Albie

We need to know a few more specific things now. There are 2 types of cylinder head bolts. Do the settings, (40lb ft, 60lb ft, +90deg, +90deg), apply to both types? Do variants of the big end and main bearing bolts exist, ie "must renew stretch" and "re-usable non-stretch"? Anyone have figures for the crankshaft pulley/damper bolt, (BIG!)? There are variants in this for sure. Anyone have figures for the flywheel/driveplate bolts? What about distributor to Head bolts? Although this has proved to be much faster than I had imagined it would be, any more info would still be useful.

Woah there! Easypops you are a star. I'll pull the settings out of your 2 screenshots and start a document which can be transferred to Wiki straight away. I don't think you have every combination in there, I notice your big end bolts are the non-renewable types for example whereas mine are the stretch type, so everyone else please keep posting info, even if you duplicate stuff it will make sure we get as much as we can.

Ok, let me start you off. 1) Head bolts on mine are 40lb, then 60lb, then 90deg, then 90deg. This is for the type which do have a washer under them. I know there is another without washers but I'm not sure what these need. 2) Cam bearing stud nuts 11lb, according to the Autotech document which I posted a link to elsewhere. This seems to be the subject of a few opinions and is very awkward to set in my experience. 3) Exhaust camshaft sprocket bolt 48lb. 4) Inlet manifold support brackets 15lb. 5) Inlet manifold joint bolts 15lb. 6) Big End bolts/nuts 22lb, then 90deg. 7) Valve cover bolts 7.2lb. (How are you going to torque that?) 8 ) Timing belt tensioner nut 33lb. 9) Additional information, timing belt should be tightened until there is only 45deg of play. (This is different to the usual 90deg on 8V engines). Could anyone please confirm that these settings are correct? I will not assume they are until one or two others have posted agreement. Most of these have come from the useful Autotech doc I mentioned earlier. There are lots more to add, please help.

Hi all. I have agreed to take on the task of seeing if there is interest in collecting as many of the engine torque settings as possible to make a master Wiki entry for this engine, (only!) If you see this and can help with even a single entry please post in this thread and I will collate them and take it from there. Everyone knows that there is a shortage of a good affordable reference manual for the average Corrado owner and finding and remembering torque settings is one area which is a constant pain to the uninitiated, (like me). To have a full list of engine torque settings on hand would be really helpful to many of us. Please note, we are only talking about engine settings here, not the whole car! If you see any you disagree with please post too, not to argue the point, but to question it, clarify it and get things right. Also, if you can offer an alternative setting for some pieces of kit, like maybe a different type of bolt used on some models, please give us the alternative and be a bit specific about what it relates to. Remember, I know "my engines" but not necessarily "my engine". I can only post info as accurate as you give me. This is a bit of an experiment but could turn into something useful if we all pull together, and if this succeeds maybe others will take on the other engine codes. 8)

You gave me a bit of a turn there davidwort, the ones I am replacing have M7 threads on each end. I checked this by winding into a M7 tap. You're quite right, the M8 ones will be for the exhaust manifold. They're relatively cheap! The part number quoted on the bags I have just picked up is the same as yours, 030 103 397A. And they are 44mm long with a short 7.5mm wide section just above the level of the head face. These are ridiculously soft for a stud as the torque setting is so low. I found a useful link for anyone contemplating head work on a 2.0L 16V. http://www.autotech.com/instructions/i109418.pdf This is from Autotech and gives a complete description of what to do when building the head back up. It has been very helpful to me. I just have to get the work done now, and without a garage. Why is it that the English weather always turns bad when you need it to be good.

Just a note to anyone who has followed this thread. I have just bought a few of these studs from the local VW dealer as I wanted a couple of brand new ones despite maybe getting some used replacements. They are listing them as only showing 46 available in the country at the moment, and they say they are becoming more difficult to get. There may be not too many of these left now so if you need them, get them while you can.

Hi Veedubbed. Thanks for the offer. I was trying to replace the whole set with new as so many of them have a soft feel to them now and I have no idea if this would be the same for all used ones. In my case I wondered if it was the result of a past session with a wrench from someone who didn't know what torque setting to use and had overdone things. I'm sure it isn't every one which is damaged but I would rather not take chances. Or maybe they are just so old, (it's a K reg), and have never been replaced so they have softened over time. I would be interested in as many as you can get off in good nick providing that doesn't leave you short for the future. Let me know what you want for them and we can sort out how and where. I really appreciate the offer.

