dr_mat

Always wondered about that.. Always wondered how the tyres stayed put too, to be honest ..

I have no reason to believe they don't know what they're doing, just being a little pedantic about your part list above.. ;)

The upper "chain" on the Corrado was actually two chains, side-by-side. The later engines (mk3 golf VR6 + ) had a single upper chain. You can fit the later, single chain, but you'd need to swap the intermediate idler cogs and the upper cogs, aswell as using the new tensioner (which you can also use on the old duplex design, if you wish).

They've gone up since I had that done then .. A lot. And they quoted around 6-7 hours.

Depends if you have an early or late VR. The late VR MAFs are available cheaply from GSF.

Tensioners and clutch? Not *bad* (it's not down south rates), but Stealth are a bit quicker at this than 9 hours, so you save big time on the labour. Oh and there's 2 chains at the top ..

Sounds like you have a duff control module to me. It is designed so that you can still operate the windows with the door open and the ignition off for a short period of time - so maybe that bit of the circuit is still working but it's ignoring you for the rest of the time.

I think it's the driver that attracts attention, not the car .. ;)

Well, if it's true to say that before you changed it the water temps were "normal" 80-90 on the motorway, and after you changed it it's sitting at 100 all day long, then yes, it's screwed. I think that's right on testing the thermoswitch, but perhaps a good idea to figure out which of the connectors is the live and which are the fan feeds with a meter first, I don't have a wiring diagram to hand.

Yes, but after market ones are made out of tin foil wrapped around an old hockey stick. Definitely buy the real ones, but all I'm saying is only do so if you're sure you need to replace them .. ! (You can, of course, but the track rod ends on their own, but if you want new rods from VW, you have to buy the whole unit (don't ask me why, ask VW head office).)

VR6 track rods come with ends already installed, you can't buy them separately. And they're expensive, too. About £60 + VAT iirc.

re: 100 degrees .. Did they put the stat in the wrong way round ?? You have a screwed thermostat. I had assumed that it was always like that.. The thermoswitch could still be faulty, but it's worth doing the checks around it again. Are you sure the low speed fans' fuse is in the cooling block? I think only the high speed fan fuse is in there, could be wrong though. Anyway, if your stat stays closed, no fans come on. That's how it works.

Sounds like the fan control thermo switch in the radiator is knackered .. Or, if it's been replaced, you got a DOA.. or the wiring loom to it is knacked .. or the low speed fan fuse has gone (the 110 degree "emergency" fan is on a different fuse). 100 degrees on the water on the motorway is very high, sounds like you have an airlock or a blocked radiator? Think of it this way - the water in the rad must get hot for the low speed fans to come on, so if the rad is blocked, or the thermostat stays closed, that'll never happen. Beginning to point at the rad. Check it with your hand (gingerly!) when the car is hot - make sure the whole rad is hot (both sides and top-to-bottom). Try bridging the terminals on the radiator temp sensor - make sure the fans come on if the thermo switch .. um.. switches..

Just like everything else MOT-wise, depends on the tester. It's obvious that you're using LEDs though - try it and see. Most places would be able to tell just by seeing them switch on and off straight away.

Note that although overall it's a good thing (imho) using LED lights, I believe they're not valid for road use, so you might get pulled over or fail an MOT for them - if the car wasn't fitted with them at the factory, at least.

Note that copper said they had to exceed 40mph to "catch you up". Well duh, it stands to reason you're gonna have to do go faster than the thing you're catching up with, eh?

The idea is that if you park up at night at the left side of the road, you stick the indicator up and that leaves the RHS side-lights on, so cars passing you can see your car and it's side more clearly. Almost all cars have the same function these days, it's pretty universal.

I don't think it has any positive impact on the G60, from what I heard. The only reason it helps turbos is because it helps them to NOT spin down so quickly off boost. Since the G60 is driven by the crank anyway, this is not relevant here. So in other words, it's just a good way to look like a tit.

They don't all have wires, only the earlier cars have hot wire MAF. And no matter what the design, they can all fail.

If only everyone else who works for VW knew about this. If you go to most dealers and ask about the VR6 exhaust they'll tell you there's one part number and it's the full system, and that's that: drop the axle.

The actual rack doesn't have *that* much to do with the steering feel, by all accounts - they use the same parts on Audis and everybody says they have rubbish steering. The feel comes from suspension bushing and geometry. The servo ones are interesting though, because they can do the magic assist thing ..

Allegedly (though the dealers don't seem to know about it) the exhaust is sold in a single piece but there is also a collar piece that allows you to cut+shut the exhaust over the rear axle. Failing that you'll need to drop the rear axle.. Of course, in the factory, they just fitted the exhaust before they fitted the back axle. Hey presto, easy peasy .. :)

Many many people have passed MOTs with bulbs disconnected. They were ALL lucky. ;)

You got grooved brake pads? Could be a stuck caliper ..

The Corrado owner's book includes bullet points of what needs doing at each service interval, you can work it out from that.