dr_mat

Unless the wide boy with the LOUD beetle is trying to park (badly) outside your living room window (the joys of terraced housing)... Forget road rumble it's not as intrusive as "crap exhaust" noises... :)

Did the rear wiper actually move with the rev counter????

Home audio is only simple because it's designed that way - you have one box, with all the speakers in it, so all the frequenciesof sound come from the same place!

$20 US? Almost free then! Marvelous! I'll immediately send three shirt buttons and a HB pencil to cover the $20 US cost ... ;)

BMW Z4? Unfortunately it looks like a strange german shoe. The old woman who lived in one apparently is on the list for the M-version... ;)

You mean it decouples the sound from what's coming out of the front speakers, in the same way that listening to dolby pro-logic encoded sounds on a non-pro-logic playback system sounds like it has a weird gap in the middle? Or do you mean it's used because it's easier to hit the phase invert switch than to swap the wires over? I'm not an expert, but I have to say it sounds like snake oil to me... ;) I know "serious" hifi often has a phase invert switch, but that's to invert the WHOLE phase at the same time, you never see people suggesting splitting the signal and inverting bits of it and not other bits, the idea is that it forms a cohesive whole, not a disjointed bunch of sounds.

How to tell your 'stat is stuck: CLOSED: the temp gauge rises steadily from cold and doesn't have a "steady state" for a while at 80 degrees, just goes straight to 100 (or higher), but the RAD FANS STAY OFF. OPEN: the temp gauge rises slowly but steadily from cold, again showing no steady state at 80 degrees. Temp will typically stay on the low side during driving, but will obviously climb to 100 and the fans will come on as normal when stationary. How to tell your sender unit/gauge is faulty: You see the normal rise in temp from cold, followed by a steady temperature for a short while (even if it's not 80 degrees). If you sit in traffic stationary the gauge goes up by about 20 degrees and then increases no further. While this happens, the fans start kicking in/out as normal. Reggit I am aware the 'stat is a PITA to change, Stealth did mine when it was in for the timing chains... Perhaps some kind soul has done a write-up..?

That would make sense. Particularly if you have a stretch limo with the sub in the boot... In a corrado though? Suppose it makes sense for high frequencies, to retain stereo imaging, but not the bass. The wavelength is >> length of car..

Has the thermostat ever been replaced? If not, sounds like you ought to have replaced it first, rather than the temp sender... Reason being, if the gauge *ever* reaches 100 degrees C, then it's working ok. The water being slightly warm will be enough to provide warm air to the cabin, you don't need the full 90 degrees.

I'm guessing you don't mean in the audio sense...

I know the rack and arms are steep, I've replaced all mine, just for fun, apparently...... :(

I hate to say it, despite knowing that you can repair it, once a car has had a smack that hard, chances are it'll never be properly straight again. Even if I had the know-how to source and refit all the appropriate bits I'd be inclined to find another car, and scrap the bent shell you have right now mate... :(

Yep, didn't realise there was a multi-position switch, I'd assumed it was just a WOT switch... The only other thing that makes me think it's not that is that the problem seemed to be progressive - it got slowly worse, rather than suddenly being bad..

I thought it was 45mph ish? Some it's 45, some it's 57. Think it's an early car/late car difference.

How about checking the distributor? Fuel supply might also be an issue, assuming you've not already ruled it out. Spark and fuel are most likely candidates, IMHO. Fuel filter? If the throttle switch was screwed, surely the car would run fine on WOT, but would be stupidly overfuelling at other times?

I wonder if it's not related to your ICE. The infamous blue lead that passes on the speed info to the head unit is also used to drive the spoiler control circuit. Perhaps your head unit has a dimmed display based on the sidelights circuit? Perhaps it's pulling the speed cable down to earth but only when the sidelights are on? Remove your head unit and see if it still happens (assuming it's on a pull-out cradle).

:lol: "VR6 top mounts are indestructable" - it's a phrase I've heard Kev say many many times... And now he's destroyed some!! :)

I'd just like to point out I'm NOT suggesting you go driving around in the dark with no lights on tonight to find out!!!

I suspect it's more to do with whether you put the headlights on mate, nowt to do with the light levels outside....

Well, around £17 + VAT from VW actually. GSF might have them for a tenner a pop, but they're not genuine.

The mechanic is maybe under the impression that you have to replace the whole wishbone, cos some lesser VWs have the ball joints riveted into the wishbone. The Corrado has removeable BJs, shouldn't take too long to swap 'em. It's at least 30 minutes though, and that's assuming that you don't have any trouble with seized bolts or anything else like that.

I would have thought the effect of the water would disappear pretty quickly (I had the same thing happen once). Someone said the regulator isn't separate on the VR alternator earlier on, not sure if this is true or not. Might be an idea to drive around with a voltmeter attached to the battery terminals for a while. If the light on the dash comes on and the battery voltage still reads 13.5v+ then chances are the alternator is ok and it's a detection problem, which will be a complete PITA :(

What date in '92? It should pass ok without the cat, true enough, but if it's registered before August '92 it doesn't even have to do the stricter CAT test, just the earlier test. (Which pretty much anything should pass!) Best bet is to get the car on VAG-COM and see if there's any mixture-related error codes.

You could edit the post... Well you *could*, until I post this reply... ;) Yes, that could well have messed up the alternator, at least temporarily!! How much use has the car had since the "ploughing through fecking huge puddle" incident?

Maybe the alternator just got wet? It was p1ss1ng it down round here, did you go through any big puddles??