aclwalker

I dont understand where this piece is.. can someone help please. Firstly, make sure you have a VR6. :) Look at the air intake. Follow the curved bit round from the MAF and you'll see a much smaller pipe that joins up to the main air intake pipe. Follow this smaller pipe along and you'll find this piece attached to rocker cover. It's at the back left of the engine (as you face the engine from the front of the car). You might need to remove trim parts to see it, or look from the driver's side of the engine (UK spec).

Just remembered another one. About a month after I got my Corrado, 'smoke' billowed out from under the bonnet. I absolutely sh@t it at first, but when I got out I smelt it was coolant. The famous hose at the back of the VR6 had split, right at the clip. I cut 1 inch off it and refitted it, and it's been like that ever since. I don't think I've got enough slack left in it to do it again though!

Another thing that's strange, but not really a funny thing it has done. My car seems to have the oil filter housing from a late 90s VR6, like on the Golf, because the filter elements don't fit! Mine has the big hole in the filter element rather than the small one that it's supposed to. Unless GSF keep giving me the wrong elements. Must check ETKA out to see what's going on...

My Corrado's battery has been flattened twice. The first time, I left the interior light on by accident. I only drive once a week now, so it was totally flat by the time I got it. The second time is the "funny" time, though. I walked up to the car and could hear the central locking cycling over and over. When I got to it, it was unlocked and constantly unlocking, over and over, by magic! I couldn't start it, as it had depleted the battery too much. I decided to remove the central locking relay (rear 'door' card behind driver, IIRC), as I still wanted the electric windows to work and I think they share a fuse. Investigation showed that somebody (the same person who has broken/botched everything else in my car before I got it probably) had not refitted the door wiring grommet/conduit and the wires had been chaffing. I refitted the conduit with a view to sorting out the chaffed wires later, but I've not fixed it because it stopped doing it.

I did drive between changes, but only a couple of times (I don't drive much these days). I'd say that the PCV change (along with the throttle body and ISV clean) sorted out the lumpy idle, although there's was still a bit of roughness. It seemed to smooth out the car, but I noticed a performance difference with the new FPR. The FPR definitely seemed to address apparent fuel starvation at full throttle. But it also smoothed out the remaining idle roughness. The main change is the 20% better fuel economy. If there's one thing I've learned in my 6 years of Corrado ownership it is I might put that in my signature.

