dr_mat

Down a hill, in a vacuum .. maybe. And you'd be doing 7500 rpm in 5th...

The ABV VR engine has a 4 bar fuel rail.

One more point: the lambda probe, which is VITAL for correct fuelling, is intalled in the CAT pipe. If it's been disturbed it may well not be working right any more. I have to say that usually when you lose the lambda what happens is overfuelling, but if it's been contaminated in a subtle way it may read the wrong way. Also look for air leaks. Leaking post-block and pre-lambda could result in badness.

The Corrados were OBD1, though they had OBD2-style diags connectors, and OBD2-style MAF. Do you think you have a duff coil pack??

Hi, Bummer, hate it when people misdescribe things you buy .. As for the poor running, could be a number of things. Either: - physical engine probs (head gasket?) - engine sensors (MAF/ lambda typical culprits, engine speed sensor also possibility) - oiled-up plugs/bad leads (suggest you start here! it's the cheapest!) You really want to get hold of the diags software and try reading off the ECU what faults it's reporting. That'll tell you a lot about the system in general. You also want to tell us what miles per gallon it's doing - that tells you a lot about the state of the fuel system. And what colour is the smoke/steam if any coming out the back? And does it use oil? Any mayo under the filler cap?

Depends on the exact make and model of MAF, and the exact calibration of that particular MAF, and the size of the TUBE it sits in! Plus on early 12v VRs you can't read the MAF in measuring blocks, and they aren't running closed loop stoichiometric either, so you can't guarantee that air flow == fuelling == power output. If you can get a *calibrated* reading of grams per second, you have a reasonable idea of power output, but otherwise all bets are off.

Ignition switch is the next culprit.

Indeed. Welcome to the "it hurts when I do this" "so don't do it then" camp.

You won't get that while the car is going along unless you have a faulty ABS relay. Apparently they're under the glovebox, but I never found 'em myself ..

The VR brakes scare the crap out of me compared to my missus' peugeot. Drive that for a few days and get back in the Corrado and just about manage not to park in the back of the next car you have to try and stop behind... Don't get me wrong, they should *work* when you put the pressure on, but don't expect to dab them and be cleaning up a bloody nose. And ageing VRs are quite rattly. The MFA troubles is more worrying, so you'd want to be looking for evidence of mileage alteration there. As for performance.. Mk5 GTi is a turbo car, so it has a practically flat torque curve. The VR is not, so it's torque doesn't even come in till 4k rpm. Even in 2nd gear that's 40 mph..

Supply voltage means the battery has been flat *at some point* since the last time you cleared the codes. Clear it and ignore it unless it comes back. The rear sensors are quite expensive, you may just need to clean up the ABS rotor. The pedal position sensor is on the brake master cylinder, iirc.

The only legal way is to either contact the owner somehow, or wait till it gets taken by the authorities then offer to buy it off 'em before they crush it.

Sounds like you probably have a blown fuse. There's a different circuit for the windows when the door is open.

Reset the faults, then see which ones come back. Also, don't even bother scanning for faults if the engine is stopped, you'll just keep seeing "engine speed sensor: no signal" otherwise. As for total loss of power .. would suggest you start looking at the ignition switch and ECU relays ..

Really? So why does France have regular "race riots" because of the number of immigrants coming from former french colonies then? Sarkozy hasn't pinned down the french immigration system yet, and frankly (sic) he won't be able to under law. Reality is that France has it coming big style for murdering hundreds of thousands of colonial natives and they're paying for that by having to leave their borders open to the survivors. But hey, this is a little off topic.. :)

Indeed .. and it'll only go green if the battery is *charged*.

If they were charged when you left them there, then of course they did. If they weren't, you were bloody lucky. ;)

Quite. I would expect a lot more abuse than a month flat to kill a battery. But it will reduce it's lifetime, nonetheless.

Leaving the battery off the car is not a problem .. as long as it's charged when you do it..! Car batteries are "starter" batteries. They are designed to be kept fully charged all the time and to provide big dollops of current to start an engine, and if you do that then they'll pretty much last forever. There is a completely different battery design called "deep cycle" batteries that are designed specifically to withstand being run down, left flat, recharged a bit, run down, whatever. They are much more expensive, and can't deliver the same amount of current as a starter battery (for the same amount of lead and acid!).

He's right, sorry. If you let your battery go flat and LEAVE it flat, it sulphates, which can permanently damage the battery's ability to carry charge. Some "smart" chargers can resurrect quite badly sulphated batteries, but it's not guaranteed. I have to say though that it must have been completely flat for a very long time for it to be damaged so badly that it won't even charge a bit... and I'd be talking about poor quality of construction/materials to them in those circumstances too. It is well known that Corrados drain batteries, so you need to be aware of that. (Clearly you are: because you disconnected the battery when the car was away.) As for how much drain you are suffering, well how long does it take to flatten a battery? You can tell with a multi-meter too ..

If the rest of the car is good, buy it back, scrap the chassis and strip mine it... I'm with the guys above: you know yourself you won't quite trust the car after it's been bent like that, no matter what you do to it.

Remap for a cone filter? No way. The difference in response from the cone filter is less than the difference between cold weather and warm. It's a fun noise, but don't expect a performance improvement..

Depends how sharp eyed the MOT tester is. I'd say "not if he spots it", but .. ymmv. You would be better off running the tyres 2psi down from normal if the roads are that bad, or switching to a softer compound, than trying to engineer a taller sidewall on wheels/suspension not designed for it. (But then, looks like you've already got non-standard wheels so I doubt the MOT tester would notice anything - as long as all the tyres are the right speed and weight ratings.)

LOL

Point is that even if you buy and install a "CAT 1" alarm, two years later it may well be declassified. At that point you no longer have a CAT 1 alarm.. You are *supposed* to get it checked, and all the check really is is to look on the approvals list and make sure it's still listed at it's original category. I don't doubt that the vast majority of people never do, however, and that's probably fine. If the insurance companies really cared I'm sure they would let you know. But if you tell them it's certified you will need to be able to produce that certificate if you ever have to claim ..