Diesel Junior

And here is the latest update! Took your advice, fired up the rental car and headed for the Stealer.....was met with open arms. Anyway, the pipes have been ordered and the O ring seals as well, one of which was barely clinging to the water pump.....the mechanic was particularly keen to show me....the oil cooler, which, surprise, surprise had oil in the water and he thinks this is the origin of the oil-in-the-G12 problem. 3 hours previously a new oil cooler and its two seals had already been ordered and they are en route from Barcelona to be fitted tomorrow and so hopefully i should get the car back on Thursday - with the HG untouched! :D

Thanks Kev, its pointing to the oil cooler then....i see your point about doing the cheapest items first, question is though should i go to VW and ask them to order the oil cooler and the two o ring seals and to put this in while they are doing the pipes? I dont like giving them the extra work after their attitude this morning but if i dont and i go elsewhere in the New Year they will have to take off the front end again to get at the oil cooler i take it? €€€€€€€€€€

:clap: great post! OK, so if the HG had gone the engine bay would be splattered/pebbledashed with G12? The car drives like it always has, it's the smoothest unit this size of a V12 Jag. Only thing is that if its the heat exchanger, off comes the bumper, slam panel again. Oh well, thats for the New Year but a compression test would still be a logical idea, what do you think? The VW mechanics to be honest are very good (ignoring the inertia over the crack pipe) it's the clowns in the murky depths of the office who evidently were hammerhead sharks in a previous life, they are number crunchers looking to nail you at every oppo that comes their way.

Well they have it now Jim and i trust them to replace these three pipes but for more detailed analysis i can go elsewhere. There is a British mechanic used by the club here in Spain just 20 miles from here and he specializes in head gaskets so thats where i will be going in the New Year....

The first being the lesser of the two evils i guess? Will go for the compression test in the New Year when i come back to Spain after Xmas but i wont be getting VW to do it as the 'it's just an old car' is really beginning to grate, they seem to see the car as something of a nuisance, until the credit card comes out mind you...... :(

It's that Scooby Doo moment when the mask comes off the crook's face and they all shout 'It's the janitor'!!!! Well have just got back from the stealer and the blame lies with.............one of the pipes from the oil cooler. Darned pipe spilt, bye bye G12. So far, so good.....the stealer ordered the two pipes which go from the oil cooler and they arrive today. Me being me i made a beeline for the famous crack pipe and asked that they change this as well. As said, i am no mechanic but given the notoriety of this pipe and the fact that it costs only €25 it would be daft not to change it since the bumper, slam panel and headlights lie on floor of the workshop right now. For reasons i dont understand the mechanic really didnt want to change it, saying that it was 'inecessario' along with grim warnings about the thermostat......Now for the next problem, there does seem to be some oil in the coolant. Is looking for this really going to be a needle in a haystack job? What would be the procedure for this, a compression test? Well, any advice would be much appreciated :notworthy:

No news yet......the 'overloaded' dealer hasn't had the chance to loosen a nut on the slam panel as yet.....on reading various posts the dreaded crack pipe would seem to be suspect number one so if it is, with the front of the car taken off are there any other of these hoses that we should change at the same time? There seem to be two running off the oil cooler if there are any others please let me know. We changed the main ones last year to a Samco silicone kit BTW. According to this website http://www.corrado-teile.de/shop/advanc ... pe&x=0&y=0 the CP is €19.95, so the stealer price will be.........???????? :shrug:

€20? You're on!! Let's hope it's the infamous crack pipe, it has to be the lesser of the evils....I'd been in the car for about an hour and there was absolutely no problem at all. I parked it, went upstairs and something broke while the car was stationary so i agree it's a bit strange for a HG to go in this way, don't think there will be any news till Monday/Tuesday and will advise. Meanwhile, i couldn't drive away in the Matiz so stumped up an extra €3 a day for a fire-breathing Fiesta 1.4. It's a remarkable car as it has a 4 speed interior fan which works on ALL four speeds. Amazing. SP '9a' the 'stealer' in question is VW Alfaz del PI. Maybe this is their revenge after member of Spanish club sent me this gold mine website.....http://www.corrado-teile.de/shop/index. ... rrado.html :clap:

Didnt get to sniff the coolant i was too busy preparing the 'Right then, fire up the Matiz' line, its a 1.0 you know!!! Thanks for the advice about the tubes, we shall see but 6k is just priceless, i feel like the granny who calls out the plumber on Christmas day and gets charged £400 to tighten a tap. Hang on local radio playing Sweetbox 'everything is going to be alright', a good sign although the dreaded mayonnaise is not. Been through too much with this car - viewtopic.php?f=17&t=92717 - it will rule the waves again..........

