dr_mat

If the rumbling becomes constant, or even worse you start to detect actual play in the wheel itself, then you should rush headlong into getting it sorted ASAP. Particularly on the front wheels - because the drive shaft goes through, the bearing has to get pretty bad before you can detect any play - but as soon as you can, you should get the car *towed* to the garage (or drive it veeeeerryyyy carefully .. ).

The quoted braking distances obviously also vary massively depending on the weather, the condition of your tyres, and the condition of the road surface.. Ironically some of the worst places to brake are the ultra-high-grip surfaces just before major junctions where they've screwed it all up by putting regularly spaced big thick rumble strips all the way along 'em. You can't brake effectively when your damn wheels are bouncing off a bloody rumble strip can you, ya bloody idiots??

Is it pinking? Checked the plugs? Coilpack/dizzy? Compression test? Running a silly induction kit? Give us some hints ...

And if you can't be arsed with all that, VW will sell you a recon unit for about £40 all inclusive (on an exchange basis).

VAGCOM. Scan for sensor glitches.

Local blokey is pretty good (for a pug mechanic.. ;) ), but I'll mention these things to him .. :) Cheers.

Trouble with replacing working alarm systems is the risk to your car's electrics due to fitters ripping out existing wiring and replacing it ...

LOL, I guess some specialists aren't too special, are they??

Ok, ordered VW parts, £14 each (about 3 times the price of GSF, but hey). A local place will fit 'em on thursday, then I'll get the short retest done and we'll be sorted for another 12 months. That's the plan, at least .... :)

Ah, that's true. Got to get the tracking re-done then. Well that's no biggie. Mine are split on top towards the end, and they look like they're quite plasticy rather than rubber. They really don't look two years old, tbh, (they look MUCH older) and I have a feeling they're of unknown provenance, rather than being new when the rack was fitted.. (A succession of disasters with this steering rack.)

Track rod ends should be fine, they were new less than 2 years ago. How do the Febi ones compare with the OE? Just don't want them splitting again in another two years (bag of crap, honestly).

Best bet is to take it to an alarm specialist. Sure, they'll probably try and sell you a whole new system, but at least they'll be able to name-that-keyfob pretty quickly ..

Big job to replace? It seems pretty straightforward to me, but there's usually something I have missed when it seems straightforward to me! Anyone done it? Should I get VW ones or GSF ones or GPC ones or ... ? Any ideas on prices? Can you guess? Yes, the beast failed it's MOT for the first time since I owned it... :(

Yep, that's not an engine temp light, it's a water level warning.

It is a low offer, from our point of view, but they're only offering "book" prices. It's the book that's wrong.

If they detected "slight play" when the car was jacked up, tell them to check it when the car is on it's wheels instead.

Well yeah, it's a microphone, so it sends an *audio* signal back, which the ECU then listens to! I wouldn't know exactly what knocking looks like on an oscilloscope, but that's what you're looking for... I have no idea how clear it will be, because let's face it you're going to get all sorts of other noises too from the rest of the engine, so you'll need a pretty smart neural net to pick out the knock from the other clanks and whistles.

I think you want a stethoscope .. The knock sensor is just a microphone, "listening" for knock. You can listen too.

There's nothing else around that area that might need changing at the same time, it's pretty much a standalone failure. Just check out the engine mounts, like I said.

Um, there's already a sticky thread with VAG-COM owners in it ... Use the search luke..! http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7209 It's called the "VAG-COM scanning and help thread" ... !!!

It's the same hose that always goes first on a VR... It's a T-piece that runs from the back of the cylinder head to the bulkhead (for the heater matrix) but also has a small T- off it that goes to the top of the expansion tank. It's about £40 from VW, and when it goes it often points to a failed gearbox-side engine mount. (Too much flex causes the hose to stretch at the wrong place ..) I'm sure it's just old age. If you had excessive pressure you'd know about it - you'd be losing coolant all the time through the expansion tank cap. (Bet you feel a bit silly now for dumping fire extinguisher in for a blown hose.. ;) )

I think serious camber following like that has to be geometry, once you've ruled out things that are actually loose. And if you've setup the geometry correctly, then something has to be moving under force.

Except for the genuine VW parts - apparently the coil pack set have a better attachment at the plug end.

Given that all Corrado's do it (in my experience all VWs do it), why are you worried about it?

I'd say it was steam. With the coolant in it can look really greasy and nasty.