Bruno

As it says. Mines hit the dreaded cranking but not firing point. Lovely day, sunny, so I suppose the car thought - it was time to throw a new fit. Arent they great to own? Anyway. Does one have to remove the front valance, rads, etc to get to the darn thing, or can one jack it high poke around, and without any special wizardry or elasticit powers, actually find the darn thing, remove and replace?

Try that first. Failing that, look at the top of the fusebox carrier, you may find some clipped on extensions with fuses. If you have trouble tracing it, remove the instrument cluster cover,grab the rheostat switch, identify the wires, and trace them back to the fusebox. It is quite possible that the reason why the fuses have blown is that the wiring under the carpet has cooked. So even if you do find the fuse prepare for the liklihood of having to trace the heavy duty heater wiring to the seats and, if necessary, replace some of it with fresh 2.5 mm twisted thick copper wire, shielded sections.

If yours was built in 1993 then: 1. If both seats have stopped working, then check Fuse 14, 2, check plug C, pin 2 and plug D pin 5. Both should provide their feed to the rheostat on the dash. If it was built later, in 1994/5, then the fuse will vary, but the plug/pins didnt change, trace those

The clocks store the numbers. The absence of a odometer signal is caused by one of two simple things: 1. the sender at the gearbox. 2. the MFA chip. Now the VR6 uses a signal to drive the speedo from that sender. So if your speedo works, then the sender is fine. So its down to the clock set on the MFA display. If the chip is not regstering its speedo signals, then it wont present MPG, etc. Im still not convinced the clocks could snap with a battery reset. Is there a chance you might have dropped the fusebox in the process? If so, it could be that the plugs responsible for the clocks are badly seated in the fusebox, or that the K lines are not fully seated. I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, the wires to look for are grey with a blue tracer. Make sure none has dropped off its socket at the fusebox. If all looks well, then its probably the clock assy.

Its not that simple. Many parts of the lining are bonded directly to the foam and covers. Better to have them made up. Furthermore the leather versions tended to be made by Recaro, which are actually different to the original vw versions, so there are many places, in the squab, and in the middle of the backrest where they dont match.

Got it in one. However the heater matrix is not unique to Diavia - its almost the same as a Golf a/c matrix, and that one should fit. MIne is an original corrado one, and the matrix went two years ago. OEM one needed to be hunted down, but worked fine. After that you need to check the brushes on the blower and replace them if needed, check the internal temp probe and make sure it hasnt been stuck in the wrong place. The relays at the front need to be cleaned up, etc. The system then may need filling up and the dryer sorting (if it was allowed to empty completely).

Its not so much an issue of the heater matrix removal, but the dismantling of the housing, which is the only way you can get to the parts that are broken, and fix the air control doors, etc. Its much much easier if you have taken off the entire air exchange housing. One has to clean it out completely, replace all the soft foam gaskets, use silicone grease to loosen all of the cogs which arent broken, and replace all the cogs which are. DONT forget to label your bowden cables, and to fit the heater sides back in place BEFORE you fix it all back onto the firewall. If you've not done it before it takes approx: - 1 1/2 hours to remove the dash and safely label your bits; - 10 mins to 1 hour to unfreeze and loosen the heater exchange unit from the firewall (engine side). Do this slowly. Do not rush. the nuts can seize onto the studs and drive them out, so be prepared to use a mole wrench and spanner, and work slowly. - 1 hour to trace all the joints and connections and undo the entire exchange housing and remove from car. - 2 to 4 hours to clean and repair bits (assuming they are easily available). I had to order my parts, and wait 4 days. - 3 hours to reassemble.

Much of what you need to know is in the Toad installation guide. I presume its the Ai606. Try this link. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/betyouaint/Ai606_Install.pdf If that works, search for the PDF on the internet. It really isnt very difficult to work through. Using that guide you can isolate individual sensors and circuits and also identify which circuit is responsible for the fault condition.

