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Hello all. Due to an unexpected family bereavement when I originally posted, I was unable to proceed with a sale at that time. So this front wing is still available and as described above - hopefully we can find it a new home ... David.

I'm guessing most have probably seen this aleady, but there is an unusual Corrado on E-bay at the moment: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Corrado-RSR-2-8-VR6-white-pearl-/221119090328?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337bb98e98 At least I assume there is a Corrado somewhere under all that kit!? Never seen one like this before. Who knows, perhaps this is how the Corrado might have started looking had development continued beyond 1995 ....??

Hi. Quite rare now. A never fitted brand new R/H drivers side Corrado wing. I bought this as a precaution when I owned my much missed 1.8 16v Corrado - luckily I never needed it. These cost well over £300 new. VW part number is: "535 821 022 B" A handy spare to have in case someone prangs your pride and joy or to help restore a Corrado. Fits all early (Mk 1, to '50-M011 396') pre-1992 model year 1.8 16v and G60 cars (those with concave bonnets / recessed front fogs). It is in straight 'as new' condition with no dings or dents although there are few light storage scuffs. It is in original matt black primer. It does not have the hole for a European side indicator repeater (perhaps so it an optionally be used with North American cars with repeaters in the bumpers?). A hole could easily be added. Located in the Edinburgh area. I can send by insured courier for £20, packaged as well as I can to avoid damage (cardboard and bubble wrap), or, preferably you can collect from/I can deliver to the central Scotland area. Payment by PayPal, or cash on collection please. £99 or near offer please. David.

Hi. Thanks for this info. On Christmas Day (towards the end of the day, nearing home thankfully), my VR6 started producing a nasty smell (G11 fluid?) and huge clouds of smoke/steam from under the bonnet. Quite disturbing! It seemed to be coming from the back of the engine but I could not see where. The water level was very low, and as helpfully highlighted here, I eventually found a tiny tear in the upper heater matrix-to-cylinder head water pipe (pictured), just above the cylinder head connection. This will have been spewing water all over the hot exhaust manifolds below. The part needed is indeed 1H0 121 157 H and thankully this can still be obtained from VW for just under £50 (as well as from other places (e.g. EuroCarParts) so I guess must be a common pipe needing replaced?). Took a while to get the old hose off due to very tight spaces to get tool in to release the hose clips and pipe needing cut off at cylinder head union, but now the new one is fitted and the problem is solved - phew :). Looking inside the old hose, it looks llike the rubber has over the years erroded away inside around the leakage point - I suppose this section gets much hotter than the rest, being directly above the exhausts. David.

