RallyRaddo

Worst fears: HEAD GASKET :bad-words: Pulled the plugs out a short time ago, on looking into the cylinders with aid of trusty maglite, found: No 1. Damp with signs of condensation No 2. Toddlers swimming pool No 3. Olympic size swimming pool No 4. The North Sea Head gasket set from E-Bay £30 Next couple of weekends, head off, look for damage to pistons, fix as required, then Aberdeen Car Auctions or sell the serviceable bits of the car as parts. Hacked off ploughing money into this car. Thanks for the tips on this latest problem guys. Putting a pic of the plugs up just for the hell of it. Cheers Kev

Cheers guys, appreciate it. The radiator was blocked due to a foreign object. I pulled a piece of rubber from just inside the top hose connection. It looks like it is a pice of rubber gasket or something. Using a hose into the top of the rad, nothing was coming out the bottom & same result vice versa. Certainly didn't see any white smoke when I drove the car back & onto the driveway on NY Eve, so I am crossing my fingers it's not that. I will look at the connections for the hall sender tomorrow & dry / clean as required. Gonna nipt to Halfords 1st thing for a plug socket to pull the plugs out. Will put the pics up here as soon as I pull them. By the time Halfords opens on a Sun & I get home, should have pics up for around lunchtime. Thanks again Kev

Here we go again & yet another thread on a non starting 16 valver. The brief history: New Years Eve, drove into Aberdeen and got steam from under the bonnet. In a nutshell, it was overheating due to a blocked radiator. Radiator now replaced (Thanks Laughingboy) and everythings reconnected & refilled with water. Went to turn it over late this afternoon & it just wont fire up. I know the ECU, fuel pump, accumulator, distributor & coil are all OK cos they have been replaced in the last few months. Remember, it was driving fine till the radiator overheat. I know it's not a head gasket failure, as the oil on the dipstick is normal, no white / frothy residue from an oil / water mix. Checked all 4 leads & there's a spark at the plugs when turning over. The inside of the spark plug recess is pretty wet at No 2 cylinder. Probably caused from the hot water geyser that erupted from the header tank when the cap was removed, the others are dry. Questions: Could water have seeped into all 4 cylinders, through the spark plug threads causing the engine not to fire? I am going to get a spark plug socket tomorrow as I need to see if the plug ends have water, so right now, that's an unknown. Could water have got into the engine any other place to cause the problem? Anyone give me a couple of pointers please? Cheers Kev

That's one heck of a nice looking motor, paintwork's stunning and I sure do think the wheels do it justice. Kev

Sod it, decision time Leon. I'm going for the Philips H4 90/100 Rally Bulbs too. http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=40 Wiring loom is upgraded and I run a 20a fuse, so dont see an issue there. The lifetime of the bulbs is irrelevant, as long as they see me through the dark nights. Will go into Aberdeen tomorrow & see if I can get them off the shelf, if not, go for the previous link & get from there. Kev

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CA-hdcwp50Q http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/230061/lightbulb_test.html

Excellent info Mystic, thanks! The PIAA's were £86 for the pair delivered, but as you say, with the Halfrauds deal, it's worth following up. Cheers Kev

Demon Tweeks didn't reply, so just as well I telephoned PIAA directly ......... According to "Joe", there will be no temperature problems with the H4 80/80w (150/150w) He also said these bulbs are used by all the top rally teams (Subaru, Mitsubishi etc) so now he can also tell future callers that Kev uses them too :clap: Will order a pair of these on Friday and fingers crossed, they do the trick. If they don't then I will struggle through till after Christmas & upgrade to Angel Eyes. Couldn't find anywhere on the Web that sold standard Corrado headlights & have a feeling A/Eyes from Venom will be cheaper that standard VAG sourced ones. Marshole, you got those Phillips yet? Kev

Wouldn't mind a look at these first hand if at all possible? Found Angel Eyes on Venom Motorsport. Seems these ones are good for either left or right hand drive. If the uprated bulbs I want to put in don't improve night vision, it may mean a complete upgrade of the lights themselves. Kev http://www.venommotorsport.com/product_details.php?id=2911&manufacturer=Inpro&category=Lighting

Duly noted Craigowl. Much as I HATE using fogs when the weather doesn't warrant it, the lights are THAT bad, I need to use them. Thankfully it's only on the homeward journey from work at the end of the day, 90% country roads. E-Mail now sent to Demon Tweeks asking about bulb temperatures, so hopefully get the bulbs replaced before too long. Kev