Well, at first I imagined that these studs were made from some special material or construction making them weak by choice but, after looking more closely at them, they don't seem to be special at all. They're 2inches long with a M7 thread at each end to take a 11mm nut. The length between the threads has a short length near the head end of an accurate machined 7.5mm diameter to locate the cap accurately, then it narrows a little for a bit, and eventually turns into the thread at the nut end. The cap has a 7.5mm hole which matches the stud at the head, but then opens up to 8mm for over half its length up to the nut. And they are just a standard steel stud material, they must just weaken with use. With the feel of the others giving as I torque them up I have no faith that these will stay together when they are put under stress as the cam lobe passes over the valve underneath them. If I can't find a source I really will have to get them from the dealer at that ridiculous cost for a set. Does anyone perhaps recognise these from any other model or application which may be a bit cheaper?

Hi again. Rebuild of the 16V engine is taking an age what with travel through work etc. The latest crisis is the damned camshaft bearing cap studs. I knew they were torqued to only 11lbs ft but even so a lot of them have a sloppy feel before the wrench clicks. (brand new and down to 10lbs ft), and one of them has stretched and snapped. I left the others alone after that until I can get replacements on hand. Getting it out is not a problem, fortunately it came away just beneath the nut. So I decided that putting in a new complete set of them would be a good idea. That was until I found the stealer price on them, over £2 each, putting a set at over £50+VAT. I would have thought a full set would have had a cheaper price, but no! So, does anyone know of a supplier of these cheaper than that? Or failing that, are there standard ones which can be substituted and used with extreme care? I am imagining that the softness of the original item is only a precaution against Mighty Joe Armstrong attempting to pull them up to the same torque as the sprocket bolt and shafting the bearings in the process. If so they have gone too far IMO, as they are simply too soft to torque up properly once they have been in use and then stripped down. And after all 11lbs is 11lbs whether the stud is soft or hard. I would prefer to replace them all with a complete set if that is cost effective so I'm expecting to have to pay more than a tenner, but I would have thought a full set should have been cheaper than best part of £60. Just for studs for God's sake!!!

Thanks for the link to VWSpares, GSF seem to have gone a little strange recently. They have just told me they do not stock Corrado conrod bolts and nuts yet they are currently listed in their online catalogue. They don't stock sump pan trays, (windage tray), yet people here discuss having bought them from GSF. They can't help with the sump gasket, or at least they don't know enough about them to suggest which one is correct. It's not like them to be so vague about their stock. VWSpares stock sump gaskets and my own is the Pre-009000 type which is a fair bit cheaper. I assume this means it is the older fibre/cork type. Any advice on whether it is possible and useful to change to the new neoprene rubber type if this is the case? I know I will need different sump bolts at least. Are windage trays universal for the VW engines? There are sites out there suggesting that these do fit a range of motors but they don't list them. As they put it "Application: Too many to list! If you know what this is, then you'll know whether it will suit your engine!!" They do offer VOLKSWAGEN Part Number (for reference only): 037 115 220 B. This is offered as "All 4 Cylinder, Factory Unit, Replaces Pan Gasket" but will this fit the 9A Corrado engine? I'll try my local VW dealership for some of this, they should be able to help, but often at a price! Thanks again.