I have just had to do this job also. Thank you so much for posting this – I don’t think I would have dared tackled it otherwise. I does take a lot of time and patience to get everything dismantled and put back together again, but it is well worth it. Along with the Canadian web site given at the top of this thread, I found various other sites relating to this topic which may be of some interest: http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=68989.msg542413#msg542413, http://clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=115992 (the wee white plastic pipe apparently goes in between the heater matrix hoses if you have air-con fitted), http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2355434, http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=19713 and http://wiki.the-corrado.net/heater_matrix_replacement.html My symptoms were just as others have said: wet passenger floor carpet, quickly steamed up windows (esp. passenger side corner), odd smell esp. when switching heater from cold to hot for first time after car was warm, wet sound proofing felt above the heater box. Following the last two links in particular, I decided, and managed, to replace the matrix without removing the whole dashboard. I ‘only’ needed to remove the lower trays, glove box, centre console and gauge surround. This meant I could still drive the car right up to the moment I was ready to remove and refit the heater box and matrix (a huge advantage as it is my daily car). I spent a couple of evenings slowly dismantling the dash, storing the screws in labelled bags. This meant I could choose and dedicate a nice dry day to the task of just removing, servicing and replacing the heater box. Just as well, as a couple of dash screws were very hard to remove and took ages to release – unexpectedly one of the centre console pair at back of the storage tray would not budge - WD40 and some gentle hammer work from behind eventually got it moving. The awkward screws within the air vents and behind the ABS warning light where you can’t get even a small screwdriver in were moved using a right angled screwdriver (Halfords set of three for £2.99) and a socket wrench with a driver adaptor and screw bit. Book1.pdfDSCF3518 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh]stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfDSCF3522 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] The time taken doing all this meant that the three engine bay bulkhead mounting nuts had a few days to soak in WD40 prior to tackling them – thankfully on the day, they all unscrewed OK. Confirmation of the problem came when I test removed the lowest spring clip where the fan arm trunk joins the heater box – the inside of the clip was tarnished and water was dripping from this point onto the carpet – so now I knew where the damp carpet was coming from - a good place to start checking if you think your matrix could be failing. The matrix hose clips in the engine bay were fairly easily released by squeezing the tabs on them together using a wrench similar to the one below and whilst holding the clips open, pulling the hoses and clips off together, leaving them ready to put straight back on later. I tied the hoses up out of the way so as not to lose too much coolant. ETKA Corrado.pdfWrench.JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] I removed the heater fan unit from its housing to lighten the whole unit prior to removal (disconnect wiring plug then manoeuvre tab at the back of the fan motor to allow unit to twist off bayonet style). The general advice seems to be not to attempt at this stage to remove the fan arm from the main heater box as two of the union clips, as mentioned in the original post, are hidden around the back of the heater box – so I left well alone, and did in fact manage to remove the whole thing as one unit via the passenger footwell :). I also left all the heater controls and cables connected up - one less thing to break! stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfDSCF3545 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] On examination, the heater flaps were not too bad (and I didn’t fancy trying to split the heater box to try and service them anyhow) although the small foot well diverter flap foam had fallen off in one piece and was blocking the footwell air channel inlets below. Using this as a template, I replaced it with a double layer (as it is rather thin) of self adhesive backed felt sheeting, purchased from Hobbycraft – this looked more flexible and better sealing than the thin rather shiny foam sheet stuff they also sell and mentioned by others.Corrado92.pdfDSCF3556 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] I used double sided carpet tape to stick back the sound felt under the windscreen which had been steamed loose and ‘Stormguard Extra Thick 4-7mm gap self adhesive foam weather strip’ from B&Q to replace some of the old foam seals where the screen and face air outlets join the heater box. I found that the matrix had indeed been leaking as the bottom of the heater box had some rather unpleasant looking liquid in it, which I washed out.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfDSCF3549 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] I cleaned everything up as best I could and used some light spray grease on all the flap plastic pivots, gears and cables, which, with the heater control panel still attached, allowed me to get the air direction control working in all four positions, which hitherto, had not been possible. I obtained a new genuine Valeo matrix (part no. 178VG0041) from GSF (http://www.gsfcarparts.com/index.asp) which was in stock in Glasgow for ~£45 (+ £8 postage if required) – I was quoted £150 for the same thing from my local VW dealer (which is incidentally the same MRP price shown on the GSF invoice, so its a bit of a bargain from them I think!). Matrix packaging showed was for Audi A3/TT but is obviously is suitable for a wider range of VAG group vehicles –nice to see suitable for more recent cars than Corrado though which may indicate that it is an improved version of what was originally designed/fitted? The new matrix needed the supplied rectangular foam collar to be stretched around it’s top, the foam seal to be placed around the inlet/outlet pipes and the self adhesive foam strip to be attached around its middle.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfDSCF3551 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh]2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfDSCF3555 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] It was then just a case of re-fitting everything.DSCF3560 (Large).JPG[/attachment:2jvbp6fh] Once back in place, before reconnecting the hoses, I primed the new matrix with a suitable antifreeze mix via both matrix bulkhead pipes with a funnel and short length of garden hose. After re-connecting the pipes back up and with the engine running (with expansion tank cap off for first few minutes), a few gurgles were all that I heard before everything settled down and, after cooling, only then requiring a small amount of top up. So far all is well. No more steamy windows or apparent coolant loss and car is heating well.

