dr_mat

And we told you a million times it wasn't... ;)

Oil temps on a motorway cruise on a *standard* Corrado VR6 are usually nearer 110-114 degrees in the UK. In hot weather you'll rarely see less than 100 degrees on the oil.

Make sure the mileage is genuine ...

I'm told that Labour are considering introducing legislation that means all new babies will be chipped with RFID, just under the skin on the back of the necks (a painless and quick procedure with a local anaesthetic). This will allow road charging later in life, just by driving past a detector panel. The plan is to tie this into the id card database and allow you to authenticate yourself just by waving a detector over the back of your neck.

Sounds like you got a duff air flow meter to me ...

Corrados are notorious for having messy electrics that drain batteries. .11 amps constant drain means a totally flat battery in around 24 days, which is about the going rate. That sounds fine to me.

Well: given that the accident was 100% not your fault, and the guy appears to be insured, if you tell your insurers about the accident you have a legal right to INSIST that the car is repaired, NO MATTER what the cost. You have no contract with the other guy's insurer, so you come under their "million pounds third party liability" section. If it was your own insurer, you signed a contract with them giving them the right to write the car off if uneconomical to repair.. You did no such thing with this other guy's insurance.

There's no practical way to tell if you've warped the head/block other than waiting for something to give. (Usually a gasket!) The impractical way is to strip it down and measure everything. Which seems ott.. People lose their coolant all the time (mine did it twice in four years), it's not the end of the world unless you're gunning the engine or you let it badly overheat.

Been spending some cash then?? Jeez, it goes on doesn't it .. What about the new UJ? Aren't they stupid prices too?

Yes you could possibly have caused some damage. Is that what you wanted to hear? But hey, it's not possible to tell. All you can do is sit back and wait. If the head gasket goes next year you might have something you can point your finger at. Chances are it will be fine. Bad things can happen if you boil the water off, but not generally until the oil burns off too .. ! (After all it's the oil that's cooling the hottest parts of the engine.) Not sure about the scraping noise while moving the car though. I assume this noise went away?

You can get a USB-serial adapter for a few quid ...

I hear the G60 ECU does a lot of fuelling based on this mysterious 1m-long vacuum hose.. Best check that's *exactly* 1m long too..!

I always thought it kinda odd that you'd deliberately engineer solid engine mounts. The mount is supposed to soak up some of the engine vibration precisely to prevent the block and the chassis from having to do so (which they were not designed for). Of course, making one that's not quite the right size certainly doesn't help :) but I always thought this was a fundamentally flawed idea, personally..

I just don't get the Passat door handle obsession. By all accounts they suffer from the same design flaw. Best bet seems to me to be the repair kit. Permanent fix - no more broken handles!

When it's failing to start, does the ECU unlock? If they can't communicate with the ECU, then it's cos the immobiliser never unlocked - change the reader coil in the steering column. "It doesn't cut out going along but the orange light comes on" - probably a slight misfire still then. I assume they swapped the plugs and the "HT connectors" (not leads) at the same time?

The VR6 uses a completely different ABS pump unit, which requires more cables to the ABS controller (it's the only C with EDL). Not that I'm saying the 2.0 controller WON'T work, just that it's definitely not the right part .. I would imagine that the 2.0 ABS controller will complain because it sees extra valves that it cannot operate.

There's a board on the wall that describes the correct sequence of lights at most MOT testers, for all models. If they're sharp enough to spot that the light never comes on they're sharp enough to spot it's not there!

Did you memorise his registration..?

There's usually a date of manufacture stamped on the battery somewhere, usually burned into the plastic casing. I'd just be inclined to make a fuss. They are very much more keen to help under those circumstances.. But if you want legal advice, ask a lawyer .. ;) However, hang around for ill-informed conjecture ..

The ABS *is* working? You're sure? Most people who remove the wiring do so for a reason. Well the long answer is you need to rewire the light, but the short answer is you might be able to get a delay circuit that will fake the light being on for the pre-req amount of time.

There's always something better. I think VAG-COM does pretty well for a non-professional reverse engineered toolkit ($99 for god's sake). I've not tried the latest VAGCOM with the latest cables either, so I have no idea what it's capable of. I note you have an OBD2 ECU though..

In other words, you'll follow the instructions! I will not be amazed when it works! ;)

Nope. The VR6 has the most advanced ECU in the Corrado line-up, and it's quite unable to go any quicker than the opto-isolated cables and old-style VAGCOM. And iirc the main reason VAGCOM 311 is still on ross-tech's website is because it's the only one that works with the old opto-isolator cables.

Daddy or Chips?

Ross-tech site says electronic isolators are "faster" than opto-isolators. But opto-isolators are fine for the old, slow ECUs on Corrados.