The ABS light is a very crude trigger which tells you that the ABS brain has gone offline and stored a fault which needs reading. It is true that the sensors do go, about 1 every 2-3 years. Its also quite common for Corrado Vr6 ABS brains to stop working once every 5 years. The pump can also force a failure, although the pumps tend to be quite reliable. Get down to a local backstreet garage which has an OBDII diagnostic system- they will usually interrogate the ABS brain for about £30 cash. Write down all of the fault codes and come back and post the fault code here. We can go from there. I wouldnt worry about the climatronic adaptation on your car. It was probably a very good idea. Whoever fitted that knew what he was doing, and probably got the OBDII port properly wired in the process. It is possible to use the climatronic's own brain to give you a readout on the current fault status, if it was wired in to read the K lines properly. For now, come back with the fault code.

I've looked over the Passat Syncro VR6 -twin catalyst a few times and wondered if they could be made to fit without serious cutting and shutting in a 'rado. Am I the first to consider this? Has it been done? How difficult?

The short answer is No. However they arent difficult to source, easily found as pattern radiators. In fact the original rad was made in England for VAG. The most serious problem with the rad was the crimps on the side tanks loosening and therefore allowing a leak. If thats your problem it isnt the end of the day, get hold of someone who has some good tools and a vice, and slowly open the crimp edges up, clean the surfaces, put a sealant on the mating edges and crimp back down. I've done two rads this way, and they held for another 100K miles. In the end the VAG rad is just weak and flimsy and really needs to be dumped. Look on Ebay for the PWR radiator for the VR6 corrado. Its well built, cools better and fits in almost perfectly (one of the slam panel mounts needs to be ground down a little to enable it to fit fully). Then watch your oil temp drop. Best money I've ever spent on my car.

If it is the standard alarm, then you may be in luck. Its a plug and play. You need to trace the indicator switch wires from the stalks to the fusebox. On the way you will see a plug and socket assembly into which the alarm loom plugs in. One of them has unplugged from that point, the other is still in place. If its not an OEM alarm, then the situation is similar but different, the alarm system will have spliced into the indicators, but most probably not used the plug/socket arrangements thats available. If you have trouble tracing the wires, email me, and I'll find the correct wiring codes for you to trace. Bottom line? If it wasnt an OEM factory fit alarm, then somebody cut into your loom to fit it. Some fitters are careful, but it seems that many simply aren't. Dry joints are a known problem in cars of this age with alarms put in by fitters who were working to a clock. Be meticulous in tracing all the wiring. If it isnt original wiring, unwrap it, check the handmade joints visually, and using a multimeter. Make sure any such joints were properly soldered, not just piggybacked, or wrapped, or lucar terminal'd. Our cars have a hard suspension and a hot engine bay. It plays havoc with shoddy wiring.

I do have an intellistart iv for that purpose, except that I'd prefer to have it also sense neutral. Anybody know anybody who has a "neutral" sensor for a gearbox? Some say there are sensors which can be glued to the bottom of the stick... Suggestions anybody?

Has anybody done it on a VR6 layout? Its getting cold and Its time to fit a remote start kit into the thing. The Clifford 650 Mk II works a dream and I deliberately left in a spur and splice so I could fit a remote start when I had the time. Except that I've just realised - like most of ours, mine's got a manual shift, and from time to time I have left the darn thing in gear and walked away. I notice that DEI does a remote start manual shift neutral module, but...... - has anybody tried, or studied how, to fit a neutral position sensor on a VR6/O2A gearbox (ie the standard 'rado vr6 layout)? - did it work? - would you recommend it? - would you pass on how you did it?

Its only an o ring. Take your radiator top hose flange to any good motor factors and get them to mate up an O ring with the one you want, and confirm it by testing it on the flange. about 35p.

Im not convinced it is your coil pack. Coil packs break down when there is either a serious change in engine bay temp, or change in humidity, usually limited to a specific rev range. When I've had catastrophic loss of revs, its always turned out to be something else. 1. Check the relays for the ECU, Ignition and fuel pump.Open them up and make sure theres nothing wrong there. 2. Get a VAG-COM on the job. Local lock up garages can do it for about £20 a pop. 3. What you describe is a classic side effect of the cam sensor, or a cam sensor faulty in combination with an intermittent lambda probe signal. But thats only my opinon. 4. It might be worthwhile double checking that you dont have a spark on 2 and 5. Have you tried using a visual system, ie a proper ignition lead tester? They are available for about £8. Dont use the Draper or one like it, the best one Ive found looks like a spark plug with a clamp on the side to allow one to attach it to an earth.