At last, after illness and travel, I can update and go further. The valves came out easily with a little gentle tapping with my fitter's friend to straighten them out. Thanks for the advice on that, it was spot on. Mind you, straighten them out is not the right description, they ended up S-shaped, but it gave me enough play to remove the collets. The head has been tidied up, no other damage was found, (phew!), and the valve guides were remarkable with new valves in. The only thing I came across was the cam sprocket had sheared the key. I was surprised to find this was not a separate woodruff key but seems to be an integral part of the sprocket. So now I assume I need to source a cam sprocket from somewhere. GSF don't appear to have one, any other advice or suggestions for this item? Is there an affordable variable timing sprocket set out there which would be easy to set up? I have new valves in now and have built the head back up again, but have hit the same problem as often before, my CD version of a workshop manual is based on the American models, and doesn't include any mention on the 16V engine. So no advice as to setting up the cams. As it seemed the most logical, I have it currently set so that the 2 small "O"s on the outer face of the chain cogs at the back end of both cams are aligned together and both level with the top face of the head. Can anyone confirm whether this is correct? (I would hate to have to go through all this hassle again because I got such a simple thing wrong). I am waiting for new piston rings and big end bearings to arrive, it seemed stupid to not replace these as the head was off. Once again I am amazed at the longevity of the VW engines. The cross hatching in the bottom 3/4 of the bores is still visible at 135000 miles and there is still no wear lip that my finger nail can detect around the tops of the cylinders. Lastly, I seem to be having a bit of a problem getting a new sump gasket. It looks as though this should be one of the rubber and metal type rather than just a cork one, but GSF don't do them, and no one else seems to have any available for a 9A. I am assuming the 1.8 KR is a different gasket all together. Or is there a chance that the old gasket is to be reused? It has come off without any damage but I don't really like reusing gaskets like that. Once again any advice is welcome.

Thanks for the response guys. The valves are so badly bent over that they are locked over the lip of the head and are just catching on the flat face. This means they have compressed the springs so much that there really is no travel left to be able to further compress them enough for the collets to drop free. When you compress them the springs just reach the point where their coils physically press together. I tried compressing them then gently winding the compressor up more so that they gave every iota of play they had left. Still just not enough, the collets will come loose but just can't get their bottom ridge out of the groove. I'm going to try tapping them with a hammer to see if I can slightly straighten them which will make them clear the head face and drop back towards their seats a little. If I can get them to bend back this way it should give me just a little more room to compress them which will get things sorted. My real worry was whether using a "fitter's friend" on them was going a tool too far. I'll report back on progress and try to post some pics of the job to show how bad it was and in the hope that someone else can benefit in the future. After all, I can't be the only one with this problem.

Thanks to the incompetence of the previous owner who changed the timing belt just before I bought my 2.0L 16V but saved money by not changing the tensioner, I now need 8 new inlet valves. Fortunately the tensioner seized causing the crank pulley to strip the belt at relatively low revs so there seems to be no damage to pistons or cams. The head is off and 6 of the valves are out. The last 2 are a little tricky though. They are both in the same cylinder and are so bent that when I compress them the springs crush before I have enough clearance to remove the collets. I thought of just using my angle grinder to cut across the valve face to take a slice off the edge. This would let the valve drop back closer to its normal closed position and give me more clearance to work. This does smack of butchery though and may risk damaging the valve seats with the sharp edges left on the head. Does anyone have a magic method for getting over this problem?