I bought the uprated relay kit a few months ago. Thought this was going to resolve the problem of trying to drive with a couple of candles. How wrong I was to think that. Now the darker nights are in, I see very little difference in the light being put out. It's still like driving on sidelights & have had to resort to using front fogs on the country roads just to see where I am going. I saw an advert in this months Performance VW Mag where a dealer was selling Angel Eyes for a Corrado, but with Christmas fast approaching, + £200 isn't what I want to go forking out right now. I spotted among a few others, these PIAA's on the Demon Tweeks web site: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/products/ProductDetail.asp?cls=MSPORT&pcode=PIAH284 These all look appealing: # H4 draws 60/55w produces 130/120w (H-88) # H4 draws 80/80w produces 150/150w (H-89) # H4 draws 60/80w produces 140/165w (H600) BUT................. I have concerns over the heat being generated by the bulb and the integrity /safety of the headlight lens. I used uprated bulbs in my old Land Rover Discovery rally car, without any problems but am assuming the Land Rover lenses are a lot thicker than a VW lens. Any thoughts from anyone please? Cheers Kev

I will be travelling to work in a warm car from now on. New matrix in without dash removal. Couple of tricky bits here and there, but nothing too serious. Started at 11am and finished in time to watch X Factor on Saturday. Had plenty tea breaks and stopped for a meal so could have finished sooner. Also took the opportunity to remove some of the junk wiring from under the dash. Never seen a data cable in a car with an RS232 plug on one end and an RJ45 on the other. 2 way radio at one time perhaps? Who knows. Fan blower finally gave up the ghost, so a new one from GSF is in order I think. Sorry, completely forgot completely to take pics Kev

David, Thanks mate, found it no problem. Think I will be brave & try it with dash in place. Got my Nephew coming up to help as well, so being a mechanic, he should have it all done by the time I have made us a cuppa! :lol: Watch this space................ Kev

Welders gloves oughta sort the knuckles issue..................

I know I am not the fastest, so 10 months to get round to doing a job must be a record.... New matrix arrived yesterday from GSF. Know what I am doing this weekend. Kev

I ain't never had an automotive threesome before. Come to think of it, I ain't ever had any type of threesome :lol: Cheers Yan. Kev

Cheers Martin. Wish I had done this thread when the guy was advertising. Would have been so funny to ask a question on his statement just to see if he had the courage to reply, :lol: Kev

Been bumped before I got to it & looking rather lively. Cheers for the tip Walesy Kev

Would have been here sooner had I been able to upload this pic from work, but stoopid firewall stopped me. History of the car: Not very well looked after by countless previous owners. Body work was in a mess & I have now got round to looking at that. Since I got it a little under 2 years ago, fixed various issues and bills around £2500 give or take. I must be mad. At least now, I can drive it on the road without something going wrong every day. Plans: Fingers crossed, it's on the racetrack next year Never seen another Nugget in Aberdeen or surrounding area yet Kev

Ah, they are starting to come out of the woodwork now. I do still believe though, the Nuggets are still fewer in numbers than the other main stream colours. Am I being a sad git if I start a new thread and see how many respond? Kev

Obviously trying a selling ploy as I suspected. I know what you mean about the colour fade too Rob. I T Cutted mine last year and within months, it looked like it had never been done. I have now started doing the rust on the wheel arches and other area's on the body & using the Nugget Yellow colour code LK1B, there's a heck of a difference. I will be putting sponsor stickers on in the near future, so it won't look too bad, hee hee Kev

Cheers Guys, Rob, there are 2 Nuggets on just this thread alone now, LOL. Good bit of info there. Thanks Kev

Hi everyone, Few weeks back, a chap was advertising a Nugget Yellow Valver on E-Bay. Part of his description was along the lines of... Only 16 imported into the UK of this colour, 4 are now scrapped, his is for sale, leaving only 10 remaining. I'm curious if this statement was correct. I know the Nugget Yellow's seem to be few & far between, but where could he have found this information or was it just a sales ploy to try & entice someone into buying a rare coloured car? Kev

Says him with a VR6........ OK, OK. I'm going BUT I will be back :tongue:

Sacralidge I know, but I wouldn't say no to one of them there Evo X's