Just had the very same issue. I had noticed the handbrake becoming a little 'floppy' in the colder weather recently, but then last week, on releasing, it remained totally loose, and after reading this forum I suspected the rear brakes were now stuck on. Driving a few miles confirmed this (drag and hot wheels!). I had hoped that a gentle drive would free them up, but no. So the other evening, whilst dodging snow showers, I got the rear wheels off and discovered that on both sides, the bottom of the rubber cable gator had become detached from the cable caliper mount, exposing the the cable. As this thread suggests, this was no doubt letting moisture in, which in recent -5 to -10 degree temperatures must have frozen. DSCF3567 (Large).JPG[/attachment:32wwoz1n] A few taps with a hammer on the cable ends where they join the lever arms had them freed up. A tiny squirt of WD40 and some grease around the cable under the gator (which I re-located onto the cable caliper mount as in the pic) will I hope help. The handbrake does now seem to be working better, but I'm not risking using it much until the temperature stays above 0 degrees for a while, as I suspect that only then will any remaining moisture start to disapate. Update 02/01/11: The weather has been warmer (above freezing at least) over Christmas and New Year, so I have started using the handbrake again and it is currently working very well and smoothly, so happy :). Will need to keep an eye on those cable gators.

Hi. My drivers side fog lens needs replaced. I'm afraid I don't know how Group Buys are organised, but looks like there could be quite a few folk interested if it could be done? Alternatively, has anyone perhaps individually ordered VR6(SLC) fog lenses from the Ricky Ward mentioned, who I assume runs this USA site: http://originalgermanfolks.com/corrado.htm, and if so how did it go - e.g. delivery/fit/look? David.

Mmm - thanks for that helpful advice :? ! I was really hinting at the previous posters comment of "they all do it, vag group of that time in general"... and mention of Golfs doing same thing. Just thought could maybe be some sort of 'factory test mode' or something which can be switched on/off somehow.

My car has just started behaving like you suggest (the first time I have seen this in many years of Corrado ownership) .... after running with dipped beam lights on, you get home, turn off the ignition, remove the key and eh??? ... the interior heater fan keeps running (and heated rear window light stays on)! As suggested, (with key still out) flicking main beam at this point, turns everything off but they come back on again if you flick it back to dipped. Seems to be linked to the light switch (which pulses when you flick the main beam) since turning switch from on, down to side-lights or off and back to on resets everything to normal (fan stays off) but problem returns after the next time you have the lights on and remove the key. Could this be replated to a lighting relay somewhere behind the fuses perhaps? I have had to replace both light and ignition switchs within the last 3 years or so with new items so would be disapointing if is anything to do with either of these wearing out or something. Anyone know how to cure this please - can't be 'normal' suerly? Thanks, David.

Hi. I have used Michelin Pilot Exalto tyres on my VR6 for many years. With less than 2mm tread left on the existing four I recetly renewed them all. Finding the same Michelins has been getting harder and harder and I could not easily find any or, if I could, they were quite pricey. So, after much researching and forum hunting I decided to go for something different, if they were good, available and well priced. In the end I used the KwikFit on-line ordering service. They had Continental Premium Contact 2 tyres for £76 each + fitting which seemed like a good deal for a 'decent' V rated tyre (if ordering in-store, the same tyres would have been well over £100 each, and elsewhere on-line they were in the high £90's). I ordered them on-line at 4pm on a Friday, giving prefered local fitting center and the earliest fit date on offer of the following Tuesday.... However, Saturday morning, 10:30am, the center phoned me to say the tyres were in and they could fit them lunchtime! So I went down and two guys worked together and in less than 30 mins had them changed, filled, balanced and fitted. Nice. So do I like them? Well yes. Compared to the Michelins, the Continentals are deifinitley slightly 'softer' but this is welcome to me - happily, possibly due to having after market stiffer sports suspension, the car now crosses road humps and holes without 'crashing' as it did before and is generally more pleasent to drive, whilst still being sporty and grippy. Steering I feel is improved, with turn-in more willing/less under-steer. They are also much quieter on the motorway than the Michelins. Only downside might be a possible slight loss of straight line 'prescision' feel when driving at higher speeds but overall very happy with them (and may I think be factory fitted to sporty VW Golfs, etc anyhow - or might be Contact 3 or Sport Contacts). David.