New info at last. I have just got back from an offshore course last week and got back under the Corrado. I have a meter and more fuses now so was able to investigate further. I can now confirm that the problem is right down in the O2 sensor itself, downstream of the connector down by the rear engine mount. Thanks for the tip regarding the connector up near the exhaust manifold, that was unexpected and it would have been difficult to find not knowing it was there. It wasn't involved in this case but for the future it is useful to know. Everything is perfect up to that point, no shorts either to earth or across connections when measured at each of the fuel pump connectors. With the O2 wiring in place right up to that final connector the car starts up and runs! Connect the O2 sensor and the fuse blew as soon as I switch on, (that is even before I engage the starter motor). Fortunately the sensor was just renewed recently from GSF, and it has less that 50 miles on it, and I kept the old one! It is a 3 pin type, one black and 2 white leads. Measured at its connector it shows open circuit from black to both whites and a dead short across the white leads! That is a dead short on the meter's 200ohm setting which should show even an ohm or two. The one I have just replaced shows the same except for about 6-8 ohms across the white leads. It's always difficult to measure such low resistances with cheap diy meters but 6-8 ohms doesn't seem a ridiculous value for this sort of sensor device. I only took the original out because it seemed stupid not to do so after over 50,000 miles on it when I was rebuilding the whole exhaust system. For the cost and use it has given it was better to replace when it was an easy job. Just as well I kept it for reference. So I yanked out the new sensor to give it back to GSF with my blessings on them. Then I stopped to think. The connections to it are made with crimped tubing, soldering joints is NOT recommended for something of this low resistance in this sort of application. The individual joints are then shrink sleeved and a fabric based covering is slid over. I realised, shrink wrap sleeving near an exhaust!!! When I tried to peel back the outer cloth covering, there was resistance then a slight click as it came free and moved. On getting it free the shrink wrapped sleeving on the 3 joints had stuck together! They were carrying imprints of the fabric outer cloth in their surfaces. As I gently prised the 3 wires apart I found that 2 of the leads also had tiny perforations at their corners and were shorting. This almost needed a magnifying glass to see so it was a subtle problem. As a hint to others like me not in the know, I would suggest that the method for replacing these sensors should include definitively staggering the 3 joints so they cannot possibly short out on each other even when the sleeving softens in the exhaust heat. I wish the instructions had shown that and not three leads of the same length! As soon as I separated the joints the reading jumped back to 6-8ohms just like the original. It would seem that when I was moving, the air flow kept the temperature down, but when I parked up the heat in the tunnel around the leads, (which were well back from the exhaust as they should be), built up to the point where the sleeving softened and this could happen. Hence the problem occurred the morning after my original blast on the local dual carriageway. At least I will have a working new sensor in place and a spare for the future. I am renewing the joints as soon as I can get 3 more crimp type connectors and hopefully the thing will jump back into action then. As a footnote another of my moans about poor design. What sort of engineer makes a unit requiring a 22mm ring spanner to go over it to remove and refit, then puts a connector on the end of the lead of about 24 mm across? Even a much bigger one would be not so frustrating at least. Wouldn't it have been nice to have had a connector which would allow the ring spanner over it to get it on the sensor? (Only moaning because I'm too tight to have a 22mm open ender and mole grips are so bloody clumsy!!!)

Thanks for the advice, i will replace the relay as a matter of course asap. Ive checked the system with the lambda probe disconnected at its lower connector - problem still occurs. I have chased wire up to the upper connector near the exhaust manifold and can find no problems. Unfortunately lack of fuses means i have not tested to that point yet but i will do. Thanks for the advice about removing the tank cover. I did wonder if brute force was the answer. Will get new lift pump in asap. Once i get relay and additional fuses i will report back. Thanks again

Don't know if this is in the right area, maybe a mod could move it if it is wrong. Car is a K reg 2.0L 16V Corrado running completely standard. I have been having numerous electrical problems recently, (reversing lights, sunroof, rear spoiler, demister all stopped working and O2 sensor replaced), and got some great advice from you guys. These probs have mainly been dealt with now and are all working except demister. But I now have a more serious one come on overnight. I had the car MOTd yesterday. It needed ball joints and a nearside CV boot replaced but got through ok. I used it last night for a good old burn up for 20 miles near home without a hitch. Parked it and switched off with no issues. This morning I tried to start and it point blank refused. On checking I found fuse 18, fuel pump and O2 sensor, had blown. I replaced it with another 20A but that also went immediately I switched on. Another fuse later, I took out the fuel pump relay and unplugged the O2 sensor and everything stayed fine. Put the sensor back in, still fine. So no problem with the O2 sensor. I unplugged both the main and lift fuel pumps and replaced the relay, again the fuse blew! So the pumps themselves don't seem to be the fault. (Main is very quiet as it is pretty new and the lift pump is waiting to be replaced when I can figure out how to get the lid off the tank!!!) And the relay appears to pull in and drop out normally when the coil is just bridged across the battery with a wire. Is there anywhere that is a common area for the wiring to the pumps to short out? I'm thinking of something like the front loom being cut where it crosses the inner wings which is a design fault! I have the rear seat up and the boot cleared and both seem to be fine. Any thoughts or hints? Thanks.

This is happening to me too. It seems to be because the spoiler is free on the way up, but when it comes to drop again it binds running the motor at stall and therefore blowing the fuse. I would guess that a strip down and regrease would cure it. Just done mine, good luck with the dismantling, it's a bitch. Tee hee! edit: Oops, just seen the date! Guess you have it sorted one way or the other by now.

Thanks for the advice guys, I got a spare sunroof motor the same way for the dame reason. Looks like I might need it at the moment. Have you a working spoiler motor from that unit Khurrado?