Hi folks greetings from Spain.......Vr6 running like a dream (120k km) however on returning to the car today the tell-tale pool of coolant fluid all over the garage floor. Having changed the water pump and all the hoses to silicone last year the problem wasn't there so VW plugged in the dreaded steam machine and the problem is at the front end of the engine, ie on the side of the engine facing the radiator, fans etc.....now VW are going to take the front end of the car off to see whether the problem is a small hose somewhere or (as i fear) the head gasket since there was some of the dreaded cream on the underside of the coolant expansion cap. VW seem to think so as well and wait for this one........they quoted me €6000 (yes you read that right) to fix the cylinder head gasket, skim the head, re-installation blah blah. Now as you've probably guessed i only have a very basic mechanical knowledge but this is beyond the pale......Having spoken with some of the Corrado members over here they reckon its the gasket and most go with a ball park figure of about €1300 all in what with 2-3 days of labour and the the kit itself. Any thoughts, advice, support much appreciated as a Daewoo Matiz rental car is hanging over me for the next couple of weeks :censored: :gag:

Thanks for your help much appreciated. Darned stealer wanted €327 for a new head unit but then this is Spain at the moment i guess......they dont realise that every C owner over here raids the Holy Grail at every oppo http://www.vwcorrado.de/t195_corrado_ebaysuche.html This will be the start of the hunt for that Sony BTW!! Thanks again......

Brilliant thanks mate. The middle of the three dials (presume yours is RHD.....) is the blue-red heat control or the direction (to feet, face, screen etc) change? BTW, what radio model is that? Suits the car well i may have to nail one of these!! Thanks :clap:

So near yet so far.......usual C fan problems here but after much trial and error i have all four fan speeds working, but on screwing the dash back together i have no backlight for the heating and ventilation head unit. Is the bulb for this the one that is in the green contraption that clips into one of the dials before you attach the rotary knobs? If so , is it meant to go under the blower one? Now, there should be a pic attached to this....there are two 'wings' that sprout from this and on the picture the left hand one is over the damn strip of metal that will give me nightmares all week, is it meant to be under that metal strip? BTW, my car is LHD that is why in the picture it is the dial on the left of the picture.....any help much appreciated!

This is a you-know-what of a job. For me 9 times out of ten the fault is with the slider and a few hours (......) gently bending it to improve the contacts has done the trick but be very careful as (at least here in Spain.......) it cant be bought separately, only with the head unit at €327............

Hi folks quick question......around the headlight unit is a black plastic bracket with a series of clips on top and underneath to attach to the slam panel..is it possible to buy this bracket separately from the dealer ie without having to buy the whole headlamp unit from the stealer??? Would the bracket from RHD headlights fit my LHD ones? Many thanks for any advice! :cuckoo:

Thats seems to have slipped my mind, but given the emotive subject it is understandable.....one of the issues is that in España the Corrado is not classed as a classic car :censored: however moves are underway to change this so that when renewal time comes around (should be interesting......) i can get an insured minimum value on the car, the €700 valuation speaks volumes of the knowledge of the perito/assesor, if only i knew the spanish for numpty...... :help:

WELL THE ASS-ESSOR HAS SPOKEN..............and his valuation of my car is a thumping €700. Yep, €700........Failure is not an option mis amigos......OK, well the situation is that i have left Alicante to work in the UK till autumn so the rush factor has gone and i can start sending pics of my car, daily, to Allianz in Barcelona.......meanwhile the good people at the Spanish Corrado forum tipped me off about a RHD VR6 at a breakers 30 mins from my house, you wont be surprised to hear that the bonnet, slam panel and 'travieso' (the iron bar behind the bumper....) have now been taken!!! All in all i did a good deal and got the three for just under €150. As for the bumper, the general consensus is that it can be repaired, just as well as the VR6's bumper in the yard was awful.......Plan is for the car to be taken to the body shop in July and will be back better than ever for my return!!! :D In the meantime i will try and get the best price possible from the insurance 'experts'.........

well the assessor came yesterday and after 30 mins of photography left not a clue as to his opinion.....one thing though, VW quote €900 etc for a bonnet, surely the insurance companies dont pay these prices do they? I know i am clutching at straws, get the price down in my head, VR6 back on the road and complete......

