dr_mat

I typed western union BEFORE VR6!! Spooky! One more comment - I don't think there's anything anyone can do to defraud you of funds if all they have is your sort code and account number. I honestly can't think of a scam that would work from just that information. And yeah the weak English skills are often a give-away, but unless you've got another buyer lined up you may aswell play along, aslong as you're keeping yourself protected.

You just need to give them a sort code and an account number, AFAIK. There might be an International Banking Number or something tho. Best bet is to call your bank and ask them their advice. If it's an electronic fund transfer it won't clear for a few days, and basically he'll have to wait. You keep calling your bank until they tell you the funds are cleared, and then you get them to transfer the entire sum to another account you hold (remember to not leave enough in the account to cover this payment) - in another bank. (You have got a spare account, haven't you?!) Once it's over there you can be confident the money is really yours (after all your bank has released the funds to you). Unless he's talking about wire money as in Western Union.. if so I have no idea!!

VW ones aren't too pricey. Labour is about 3/4 hour at most for each mount, should be less. How can you tell? One was completely knackered on mine, but the other two are fine.

He's gonna pay you over the odds? Fine good luck to ya, but if he starts asking things like "sending my mate to pick it up", you'd better hold the car until you're absolutely certain the money is in your bank and CLEARED. In fact, make absolutely sure you can take the money OUT of your account into another one, BEFORE you part with the keys. You're right to think it sounds a little suss, but it'd be silly to refuse the guy a chance to prove his innocence (as it were)... Just don't be tempted to release the car till you have the cash in your hand, no matter how he pleads..

The full VW service also includes bizarre stuff like greasing the door hinges, sunroof slider and so on. You'll be looking at rear axle bushes too at that mileage, I've never known a VW survive 100K+ without needing them. Yes, if you've not done it, I'd seriously consider coolant flush and change aswell as brake and gearbox fluid. I presume you've serviced the car at an independant or done it yourself, and now wondering what you might have missed, cos otherwise you'd have a stack of receipts!

Of course if VW launched the Corrado now it would have had the Golf Mk4 chassis, which would have resulted in it being a lemon... The motoring press *liked* the handling of the Golf 2, and the Corrado maintained that standard. No-one likes the handling of the Golf 4 at all, so it would just be another Audi TT. An expensive toy for people who don't care so much about their driving experience, but are more interested in playing the numbers game (price, performance) down the pub with their mates. Sorry TT drivers, but I honestly can't find a lot of appeal in the car.. But I get what you're saying Kev. If they could manage to release an updated version that kept the handling and steering characteristics of the original, yet had modern power, drivetrain and cabin features it would be more competitive I'm sure.

The Corrado cost VW an absolute fortune, and never sold in large enough numbers for them to recoup the design and manufacture costs. In fact it was only when they announced it's demise that it really started selling *well*, prior to that it had just ticked over. Or that's the gist of it, anyway.

I wish my local place would offer me a "free quick download"... They wanted to book it in (in three days!!) and do the full treatment...

Was your fault a solid fault or intermittent? Mine is consistently inconsistent! Oh and I did try lifting the seats, but they didn't wanna come easily, so I didn't wanna break anything by forcing it. I think it's unlikely to be one of these sensors anyway, given the nature of the ABS light pattern..

Nah, it's instant. I checked the front sensors - 11k ohms, no worries, bang on spec. I started the car this morning - ABS light on, drove round the corner, stopped ... got back in started it again - ABS light off. Drove like a loon all the way to work, and the ABS is not only working, but it's working perfectly (EDL funtion too). Repeated presses of the pedal don't faze it either, it just keeps working. Get out of the car at work, switch car off, press the pedal a few times (to hopefully trigger the ABS pump on next ignition start), turn the ignitiion on.. ABS light goes straight out, as normal... Bloody bizzarre, I can tell you. I can't find the rear sensor connectors (I've been told they're under the seats, but do you have to unbolt the seat-backs to access them?). Also, I had a look at the relay box, and can't see where the ABS relays and stuff live. The Bentley seems to suggest they're directly above the main fuse and relay box, but I couldn't find anything there.... Am I being thick?! I *did* go to VW this morning to see about getting the codes read, but they are too busy. I tried Audi (next door), thinking they'd have the same tools, but they swore blind they wouldn't have the right equipment, so I left it at that... VW wanted to charge 30 mins labour to read the code (which would have been refunded if I'd gone to them to get the repair done) == ~ £40!! Think I'll give my local independant a call...