Contact them. They tend to know what they are doing. Tell them its an ABV engine, give them the number and cross your fingers. They havent let me down yet.

How far exactly did you get with this? The Galaxy, runs a dedicated loom, with its own relay, and its own switch. The switch isnt an ordinary on-off switch, its capacitive, pressing it sends a pulse which throws a relay; there is a sensor which turns off the power when its come up to temp. So the screen needs to have a heater and the sensor all wired. Now oddly there is a spare dummy switch sitting next to the rear heater button on the 'Corrado. It wont take much to enable it to work, and with careful additions one could get the relays and sensors prep'd up. If you can find someone who can produce the screens reliably and contact me, I could work on the design of the surrounding wiring. Email me if you make any progress.

You need to get a VAG COM on this. The error message will be there. The AA man is probably right. A catastrophic loss of engine power is likely to be either: - the ECU relay - the Pump relay - the ECU itself - the crank sensor - the cam sensor (although this will tend to allow you to run but it may cause the engine to flop about and hunt) - the ignition switch failing. If you dont get an error code, then I would look at the ignition switch first. You may need to wiggle it in its housing to get the engine to start. Its unlikely, that it is the problem cos the AA guy found power on the ECU, but it can happen.

How did you address the problem of locating the 02 sensors. Did you use the Golf''s catalyst, or modify your own catalyst and exhaust manifold?

Matt I think there's more than one thing wrong here. There are two different types of pump, one which supports EDL, one which doesnt. Yours is throwing an EDL error, which suggests it should be part no 1H2 614 217A, not the part they identified. There's something else which worries me. The EDL switch/pump, when its in error, refers to a premature engagement of the brakes by the system. That shouldnt be the basis for an MOT failure. In either case the 'Rado pump you want was common on Passats and can be found at breakers yards, for a lot less than £1500.

According to ETKA - if what I think you mean are hub carriers, ie the full verticle section that takes the driveshaft, and primary bearing, and off which hangs the hub:- The 1995 Rado had two hub carriers. Part numbers: - Left - 357 407 255 C - Right - 367 407 256 C The Golf 1995 had variations in its hub carriers: - Left had 1H0 407 255C, 191 407 255C, and 357 407 255C - Right had the 256C equivalents... From the pictures, and a call to a friend who works in a VAG garage, it seems that there were two versions, one which was identical to the 'rado, hence the same number, and another which had a different caliper carrier mount (and was more common). His advice was to take photos of your one when you visit a breakers and check that the mounting points and hangers are the same as yours. I hope that helps

1 Get hold of some self amalgamating tape and wrap the wires tightly in it, or it will stretch and go floppy. 2. Then consider where those wrapped wires are located and the exposure to water and heat. If the exposure is significant then enclose those wires, even if wrapped, within split corrugated conduit tubing. Use 0.5" 0.75" and 1.5". 3. You can also wrap stuff which you've already wrapped in self amalgamating tape if it is not to be covered in tubing, in fabric tape. Use the fabric tape (rayon) for the stuff which is not exposed to water or extreme heat but does need protection from chafing. 4. Be prepared with a soldering iron (and sometimes with spare vw connector plug pig tails to replace pins) to repair cable sections which have exposed copper or split insulation. If your exposed cable is showing a copper which has gone black, trace the wire further and replace the copper core where it has gone black. You'll be surprised how much you will find. All of this stuff you can acquire on Ebay, or Maplins. If you start this process, do it all properly. Rado bays run very hot, and protection from heat and exposure is a must if you want to avoid electrical faults.

Could be lots of things. The cover plate may have dropped a section, or the friction plate could have dropped a plate, or the release bearing has split, or something has dropped through the vent and is being chucked around in the bellhousing. I'd drop the box and have a look there first. It could be a baulk ring on one of the gears snapping back, in which case you will want to fix that before it splits and sends stuff all over the box. Sorry cant help more.

Look up your local small radiator reconditioning man. There tends to be one in most towns. He'll need to replace the entire row thats damaged, or it happens again.