Don't suppose anyone has a spare spoiler motor for sale do they?

If anyone wants to organise a fund to hire a hit man to off the guy who designed the fitting of the rear spoiler I will willingly chip in a tenner! What an abortion of tangled wiring and inaccessible plugs. I know I know, that is part of the joy of owning a Corrado, but I'd still sooner be driving the thing. I have just finally removed the damned spoiler unit and the skin from most of my knuckles. Seems to be pretty common symptoms from what I read. It goes up fine but sticks on the way down and blows the fuse. It runs very freely both ways on the thumbscrew. The last time I tried it electrically I got a wisp of smoke coming from around the motor area which is what made me decide it was time to remove it. Does anyone know what sort of resistance the motor coil pack should be, and is there anywhere left still selling these motors should it need replaced? Sources like GSF don't seem to touch them of course so it could come down to a secondhand job. Maybe there is a unit on an alternative VW which uses the same motor. Any info gladly received. Just as a thought, has anyone any experience of rewinding one of these, it can't be all that hard!

Thanks for the advice Matt, sensible down to Earth and very useful. I checked out the relief relay but found it was virtually brand new. It was perfectly clean and could be felt to click when the ignition was turned on. No luck there. Then I had a thought. I had assumed that as the problems were focussed at the back end, they must have a common cause. What a stupid assumption! So finally putting my brain into gear and checking them individually I found that the missing reversing lights are down to the switch. A new one is being picked up tomorrow. (And why does it need to be so tall?) The spoiler fuse was in fact blown, you were dead right to suggest checking fuses. (In my defence this was definitely not a problem initially, as I checked them all when I first lost the lights and demister.) With a new fuse in, the spoiler raises correctly but immediately blows the fuse again on trying to lower it. Anyone any ideas as to what this might be before I strip it? Is there a known issue with the spoiler units or is it likely to just need freeing and greasing? I have made no progress with the rear demister and I still don't have a solution for the sunroof either. It seems to be a strange unit to get into. How do I get access to the roof switching and motor? I have tried just pulling the rectangular plastic trim cover off but it doesn't seem to want to come!

Hi. Why the Firkin Heel did VW let an incompetent design the electric system in the coolest car they produced? Is there any truth in the story that it was designed by Bertone when he did the styling? If that is true, much is explained! I have the cheap CD version of Bentley which is seemingly pretty common nowadays, but it is incredibly cumbersome to work with for electrics and it only really covers US models anyway so it may be a little different. I have also done some work to try to get to the root of the problem so here is what I have found. A few months ago I lost both of my reversing lights, and while checking things out with the trusty meter I found that the heated rear windscreen had died with them. I thought of rear earthing points and checked them but everything seems ok there and the boot light and spoiler still worked perfectly. It was easy to spot that there is no power for those devices getting to the rear. On checking further, there is no power getting to the switches. Fuses are all fine and the meter shows that there is no power getting to either side of them in their slots! The circuitry for this all seems to be fed from Line 15 and the X relieved line in the fusebox, and other things attached to them still work so I don't think they can be at fault unless they are broken internally. The main ignition switch which feeds Line 15 was renewed late last year. Most of this stuff shows as going through sockets K, P and F on the back. For example the crap manual shows that the rear lights and the demister are both connected to socket K so I checked that. It is clean, no watermarks and the contacts look fine too. Now the spoiler has gone the way of the other 2! And finally to make things worse, the sunroof has packed up too. It was working perfectly and just stopped completely overnight, not jammed, no noise of any slack being taken up or anything. Has anyone a diagram for the 2.0L 16V electrics which they can look to to give me an idea of whether my own version is correct? Or has anyone experienced this problem themselves. I hope I have not confused things with too much info but I always think that I should be trying to do most of the work and not you guys!

Just bought a new alternator for 2.0l 16v from GFS, (normally a great team with help). I had to change over pulleys but that was easy. My pulley is a deep cone type which offsets the drive from the alternator by about a couple of inches, don't know if that is standard. It fits perfectly onto the carrier. The pulley is out at the correct distance and lines up correctly in the plane of the other 2 so they run perfectly. But it is cranked over at a silly angle to them, which the old one definitely was not. Anyone any experience of this problem and what can be causing it? (And of course a cure!)