Thats what i am going to ask! The ass-essor comes tomorrow, and this being Spain its odds on he will write it off as the book value here is about €3k but then so is the damage. Its a throw-away society as we all know, but as long as the damage is cosmetic already a battle plan is being lined up. Some amigos from the Spanish corrado club came to see/console me last night and we all reckon that the chassis and the subframe are ok and its a matter of the front bumper, bonnet and what we call here a 'frontal' which is the horizontal metal structure that holds the headlamps, grille etc in place. BTW, what is this called in English? Does anyone have the ETKA number for this? So long as this is the case then its off to the scrapyard mis amigos and i reckon i can get these three for about €500 all in, €500 of respray and an afternoon of work followed by a 3 year wait for Allianz in Barcelona to cough up the grand.....Failure is not an option! One other thing, there is a consensus here that the bumper can be repaired, as you can see from the pic the exhaust went thru and melted a hole into it but any advice would be appreciated. OK will take it to VW in Benidrom mañana and maybe leave €50 in a brown envelope for the assesor :shrug:

Thanks mate, much appreciated. plenty of bonnets and bumpers on eBay, is this still the best place to look?

Hi everyone, have a look at the attached pics and.....spot the difference. All courtesy of a Benidorm bus driver who reversed 4m into my VR6. I dont know if we have any insurance bods on board but any advice would be very welcome as i assure you, i am suffering right now. The bus company accept the rap but the problem is that the assesor is going to write my pride and joy off as in the words of the Insurance Co 'its only a 16 year old German car......'. At minimum the damage is a new bonnet, bumper, brace between the two and we are talking €3.000 minimum. Of course the market value of the car is nearer €7.000 (they are more expensive over here......) but the 'book' price will be somewhat different as we all know. Without wanting to sound like Thatcher at the mo i want to fight on and fight to win and i just cant see myself accepting a write off not least as the insurers will have the leather interior and wheels and 75.000 mile engine on eBay faster than Usain Bolt shifts. If i reject their 'offer' what happens next? Do they give me some money and i get on and repair it (no doubt with a healthy top up from my own depleting coffers........). Anyway, any advice appreciated, thanks. This link is sponsored by Andrex.......

Well, have been using this forum for a year now so its about time i sent up some pictures of my Rado. Today it enters its 16th year and celebrated by strolling thru its ITV (MOT) here in Spain. Bought it from John Wood at Volkscars January 08 (where the service could not have been better :clap: ) and had it shipped over here. Was previously owned by a Dr in Dorset and is totally standard, but being a German model came with nicities as heated seats, additional gauges and ice cold air con, oddly it didnt come with the Karmann badge at the base of the (automatic) gear lever. The car has now reached 97,000km and had a full VW service in, ahem, Benidorm and has not missed a beat in its time here. Cant think of a better car or €6k better spent, happy motoring to one and all :D The pictures are taken in the Sierra Bernia mountains

quick question.....i have a standard wheel on 1994 VR6 but would love to change it to a more modern wheel with the big VW on the boss, these would have an airbag is it possible to take away the bag and the detonator and then bolt it onto the steering column. Would this work ok? :cuckoo:

Please believe me good people i have looked for this answer but i cannot find it......OK my Corrado is German spec, ie the spoiler only comes up at 130kmh, and the speed limit here in Spain is...... :censored: Is there a way of getting the thing to come at a lower speed, like 70kmh as elsewhere? Any help gratefully received & apologies if this has been covered elsewhere....... :help: :help: :cuckoo:

Maybe someone can help......ok have a 1994 VR6 Corrado, 55k miles. Basically when i floor it at low revs when in 4th (ie top) the thing kicks like a mule and sounds like some Benylins are needed for its cough too. Within a few seconds everything is a-ok and the easy way around it is to knock it down to third manually and then accelerate through it. I took it to VW who changed plugs filters etc etc but there is only a slight improvement. Anyway, mulling over it at home i started thinking about the 'kickdown factor' and maybe this is where the blame lies as when you floor it with the kickdown working properly there should be no glitches. The problem only occurs in 4th gear and is notably worse when going up a hill. Sorry if this is a bit wordy but any help gratefully received....... :notworthy: :shrug: