dr_mat

Hi all, My clutch pedal is becoming a little notchy (for want of a better word) so I'm assuming that either the master or slave cylinder seals are contaminated or leaky (late model VR6 btw). Question is - how can you tell which is the problem and does anyone have a spare one of either kicking around that's in good condition that you'd like to get rid of? And how tricky are they to replace? One hour labour? Two? Cheers, Matt.

Ok, given that the only thing you did was disconnect some sensors then reconnect them, go and do it again. In my experience if it was working before, and now it isn't, it MUST be something you did... :) Failing that, the ECU reset procedure is documented round here somewhere - you really only have to cut power to the ECU for a minute or so and it will go into quick-learn mode when you reapply power so go for a drive and do some varied driving (constant part throttle acceleration, constant full throttle acceleration, zero throttle overrun etc etc across a wide range of revs) and it'll learn the engine and it's sensors pretty quickly.

Sounds like you need to scan the ECU for faults, I think the 2.0 8v has a smart enough ECU. 350 rpm is as you say "a little low". I would say it's a LOT low myself. About 40% of where it should be!

If you mean the fuelling adaptation figures, then yes you *should* set them if you cold reset the ECU (but they will be relearned anyway) and yes you can use them for an indication that the engine it's fuelling right or a sensor is not working. But the TPS is translated inside the ECU to the measuring block you can read out - and it just reads in degrees (of angle). If you see that when you're not touching the throttle it's reading less than 15 degrees, and as you press the pedal down the value moves smoothly through the range to greater than 90 degrees (at full open throttle), then the TPS is working just fine. Mine goes from about 13 degrees through to about 92, fwiw.

Engines are consumables, just like most car parts.. They use bearings, they rely on friction to keep the oil from the cylinders, they wear. Either drive it really gently all the time and have it last hundreds of ks or drive it hard (but only once warmed through) and expect to have to have work done. Driving it hard on a cold engine, or doing extreme things with the rev limiter or running the oil levels low and you should expect to have work done VERY soon ..

VInce @ Stealth kept telling me he was looking at getting replacement pulleys made up, but I don't know whether they ever got around to it. This was back when the VW part was ~£130 .. now it's reduced to "only" £70 I'm not sure it would make so much sense.

Just ask them to find another one at that price on autotrader. They won't be able to...

Can't believe they'll fail it for surface rust on big solid lumps of metal like that!! Got any pictures??

There is a solution! I discovered this today .. and it's a winner .. ! Find a hump-back bridge .. aim at it at about 40mph .. get some air .. bingo, perfect steering when you land .. :)

AFAIK you only need an engine support that can tilt the pre-req 15 degrees..

Could also be a temp sensor. Does it smell like it's running rich on a warm start? How's the MPG?

and a F1 car weighs??? :D :D You'd still be quite happy with the performance of an F1 engine in your lardy Corrado, despite the 7000 rpm idle speed .. (you might need to drop the gearing a bit though .. )

Another vote for stone chips. At least use the clear plastic armor stuff you can get. That's a good idea.

197 bhp I stand corrected.. wasn't sure, tbh, but I figured it was around there. Like Joe I saw a CTR or two on the track and the VR had the legs on him at the start of the straight (he hadn't kept his revs high enough).. but as soon as he got the revs up he easily wafted past me.. The lack of torque is not a problem. After all an F1 car produces "only" 250 lbft (ish) (from a 2.4 v8!), but you wouldn't call one slow .. ;)

Hmm, I don't know why anyone would imagine a 190bhp 1200kg Corrado VR6 would be quicker than a 220 ish bhp 1200kg Civic Type R. Neither of them have great aerodynamics, and particularly if you've two passengers you're actually a 1350kg Corrado VR6 ... The VR has more flexibility, particularly with a VGI/VSR, but once your CTR drivers gets into his power band you'll be trailing all day long. On the bends too.

No, they're the right parts, they're just the "long life" plugs, that's all. The plats are supposed to last for 40k miles, while the standards are replaced every 20k. If they work out at less than twice the price, that's not too shabby a concept.

The dealers are now supplying platinum plugs by default. You want the same, but without the platinum. They're NGKs, I forget the model number now .. Go here BKR5EKU £3.50 + vat BKR5EKUP £6.70 + vat

Oh yeah, and also check to make sure there's nothing around the pedals that's fouling on the UJs as they turn .. they can catch bits of trim if things get a bit out of place (or your feet!).

Top mount, Jim?

I think that since you're in a hurry you're going to have to take it to a garage and tell them to "find the problem and fix it". The Corrado forum isn't the best place for getting diags done in a hurry ...

Well, all sorted. VW took their usual three days and two trips to the place to actually get the parts in, but they looked like nice quality rubber - quite heavy and very flexible. They were a git to fit apparently (the breather pipes on my rack are *slightly larger* than the holes in the new gaiters..), plus one of the track rod ends had a seized pinch bolt. Went back to the test centre afterwards, and they couldn't be bothered to charge a re-test for for "looking under the car" .. So I got the big green form for free..! :) Sorted.

Ah yes, but you are neglecting wind resistance and downforce.. ;) The aforementioned F1 car actually pulls MORE braking power between 200 and about 150 mph (about 5G), because of the extra downforce from the *huge* wings, combined with the enormous amount of drag (after all, it requires 700-800 horsepower to *maintain* 200 mph - lift off completely and you're losing 500 kJ of inertia every second just due to wind resistance). Your personal car has a similar, if greatly reduced downforce, but also has a crap Cd so the same applies. If it requires 100bhp to maintain 100mph.. Sticky tyres would also allow you to exceed 1G on their own. After all, if you had a perfect grip to the ground, you would be able to achieve infinite G forces under braking.

Apparently an F1 car " .. can decelerate from 185mph to a standstill in 3.5 seconds". I think 100-0 is probably easily dispatched inside 1.5 or 2 seconds then.. ** disclaimer - since this information was gleaned from the WEB, it might very well be bullshit.

There's a thousand threads discussing the "random VR6 stalling" problem. Have a dig around. Most of them have long lists of things you should check out before asking again, in yet another thread!

Completely agree, if you're going to carry on driving on it you have to keep an eye on it like a hawk. It could last for months, but it could also have a catastrophic failure on the next corner, it's impossible for a bunch of random people like us to predict!