Hi. A wee warning not to ignore belt squeak for too long.... my 96,000 mile VR6 started squeaking around the belt area a few months back, usually when cold but going away after driving a few miles. Just before Christmas the squeak/skreech started happening for most of the time. My garage checked it out during the M.O.T. and suggested it was the belt tensioner wheel bearing (black 'plastic' ribbed wheel just back from the Alternator pully, beside the air filter), and so I booked it in to get fixed. Unfortunately, over the weekend, I was driving along at 50mph when I heard a dull thud and suddenly found myself with no power steering and an alternator warning lamp. I stopped, examined the engine bay and oops, discovered the tensioner wheel had disintegrated and was in broken/melted pieces under the bonnet! The belt was still on but loose (obviously) so I manged to limp home about 3 miles, stopping every mile or so to let the engine cool down (yes, no water pump either), hoping all the time that the electric fan, which was having to work overtime, would not drain the battery too much and that I did not crash the car due to the tricky non-power assisted steering. The garage fitted a new VW belt tensioner and belt (~£80 + £30) and the car is running really well now. Goodness knows how long the bearing had been stiffening up but I'm sure that, I am now getting better fuel consumption. David.

I'm having the same trouble (just had new rear brake calpiers fitted and brake lever now lifts much higher than before / than I would like - 3-clicks would seem about right to me). I mean, how hard should it be to gain access to handbrake cable tensioning nuts on a car - suerly this is a 'normal' maintainence type procedure? It is almost as if VW designed the grip to *never* come off (very handy when you are using it of course!). Perhaps they expect to break them and always fit a new one!? Anyhow, I have pushed the little tab under the rear of the grip up till I'm blue in the face and tried levering it down with a tiny screwdriver - all to no avail.... grip will not budge. It looks like the collar of the main plastic covering sleeve goes beneath the little grip tab and stops the tab from being pressed up very far? but since you can't remove the former without first removing the latter it's a bit of a catch 22 :( . I guess I'm just going to have to live with the higher leaver position rather than risk breaking the handle (or my fingers). Additional info... April 2010: My garage has just recommended new handbrake cables, so removal of the handbrake handle (and thus the central plastic covers in advance) has become more than just desirable, but essential! So, today, after reading through all the relevant posts on this forum I had another go, and this time, success :) . The same issue was present, being that the rear tab 'lever' underneath could not be pushed up much (if at all) due to the main handbrake sleeve shroud behind it getting in the way. So, I prised the lower leather covering forwards from the back of the handle (a small hand mirror is very useful here), hoping the stitching would not break in the process, revealing the front half this 'lever' on which I found a sort of plastic bump sticking downwards. By placing a thin screwdriver in the gap between this bump and the rear most handle grip, I could gently lever backwards on the screwdriver causing this front part of the lever to move downwards to free the handle and enable it to be pulled off. I attach a couple of pics. (sorry, taken on a cheap mobile phone) which I hope will help explain this..... David. Edinburgh.