That's what I thought... I can't hear my ABS pump, by the way. The only noise I can hear is the one from the aux water pump. (Trust me that's what it is.) It's kinda tricky to have your head under the bonnet while you turn the ignition on...

Hmmm. Clearly I need to speak to an expert, all this speculation is just wasting everyone's time! :( So if there's pressure in the system, the pump doesn't run? Makes sense. So if you've turned the ignition on and the light has gone out, that means the pump has pressurised the brake system for you (or it was already at pressure). How does the engine's vacuum assist come into all this then?

Mine could probably do with replacing too - I'm assuming the tailgate should more or less lift on it's own..?

Ok, all good reasons.. :)

I'm interested in knowing why you're having an alloy slam panel made!

I've thought the same before. The only thing that lets it down is the inherent Golf mk4 chassis underpinnings, otherwise it could be everything the Corrado was..

I have been checking this out. One more factor to take into account with mine is that if you get into the car and sit there turning the ignition on and off, without touching *anything*, eventually the ABS light will go out normally, and from that point on it will go out every time you turn the ignition on. I had originally thought that it was necessary to move the car, but that is not the case.. This means it must be failing to pressurise the ABS cylinder due to the ABS pump not working 100% and taking longer than usual to prime the ABS reservoir. Now, that's a *bad* sign, cos they're DAMN expensive, but - it could also be the relay..!!! If the relay is sticky these symptoms will be the same - every so often the relay unsticks, the pump runs, the ABS is primed, the light goes out. From that point on, it doesn't really matter if the relay fails again next time, cos the ABS is already up to pressure, so it doesn't matter... At least that's what I'm hoping. Anyone got any better ideas or can tell me where the relay is?

To follow-on from the above tale of woe, I think I've finally got it sussed. Initially the majority of my problems were caused by a combination of having mismatched front tyres (one Avon ZV1 directional and a Uniroyal non-directional), AND badly adjusted tracking. The place that were adjusting it apparently can't read their guages. Then I got a new pair of Goodyear Eagle F1s fitted, and found that it improved matters a little, but not much. Then I discovered that the driver's side front wheel was a) at 45psi!!! b) incorrectly balanced c) had loose wheel bolts!!! So on correcting all these three issues (you're damn right I got them rebalanced for free!), it's improved matters a hell of a lot. The bolts weren't VERY loose, so it was taking the full weight of the car in a corner to shift it, but it was noticeable how much tighter it felt when I did the bolts up just a half-turn. The tracking is still very slightly out (last time it was tracked the bolts were loose), but it feels totally consistent now, so I'm thinking that will go away with a proper alignment.

Very good job you don't habitually leave the car in gear then, ain't it! ;) When you park on a slope and don't trust the handbrake there's not much choice..

Ah, ABS eh? What a bag of pain it is!! To add to the long list of woes above, mine is now showing some fairly constant symptoms that I don't like. I've not booked it in yet to get the error codes read, but here's the lowdown. Turn ignition on - light stays on. Can drive off and the light will never go out (well that's working corrrectly then).. But having driven the car a short distance if I then turn the ignition off and back on, the light goes out and stays out for the rest of the journey. Damned irritating, I can tell, cos it sounds like a loose conection, which is gonna be a complete git to track down I'm sure. I intend to start going round checking the wheel sensor resistances, and re-seating the connectors, but wondered if anyone else had seen similar problems and found out what it was? Cheers! :)

Mixture adjustment adaption range could indicate the MAF (i.e. the ECU doesn't know how much air is going in) or the lambda probe (the ECU doesn't know how rich the resulting mixture is) I'd guess. I would think either could result in poor fuel mixture calculations. The lambda probe is a cheaper fix!! But thinking about this some more, it could mean neither of these are faulty. All that's reporting is that it's adapted fuelling ratio is below what it considers to be a "normal" engine, i.e. it's putting in less fuel per measured unit of air than it considers to be correct. Could this even be dodgy injectors? The ECU asks an injector for a short burst, but the injector is stuck open so floods that cylinder, the ECU picks up the extra fuel/air at the lambda probe and adjusts it's injector timing shorter to try and compensate? Pure speculation, but... Dunno what the hell ECU blocked means!!

Someone sold a "brand new" VR6 headlight switch - it went for £47 + P+P. Not bad. You could buy them from GPC, then sell them on ebay. £9 profit each time isn't bad at all!

No. You should have bought a Vauxhall Calrton with the digital dash if you wanted to drive KITT ... ;)

Mine are already colour coded, from the factory... ;)

You lucky git! ;) I'd love to take a ride in it sometime, as let's face it, it's more or less a NEW corrado!! Matt.