Bog Standard VR6

I'm a geek: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=71232

I used to be able to get 35mpg on steady motorway trips, but general use was generally averaging around 27-28. I posted some overall running cost figures when I sold my VR6 after 9 years: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=71232

Yes, just imagine dropping 50p in a box for every mile as you drive along ....... On the other hand, imagine your favourite mile of twisty road and 60 seconds (or less ;) ) of that lovely VR6 soundtrack - all for just 50p - a bargain!!!

I agree, if you were to look for the full cost of ownership, you should include the cost of capital - but you should probably apply that to all the outgoings i.e. the full £36K outlay over 9 years i.e. about £15K interest could have been earned if it had been invested rather than spent on buying insuring, feeding the car. This becomes really expensive when you think about buying a new car (which I have just done - a new MkII TT). Quite apart from the depreciation on a new car - when you add in the cost of capital (e.g. investing £25K rather than buying a depreciating car) - it would put you off ever buying a new car! The big advantage of running a "classic" car like a Corrado is the minimal depreciation and capital tied up in it. I almost regret selling it now .......

Yeh, I was pretty happy overall. I think I was lucky to have nothing major go wrong and push up the maintenance costs. At 12 years old it was still on its original clutch and exhaust, with no sign/sound of the chain tensioners needing attention. Maybe I was just lucky (or drove it too gently .....)

Hi, I did this job a while back - my motor jammed/over heated and blew the fuse. As well as the vwvortex link above, which was useful, I put a few more pics on my thread at the time: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65132 As already said, it is worth taking a few photos as you dismantle to assist putting everything back together again. I found the hardest part is removing the mechanism - the rear light wiring, windscreen wiper wiring/hose, etc. were all intertwined with the actuator mechanism. Good luck - let me know if you want more pictures (I only posted some originally).

Okay, so as I’ve just sold my VR6 after 9 great years of ownership, and being a bit of a numbers nerd, I’ve worked out some average running costs. They relate to one of the last VR6’s – registered April ’96 and as I got her on her third birthday more or less, these numbers relate to the 9 years from 3 years old to just over 12 years old, during which I did almost 83K miles (9k per year) and averaged 27mpg. I didn’t customise anything on her – just regular servicing and replacing anything that broke or wore out. ..............Depreciation..Insurance....Tax/MOT.....Petrol.......Serv/Maint.....Total Total........£10,000........£7,625.......£1,685........£11,112....£5,336...........£35,759 Per year....£1,097..........£836.........£185...........£1,219.....£585.............£3,922 Per mile....£0.12...........£0.09........£0.02..........£0.13.......£0.06............£0.43 %............28%..............21%..........5%.............31%..........15%..............100% (Sorry, I couldn't find an easy way to insert a table) Obviously a lot of these costs varied through the 9 years. Depreciation would have been less each year (although probably dropped more so in the last year given current petrol prices etc. – I sold for £2,500). Insurance strangely started at 700, peaked at 1,200 and ended up at 300 (maybe that’s just me getting old ....). Petrol obviously just doubled from 800p.a. to 1,600p.a. Surprisingly, the service and maintenance costs stayed pretty steady each year (just depending upon one-off mis-haps or failures). Overall, £36K seems an awful lot of money, but then again 4K p.a. for a performance car isn’t bad going. I’ll get my coat ..........

Riley, you were spot on - but I'd never have found where that thing went myself, so thanks. For everyone else who has one of these rolling around, it seems to be a bracket to support the back of the fuse box shroud/shelf. The four "prongs" locate on a metal bracket. You fit it pointing up (not sure that makes sense, but you'll know when you try it) and the big "prong", on the side opposite to the four prongs, acts as a support for the back of the fuse box shroud/shelf. Thanks again. Billcor, don't worry, no offense taken (or intended) just a good larf ... :lol: Thanks all.

Thanks Riley, that could make sense as the RAC guy was fiddling around the fuse box last year at some point when the rear spoiler jammed, blew its fuse, which turned out to be shared by the immobilser, so she wouldn't start. I'll have a look in the morning when it's light again. Ta. If not, then it's "gisintin the bin, even if it didny cumooty it" (Have we invented a new language, or just taken the p**s out of the Scots (hopefully not the Irish ;) )

Aye, but what does it gisinty????? ;)

I found this rolling around in the back. I can't see where it has come from. It's about 2 1/2" long. It has a code on it: VW 535 858 716. Any ideas? 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdf20080713_bit pics_070.JPG[/attachment:2o2zh86n] If that was too easy, I also found this loose in the engine bay - obviously a generic fastener, but I can't for the life of me see where it has come from. 20080714_bit pics_083.JPG[/attachment:2o2zh86n] Ta.

There's pictures on this previous post (if the link doesn't work, do a search for +roof +rack and you'll see one called "Time running out to buy a roof rack" or something) viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43066&hilit=+roof+rack

I went for the Thule system for my windsurf board and gear. It included the "short roof" attachment system - the front cross bar hooks under the front of the door opening, but the rear bar just sits on the roof over the back side window. The two cross bars are linked by another bar running front to rear on each side, then there is another fitting that hooks under the rear of the door opening and pulls down on the mid point of the fore/aft bar. This is hard to explain in words .... In effect the whole system is held down by two hooks into the door opening, which in my view makes the rear cross member insecure as it was held down by the hook mid-way between the two i.e. the clamping effect is front biased, but it seemed to work. It was only later that I discovered that you can hook the clamping hooks under the rubber seal of the back side window - there are even two little arrows on the rubber seal to indicate where to place the hook/foot. That is what I do now, without the short roof bar mid-way clamp and it feels much more secure. So all I can say is the Thule system works well for me - but don't bother with the short roof pack.