Was at Inch VW Motors in Bathgate, West Lothian today picking up Corrado part, and there, sitting on the forecourt bold as brass, was a maroon new Scirocco! (I imagined they would all be 'under wraps' for a big September 1st launch or something?). Apparently just arrived with them yesterday - I wonder if all dealers the same? - going to check others near me this weekend. This is first time I have seen one and I have to say, it does look much better in the flesh than in pictures and quite stylish from a lot of angles. Still feel it looks a little 'uncomfortable' from a couple of angles though, in a similar way that, for instance, I feel a Mazda RX8 does. I think this will probably improve with familiarity though.

Yup, happened to be getting some parts today at VW dealer and asked on-the-off-chance if they could check their ETKA systems for chrome rear "Corrado" badge and chrome front "VR6" badge, and yes, both are def. no longer available :( (rear badge deleted in 2004) I am also considering removing my rear "Corrado" to fix a paint chip but bit nervous now! I believe that rather than trying to get a screwdriver or other tool behind push fit badges like this, a good removal method is to feed some of those thin plastic self locking wiring ties behind and try to position beside or either side of, each badge fixing lug. Then pull badge off little by little, keeping it as straight as possible. Anyone tried this? David, Edinburgh.

that what they look like Summary of my related experiences. Thanks to other related posts on this forum or I would really have been stumped. A few months ago I decided to remove my aftermarket Pioneer radio to check for intermittent left speaker fault. Stupidly I left the ignition key in 'Accessory' and a live radio wire came loose and sparked on the radio cage. After this, neither Radio or Ignition worked despite all fuses looking OK, so I had basically managed to break my entire car! :( I had to call in a professional auto electrician who eventaually diagnosed a broken Ignition Switch. Still a bit of a mystery how a radio short could blow this and not a fuse but anyhow, we ordered up a new switch and with help from other postings, I managed to remove the old switch using a tiny screwdriver. New one fitted and car started again on the key - great. The electrician then tidied up the radio wiring a bit and 'helpfully' suggested he fit an aerial signal booster like the one pictured in this thread, since unlike the original fit radio, my Pioneer did not have one built-in. He did this and went away, and certainly the reception was improved. However, I noticed that the rear spoiler was no longer automatically raising or lowering, although still working on the manual switch. The forum pointed me to possible blue/white auto speed radio volume wire and on checking, I indeed found that the electricician had connected it to the aerial booster and in turn to the blue/white wire on the radio - for a Corrado this is all wrong it seems (again, unlike the factory fit radio?, the Pioneer has no auto speed volume control built-in). So, I cut the blue/white coming from the dash and taped it off beside the ISO connector. I left the aerial booster connected to the blue/white from the radio as instructions say is actually a radio switched 12v+ supply (confirmed with a meter), intended to power an external AMP controller and/or electric aerial, so is perfect to power the booster as will only do so whilst the radio is switched on. [dashboard] ------------Blue/White (speed)------------X [aerial mast] -----------Black (thick co-axial) -----------> [radio] -------------Blue/White (12v switched)-----------> [aerial booster] I'm happy to say that automatic spolier operation and good radio reception have now been restored! and hope this helps others. David, Edinburgh.

I have just remove the ignition switch on my car. This is the first time I have tried this. It took about 5 minutes. Contrary to other advice I have found, I did not need to remove the drivers seat (better if left in actually), the steering column, steering lock or anything else and I didn't break my back either! 1. Remove the lower plastic steering column cowel (3 screws under). 2. Sit on the drivers side sill plate. 3. Lean over the drivers seat so your left side is supported on it. 4. Stick your head under the steering wheel and prop yourself up on your left elbow against the floor. 5. If you look back under the steering wheel, past various wires and bits of metal you will be able to see the offending screw and lock washer side-on. 6. You can now negociate an approriately small and bendy sized scredriver with your left hand, from behind the switch, going between the switch and column adjustment 'elbow' until you see it engage in the screw head from your side-on position. Moving the steering wheel up or down may help at this point. 7. From here you can see if the scredriver is located properly and whether by gentle turning, the screw head is moving or not (last thing you want to do at this stage is round off the screwhead). The secret to all this is having the correct screwdriver. A 'normal' jewelers one is too short and its' handle too thick to pass by the column 'elbow' and just not bendy enough to reach the screwhead. I found a 'prescision' crosshead, size PH0X50 did the job. This has a longer thinner shalf so the handle does not foul where the other did and it is also quite flexible. A set costs £13 from Screwfix.com (Cat. 27580). I hope this helps ... DSCF2672.JPG[/attachment:ocbwo80y]

