Valerian

From what i can gather you connect it to a compressed air line and use to either push or suck the air out of the cooling system. It can also be used to pressure test the cooling system. Are there any mechanics here that can verify how this tool is used?

An airlift is basically a tool that can be used on the cooling system to check for leaks and to erradicate air locks. Not many garages/mechanics in the UK seem to use this tool or even know it exists.

Well...sorted my heating problem yesterday. The bypass valve was almost completely shut and only allowing a very small flow of coolant through. I managed to get hold of another bypass valve of a non running 16 valve Golf which had the same part number. Turns out i was right and the expansion tank cap valve had given up the ghost. Engine runs much cooler and the heater is absolutely roasting on full heat.

The seats themselves are comfortable. It's the position/height that's a pain. Mine are early seats by the way.

Make sure you also check that the bottom (crankshaft) pulley hasn't come loose. Some people/mechanics can be guilty of not replacing the pulley bolt with a new one (or DX type one).

I'm the same height as you Danny and yes tiz a pain. I find i have to fidget about with the seat tilt to get half comfy. That bottom of the dashboard fuse box cover is not very practical for my big feet either when using the accelerator pedal.

You need to have no slack in the cable at all.

Might be worth you taking the bypass valve out just to see if it has any effect. A Corrado i owned a few years back had the same heater problem as yours and i'm sad to say i couldn't seem to cure it either no matter what i did.

Ray.....Have you changed your heater bypass valve?

Starting to get some heat now but nothing like it used to be. I managed to get hold of another bypass valve and also bought a new expansion tank, expansion tank top and top rad hose. The top rad hose is getting rather soft so best replace it i suppose. Hope to get this sorted at the weekend.

Somebody must have one laying about they can get the part number from :shrug:

Does anyone know the part number for the heater bypass valve? Etka doesn't list or show the part and my local stealer hasn't a clue what the thing even is. The only decent bloke they had in parts there has been made redundant.

Just had a look at the car and found that the valve inside the expansion tank cap had come adrift from it's clips. When i took the lid off, the valve had come out of the lid and was wedged in the filler neck. Anyhew....no coolant has been lost , however, i'm still getting no heat from the heater. I suspect that the bypass valve may be shot because the right hand feed pipes before and after (the metal bodied portion of the) valve are hot. The small bore pipe between the valves/large bore pipes is also hot. The left hand heater pipe with the black plastic portion of the valve is hot before the valve but after the valve (between the valve and bulk head) is cold. I assume that because the small bore bypass pipe is hot that water is being bypassed between the main large bore heater feed pipes. The engine is not losing any coolant and is running at normal temperature. The radiator fan cuts in when it's supposed to as well.

I had the problem of no heat from the heater on a white valver i had. Even taking the valve off made no difference. Tried everything in the book and forum. Anyhew....will MAYBE have a gander tomorrow if i can stand the cold for long enough.

Temperature guage stayed normal reading......Antifreeze was changed 6 months back and i mixed it 50:50. I have known some of the cheaper quality thermostats to fall apart before. If the bypass valve was to shut off, would it re-open by itself or does it mean having buy another one? Both heater in and out pipes get hot as normal.

Bit of an odd day with my C. This morning when i drove to work my coolant level light was flashing. I let the car cool at work then checked the coolant level and it was ok. Restarted the car and no warning light :shrug: Just drove 40 miles and all of a sudden the heater started blowing cold air. Pulled over, checked under bonnet and found that coolant was being forced past the expansion tank lid. Unscrewed the lid to release excess pressure and drove another 40+ miles stoppeing a couple of times to check no coolant was being forced past the lid but both times things looked normal. Still only have luke warm air from the heater. i've checked all over the car and there is no water leaking from anywhere. Just letting the car cool down then i'll check the coolant level again.

Did you ever find out what was causing it? I'm having the same problem now and this is the second Corrado i've had this trouble with.

I have been looking around but they are always too far away. Serves me right for living in remotest Devon....:roll:

I'll have a crack at it if i ever get the time. So much to do lately and so little spare time.

I need to do something about my front seats. By the end of a weeks use i always end up with the carpet covered in foam droppings :gag: . By this i mean that the foam in the front seats has degraded that bad that it's actually turning to dust. Has anyone here had their seats re-foamed and how much did it cost you? I know with a little patience i could probably do it myself a lot cheaper but i never seem to get much spare time lately.

I have BK alloys fitted to my C....Very similar to the ones you show there. BK wheels are outstanding quality for the price.

You can pick up secondhand winder mechanism/motors for around a tenner and to be honest it's not too difficult a job to do.

The window motors draw quite a current so don't go using flimsy wire....30 amp wire would be safest. Does the clicking noise come from the drivers side rear quarter panel?

If you look at the diagram you have you'll see that there are two bolts on the middle lower edge of the glass (labelled 7Nm in the diagram). If your window is in the up position they may be hidden. You can still unbolt them but it'll be fiddley because you will have to thread your arms up through the door panel.

If the glass has shifted out of the rear runner then you'll have to unbolt the glass and tilt it forwards to relocate back into the runner. I've never managed to shift any Corrado door glass up or down unless the glass has been unbolted. Changing the motor and mechanism might seem daunting but it's actually not all that hard to do.