Hi there, I won't turn this into a for sale post - but you know you want to..... it's only money (petrol ......) I'll hopefully get a for sale post up in a week or two when it comes back from the alloys being refurbed and gets a good wash and clean before taking some pics. Shame to see it go ...........

Hi, I've been reading (and occasionally posting) on this great forum for a few years now and I've noticed a few members in Ireland and specifically N. Ireland, where I am. As I'm going to be selling my VR6 soon (and will of course be submitting a formal advert to the "For Sale" section here), I was wondering how many forum members there were in Ireland/N. Ireland? I'd be keen for it to go to an enthusiast from the forum, but I wouldn't expect much interest from those of you over on the "mainland" for obvious logistical reasons. But if there aren't many of us Paddys ;) on the forum then I'll have to advertise elsewhere too.

Thanks for the replies - it sounds like there is still good demand/desire for unmodified cars then. I'm probably a little bit more tempted to keep mine then, once my TT comes. But I'm still in the situation of not having space to keep it, so that may force me to sell - unless I can install a set of hydraulic garage ramps and turn my garage into a double decker .... :lol: Now would I want my C hanging above my brand new TT???? :gag: At least I still have a few months to decide .......... and a nice decision to have, I admit. Cheers.

So, after 9 years with my trusty VR6, I

Hi, Job done

Headlight out? Good idea. I'll try that. Thanks.

Hi, I have a bad oil leak. Thanks to a few searches on here, I was able to pin down the source of it very quickly without the tedious "pressure hose everything clean and lool for leaks" method. Which could have taken a while as there was a lot of oil all under the engine, subframe, back along the exhaust etc. The highest point seemed to be around the oil filter housing so when I read about the infamous leaking pressure sensors, I just lifted the rubber boots, cleaned them down and started up the engine. It wasn't exactly squirting oil, just a very worringly persistent slow flow, which I'm sure would chuck out quite a bit after a while. So thanks for that help - but now I'm wondering whether I can get access easy enough without dismantling too much? There's not a lot of room there (VR6). Is it best to work blind from below or try to squeeze down between the radiator/fan and the intake? Anyone done this and remember? Any hints? I've read on here that there's the low and high pressure sensors - unfortunately I hadn't read that when I was investigating, so I didn't try to distinguish the colour amongst all the gunk. It's the left one as you stand and look into the engine bay - I wonder if I should just go into my dealer and ask for a left hand oil pressure sensor :nuts: Any ideas if that's the high or low one? I presume they originally fit them consistently high on one side and low on the other. Maybe I should just get both and replace both - if one's gone the other can't be far behind. All advice welcome (as long as it's useful ......... or amusing) Thanks.

Okay, so here are a couple of pics: This is the complete mechanism, well without the spoiler actuating pillar mounts on either side that bolt to the lip on your hatch. Conventionally, it's probably easier to remove the complete unit, but as I had so many wires and pipes running through the spoiler mechanism, I loosened these pillars from the body and then dismantled them while hanging loose inside the rear hatch, so I could remove the spoiler mechanism that was trapped by all the other wires. Not sure it was an easier way or not! passat climatronic wiring diags.pdf2008-02-02 Corrado Spoiler 011low.jpg[/attachment:56uobpkf] This one shows the rigid outer cable casing tube removed from the gearing mechanism and with the flexible cable removed from the tube. The cable has a 3 to 4 inch rigid metal end that engages with one of the white geared drive rods in the main mechanism - the other end is the fitting that engages on the spoiler actuating pillar. In between it is a flexible metal cable, with multiple plastic segments round it. I guess the white ones are a low friction plastic and the clear ones in between just keep them spaced, but the end result is a metal cable with flexible plastic "bearing" material running inside the tube. My one wasn't too dirty and quite free running. climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdf2008-02-02 Corrado Spoiler 018low.jpg[/attachment:56uobpkf] This shows the motor disassembled - note the pile of crud in the middle that fell out - plus twice as much again when I brushed things clean. The plastic brush housing was filthy and showed signs of melting at one point - as shown by the hole burnt in the paper/fibre washer on the left - there should only be two cut-outs in its circumference, not three! 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdf2008-02-02 Corrado Spoiler 021low.jpg[/attachment:56uobpkf] 2008-02-02 Corrado Spoiler 022low.jpg[/attachment:56uobpkf] Not sure if this helps!

Ok, I'll try to upload a few pics to this post later, this evening.

So, I decided to treat myself on my birthday by allowing myself to dismantle the rear spoiler mechanism

I think you've all convinced me to do some dismantling the next free weekend I get - it can't be that much harder than the window mechanism I replaced a few months ago. I do believe in a bit of preventative maintenance now and then - maybe the fuse blowing was just its way of saying it was next in the queue for attention! Having had the VR for the last 9 of its 12 years, I'm finding it hard to contemplate replacing it - not that I can think of anything that could replace it .... I have a very narrow drive down the side of my house (my garage is behind the house) and 350Z's, TT's (insert your favourite Corrado replacement here .....) are all that much wider and wouldn't fit. But that's another story. Thanks for all the advice.

It was cold, but it's been colder. I think I'll take your suggestion and just clean/lubricate what I can get to without complete motor/assembly removal just yet, to see if it does blow the fuse again. But first, as you suggest, I'll get some spare fuses! Thanks for the advice. RAC man seemed quite keen on the car - think he'd always wanted one.......