Auto Express pics from Geneva... http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/218187/geneva_motor_show_2008.html

Oh dear. Have just seen the latest pics of new Scirocco here: http://www.motorauthority.com/wp-conten ... dg=1&idi=5 - not quite what I was expecting personally... yes, I'm sure it will drive very well and the interior looks great, and yes, it looks very 'nice' on the outside (like an Audi A3 looks 'nice'), but don't think it looks 'special' or coupe enough - seems to lack the stance and pupose of say, oh I don't know... a VW Corrado!? :) I guess if they had called it something else I wouldn't be bothered but if they want to re-enter the 'sports coupe' market, I think something like the red one posted by folk above (and here: http://www.carrito.net/board/showthread.php?t=84630) would have been much, much better. This has real presence and is quietly aggressive without being OTT and is certainly a coupe. But hey, what do I know about automotive mass production techniques and sales targets. I'll reserve final judgment until I see the new one in the flesh - pictures can never tell the whole story, eh :?

Used Autowerke once with my first Corrado many years ago to get new fly wheel supplied and fitted but was unimpressed as the new parts apparently had "not turned up on the truck" on day car was booked in but they didn't let me know 'till I phoned in the afternoon to see how the work was going. They kept the car in but, even though the parts arrived the next day, they were then too busy with other bookings to do the work for a further day or two, so I was left without the car much longer than expected, so didn't feel they were too well organised. To be fair, the work done and price seemed OK and other folk I knew around the same time said they had had OK service with them. Was a long time ago now, so would be intersted to hear what they are like these days..... :?

I totally sympathise with your issue and it does sound like something 'odd' has gone on. I don't like to 'bash' places simply on my own personal experiences since everyones experiences are probably unique. I would however say that, despite many glowing reports from others, I have also been put off same place after having a new SS exhuast fitted some years ago which knocked at the rear from day one. I took it back twice and they tried to fix by jiggling it a bit, but with little success. On the second occasion I got the destinct impression that I was just an annoyance and that they really didn't want to bother trying to fix it. In the end it was easily and cheaply fixed by my usual local garage by simply fitting new hangers - I was suprised other place were not willing to try that fix and so have not been back since. I have been using Jack Walkers in Turnhouse Road for years and they have been very good, although perhpas not quite so impressive lately. Anyone got any other suggestions for the Edinburgh area?

Check for ignition immobilser chip - may be one embedded in your orginal ignition key(s). A new key cut from a blank must contain similar chip and apparently requires main dealer only to recode both the car and all existing/new keys so they match (true/false?) Otherwise (as I have found from experience) a new key will start the car OK but it will stop running after about 2 seconds.

The rubber sleeve which goes around the end of the fuel tank pipe and sits around the filler pipe apature in the car body does collect mud thrown up by the rear wheel (just glad Corrados have a plastic tank and not a metal one al-a early Polos - have caused big rust problems for me in the past). I occasionally unclip the rubber sleeve and schoosh water around the hole from outside as well as up from underneath whilst running a finger around the pipe apature to clean off the muck (keeping the filler cap firmly fitted of course!). Once dry, a smear of Waxoil around the apature edges prior to refitting the sleeve hopfully keeps rust at bay. There is a metal spring ring clip which goes around the inside the sleeve to help keep it tight to the body and so form a good seal - perhpas yours is missing? Having said that, it doen't seem create a particularly tight fit so I would use some grease or Waxoil here anyway.

... armrest mounting ....

Ok ....