereo connector. I've now disconnected that at the fusebox. What do you recon? The speedo does still work. I did try changing that transistor you mentioned a while ago but it didn't help. Reading back I wonder whether it was the stereo connector all along, and when I changed that transistor I caused another problem.

This output signal from the clocks to the spoiler control, is it a square wave that can be measured using a multimeter with a frequency function?

Yer I went for the genuine VW matrix from GPC for peace of mind, don't want to strip the car again in a hurry. Exactly the same part, £85 delivered from GPC or £115+VAT from a UK VAG dealer.

I've just got some prices back from VW for mine. The 3 control cables £32.00 (VW) Matrix £85.00 (GPC) Heater controls £180 (VW) Heater box £205 (VW) When I took mine apart I found some of the plastic clips had broken on the heater controls so they need replacing. The internal flaps of the air box are covered with foam and its saturated and flaked off in mine. Worth getting yours checked when its out, trying to find some foam at the moment.

Got the heater box out without removing the dash and speedo. Had to strip the carpet because it was saturated but otherwise didn't go too bad and I can still use the car. I've attached a couple of pictures for interest, the inside of the heater box was a right state, definitely need to replace all the foam on the flaps, and the belden cables were well tight. Any ideas what foam to use, where to get it from?

Hopefully going to be refitting the interior soon after a matrix failure, anyone know where to get hold of the following? Car must have been apart a few times as a few fixings were missing competely. The screw fittings with the C-shape metal bracket with the thread in it. Sound deadening matting, looks like recycled foam etc. Also, any ideas where to get replacement foam for the heater box flaps? Mine is well shot. Thanks.

This has happened to mine, got the air box out without removing the dash yesterday which was good, just had to take everything else out. Get your carpet out asap, there's loads of sound deadening between the floor and the carpet that was absolutely saturated. That took a while because I had to remove the centre console, rear seat bottoms, front seats, door sill strips etc. Just to save you searching, the things which slowed me up: Rear seat bottoms are latched in at the front, just wiggle them about and pull up. Then then slide forward and out. Handbrake handle cover. There is a little latch on the underneath of the handle closest the centre console. I used a screwdriver to move it out away from the handle and it then slides off. If yours is leather the covering need rolling back to see it. Good luck.

Nice one, at least something is starting to make sense. Maybe why the red LED brake warning light had started coming on aswell. Seems that the heater motor leak was happening before the matrix let go. Windscreen wipers are intermittently working now, had to drive 30 miles in the rain without them working, then when I got to a MacDonalds drive-thru near home they worked again. VR sounds cool without the heater motor ducting, trying to find some positives.

All becomming clearer, took the passenger seat out, glove box and heater motor and arm. Water had been running in past the air intake and going all over the electrics which may explain all the failures (windscreen wipers stopped on the way home). Any ideas what the three relays and controller do on the passenger side of the car?

I am really starting to get paranoid with this car, its definitely out to piss me off. As I said the heater matrix blew and filled the passenger side with water. I lifted the carpet and removed the soggy sound deadening to dry out of the car. 5 days on after bypassing the matrix (new one hasn't turned up yet) and it was still really soggy, so started to think something wasn't right. With the carpet up I found out this lunchtime that rain water is getting in somewhere behind the heater fan and dripping into the passenger well. And to top it off the ABS light has started to play up. It does its normal check and turns off when the car is started, then while driving it turns on and off a few times before staying on. This is in conjunction with the red LED brake warning light flickering. I cannot put into polite words how completely sick of this car I really am. By far the worst I have ever had, and I've had some bad cars. List of faults now include: Blown heater matrix Sunroof faulty Automatic raise of spoiler faulty ABS warning light on RED LED brake warning light flickering Rattle, rattle.... Rant over, cool blue ocean... cool blue ocean...

Shame they don't honour the recall later on, just wish the old owner had given it back to VW for a day. Looked like I had that super-cool air-con icing the windscreen at the time, only difference was the toxic fumes and sauna like conditions. Take your point with the plastic bits, can only think the VR gets alot lotter than other VW's I had hence the extra problems. When I fitted Samco's to the top of the rad I broke the plastic and had to get a new rad, could just break bits off it by hand. The thermostat housing was the same when I took that off because it was leaking, very brittle.

Cheers Karl, I'll order those cables (take it a VW only part). It has always felt abit tight when turning the direction dial. Going to order the matrix from GPC for £70. Just off the phone to VW about the recall and apparently they were recalled to have the matrix changed but that expired 6 years ago, and mine has never been changed. They quoted £115+VAT for the matrix and £375+VAT fitting.

The nightmare has come true... Heater matix exploded at the weekend while trying to race a bike off the lights. 1st gear and keeping up pretty well, 6k came, second gear, POP, steam, end of race and limp off carriageway. Rider probably nearly fell off his bike laughing... if I could have seen him. Got to a b&q, bought a washing machine fitting and screwdriver and bypass it, and still got the missus to her hair appointment in time. I've read the american link and the knowledge base on here and leaving the dash in sounds better to me (non-air conditioning). I'm just a little worried that the knowledge base instuctions seem to imply its relatively straight forward. I just want to make sure I have everything ready, like what's the purpose of the foam and should I change the cables? Also anything people have broken along the way would be helpful to try and avoid, or probably order in advance. Also trying to work out what's connected to the blower box, is it just 2 cables for heat / direction, pipes in / out for coolant into matrix and the pipes to the vents which just pull off (left, right and centre)? Thanks.

Not suprised this is happening, remember threads about this ages ago. Probably why VW never went down the route of bolting the engine straight to the sub-chassis, obviously not only for comfort / vibration reasons, maybe these VW engineers acutally know what they're doing after all. On a slightly related topic, what ever happened to JMR?

Cheers all. Tried disconnecting the brake fluid plug completely and the light stayed on, then when driving it started to flicker again. Haven't buzzed the reservoir switch through yet but its looking like that may not be the cause. When the light is on, pulling the handbrake makes it come on a touch brighter. Think that switch is ok and the visible wiring from the reservoir looks ok. Suppose checking things at the fuse box is the next step.. :(

It's the red LED on the dash which usually only comes on when the handbrake is on. Still flickering but didn't stay on as much this morning. Just don't understand why pressing the brake pedal would turn it off, unless its a master cylinder pressure problem. ABS light works as normal.

Without fail I get rid of one problem and another arises... Brake warning light beneath the clocks. After a few minutes of driving it flickers then comes on, and does go out sometimes intermittently. When I put my foot on the brake it turns off, and when I release it it comes back on again. Fluid is ok, tried unplugging the cap switch and it made no difference. When it is off the handbrake operates the light as normal so don't think its that. Any ideas?

If you're lucky its just the belt, I've had the problems you describe and a new belt done up bloody tight has solved the problems. Now turns out the rack is fcuked but that's another matter.

Sounds about right, its a car I sold on and just helping out with so not sure on the level dropping. Are all the mk2 and mk3 power steering racks compatible?

Ah right, see I don't know bugger all about how power steering works. Are the valves internal to the rack then? Can then be replaced separately or is it a new / second hand rack?

How would the rack cause that, wouldn't it generally wear evenly in the middle so would effect both directions on slight turn-in? Just can't see why one way is worse that the other.

Any ideas what would cause the PAS (on a mk2 Golf) to assist more turning left than right? The belt's new and tight, the camber / tracking has just been done, the tyres are all the same and correct rotation and no visible signs of leaking anywhere (fluid level is constant). I'm not to clued up on how the PAS works. The steering doesn't pulsate like a slipping belt, just feels heavier when turning right. The local garage man took it for a hack and said it goes and handles well, just the PAS seems to be assisting unevenly with no idea as to why. Thanks.

Just a progress update. Took the VR over to VW on wednesday night and heard back yesterday that they have found the problems. Apparently there was an air leak on the intake pipe somewhere because a 'clip' was missing, not sure what that actually was yet. And the more annoying fault was a faulty spark plug on no.1 cylinder, I had replaced the plugs about 3 months ago when I did the coil pack ordered from GSF. Wouldn't have thought to go over them again. They've replaced them free of charge because I had to go back again which is good. They took it for a test drive checking the MPG and round town it shot straight upto 25mpg, pretty good for a VR so hopefully all problems sorted. Thanks for all the help, I'll try and ask them where this 'clip' was and post incase anyone else is having the same probs.