Hi all, I've had a long running saga with rough idling and poor, hesitant acceleration. Well the last couple of things I replaced have made a massive difference and I think the problems are now solved. Firstly I replaced my PCV valve (Positive Crankcase Ventilation). That's the little disc-shaped piece that is attached to the breather outlet and joins the main air ducting. Here's a picture of my original one (sorry it's a bit fuzzy):2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP8010112.JPG[/attachment:80khs0f5] Note the badly shredded hose part that connects to the breather outlet, where unmetered air has likely been leaking in to the air intake. You can also see jubilee clip damage here, but this is really just because I deliberately tightened it up to try to seal as best as possible while I awaited the new part. Clearly I had an air leak here. You can also see that this hose part is peeling away from the disc part. It wasn't as bad as this as I had peeled it back a bit, but it was definitely leaking here too. It took almost no force to open it up wider than that. VW dealers won't sell you this part alone. They will only sell the entire ducting, including this part and the connecting hose and it's £75 (plus VAT, I think). Ford sell this part alone though. I thoroughly inspected my main ducting and the connector hose and came to the conclusion that I needed this part alone. It's £28 (including VAT) from Ford. Just tell them you've got a Galaxy V6. While I inspected the air ducting, I cleaned out the throttle body (it was quite oily and was sticking slightly) and the ISV. I also tested the ISV with the VAG-COM output tests. It seemed to be working fine. I also inspected the dashpot and it seemed to be working fine but needing adjustment in order to damp the throttle a bit more. I checked the throttle angles with VAG-COM and they seemed to be out a little bit. You sort this by adjusting the dashpot positioning. I reassembled and ordered the PCV from Ford. The work above with the throttle body, dashpot, ISV, and trying to minimise the effect of the holes in the PCV with careful jubilee clip positioning resulted in an immediate improvement. The car was much more responsive and smoother. However, the hunting idle on cold start and the hesitation were still evident. When I got the new PCV valve a few days later (Glasgow Fair bank holiday 'n' that), I replaced that. I also used a much flatter jubilee clip to try to be kinder to the new PCV. What a difference with the idle. The hunting was almost totally gone. I'm not sure if the very slight remnant was just because of the mappings being used to the old setup (I didn't do an ECU reset). One thing I noticed is the design of the PCV is such that it seems to sag a little, even with the flexible hose underneath. This is likely why it bursts eventually. It doesn't look the best of designs. So I had seemed to cure the idling problem but the hesitant acceleration was still there. So I bit the bullet and got a new FPR (Fuel Pressure Regulator). I have been wanting to replace this for a while. Eurocarparts wanted £75 for it (including VAT, I think). VW wanted £68 including VAT, so I went with the dealer. They also got it the next day, which was good. Firstly remove the fuel pump relay and try to start the car to remove the fuel pressure. Even with doing this, I still had some residual pressure when I took out the FPR, so have rags and a jar ready to catch any petrol. Removing the old FPR is very difficult. It is in VERY tight and the slight corrosion you get over the years doesn't help. I had to virtually destroy my old FPR to get it out. Here's a picture:P8010108.JPG[/attachment:80khs0f5] Petrol enters the FPR just to the left of the bigger black plastic ring on the left of the the picture. A spring closes a valve inside the FPR, preventing the fuel from leaving (and hence maintaining pressure behind it), until the pressure of the fuel overcomes the strength of the spring, whereupon it leaves the FPR through the smaller bit on the far left of the picture which then goes to the return line and back to the fuel tank. The vacuum line at the top right of the picture also tweaks this so as to compensate for the vacuum that the injectors experience at the cylinder so that the fuel pressure is constant throughout. At idle you have very little air in the cylinders (i.e. a high suction) so fuel is sort of sucked out the injectors, so this suction also pulls on the FPR, meaning that the spring inside it has to overcome not only the fuel pressure but the suction, resulting in it opening the valve quicker in this situation and hence lowering the fuel pressure to compensate for the sucking effect at the cylinder. Sounds complicated and I've probably not explained it very well. Anyway, if the spring is weak in the FPR, then your pressure will be too low, leading to fuel starvation as the valve will open too soon. If you have a broken vacuum line, then the compensation at idle will not be there and the fuel pressure will be too high. It seems to me that it's possible to have both faults at once and therefore to have too much fuel at idle, but too little at full throttle. I guess it's also possible to have a leaking valve (pressure drop) and also a leaking diaphragm resulting in petrol entering the engine via the wrong route, but don't quote me on that. I also noticed with my FPR that the metal part on the right of the picture was spinning round relative to the rest of the FPR, so I guess I could have had a vacuum leak there too. Anyway, once you have the FPR out, you need to be extremely careful to clean up any corrosion on the fuel rail where it contacts the FPR. I had a surprising amount here, and I was taking no chances after my experience of a shredded seal with my crack pipe, in similar circumstances. So I carefully blocked the fuel rail holes to prevent particles entering and carefully cleaned it up with emery paper. Be very careful as it's easy to remove more than you expected. I was worried I had done that, as the paint was right off. I had no spare seals for the FPR so I took my time and only attempted to fit the new one once I was certain that all corrosion was removed and smoothed down. Unfortunately I slightly bent the vacuum pipe on mine while trying to squeeze the new FPR in with a G-clamp and a bit of wood, but it's still perfectly functional. In the end I had to hit it in with a block of wood and a hammer, which didn't feel good. Getting the horseshoe clip in can be tough, especially if the fuel rail mountings are mangled a bit like on mine. Somebody must've been in at mine in the past. EDIT: I forgot to mention about the vacuum hose. I noticed on another post about the G60 that the length of the equivalent hose is critical (100mm I think for the G60), so I looked up ETKA and it said that for the VR6 it should be cut to 175mm. I had corrected my short hose some time ago before this FPR replacement. Anyway, I think that you should check the condition of this hose and also its length. Anyway, I got it all back together, re-fitted the fuel pump relay and pressurised the system. No leaks. Then I started it. No leaks, but a bit of rough running until it worked the air bubble out of the system and got the pressure back up to normal. However, I went for a test drive and the difference was literally incredible. The hesitation was gone, but I could feel little echoes of it, probably due to the ECU mappings trying to compensate for it in the past. I have now had quite a long run with it (yesterday and today) and my car has never run better. It never conks out. The idle never dips under 650. The idle is very, very smooth, with just a hint of the occasional miss (the plugs are a bit sooty due to all the previous running problems though). Acceleration is smooth and without any hesitancy and the power is back. Best of all, I have got a massive improvement in fuel economy. I reckon I'm getting 20% more mpg. I was driving today at motorway speeds (not slouching) and got 32.5 mpg for the whole trip. I would struggle to get 26-27 before. I know this is a massive post, but I'm just really pleased that I finally seem to have nailed these running problems and driving the car is a joy now. It's very smooth, powerful, responsive now. Not bad for a 202,000 miler! I hope others find some inspiration in my ramblings.

I've found some information on the VAG-COM website about how to do output tests. There's quite a lot of useful information about doing common procedures on the website now.

Sorry, 3corsameal, I seem to have missed this post of yours. I think it would be very difficult to replace these hoses without taking the front off again, and there's a danger of damaging the crack pipe again. My Corrado has now done almost 202,000 miles and is 1994.

I found this interesting post in the archive: http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=13715 It doesn't look like it's possible to reply to archived posts, so sorry for starting a new topic about it. In the last post the guy says Does anybody know how to do this? And what does he mean by "155x"? 155 times? Edit: duh, silly me, I think "155x" is referring to the series of genuine VW workshop diagnostic computers, isn't it? Anyway, I'm still interested in how to do this. I tried to Google for triggering the ISV with VAG-COM but didn't come up with much. I think this would be extremely useful for people with VAG-COM, or people taking their car to a VAG-COM owner.

I'm wanting to replace the vacuum hose on my fuel pressure regulator and ETKA says that the pipe length should be 175mm ("cut to 175mm"), but this seems quite long to me. My existing one is nowhere near as long as that. Does this sound right? The reason why I ask is that I found some threads for the G60 which said that the length is critical. Do I have to use VW pipe or will Halford's stuff be alright? Also, any cheap suppliers for a new fuel pressure regulator? I think mine is suspect (and I also chewed it up a bit in the past trying to get it off to inspect it. Never managed to get it out in the end!). Finally, the pipe from my existing fuel pressure regulator sticks out horizontally to the right, whereas I've seen other Corrado pictures where it points more upwards, maybe like 10 past the hour. Does the angle of this vacuum pipe have any bearing on its function?

What's this hose for (red arrow in picture) Where does it go to? It's just above the vacuum line for the fuel pressure regulator. P6060092edited2.JPG[/attachment:3ema2nej] I'm currently trying to locate air leaks to find the cause of my hunting idle when the engine is just started from cold. I've looked at the ISV and it seems to move freely (although could do with a clean). I have found a badly split hose at the one-way valve at the oil breather. I gather this is available from Ford whereas with VW you have to buy the whole ducting. I'm hoping that I've found the problem. However, I'm confused. The breather valve on mine is like a disc in the line, whereas check this PDF from "Dennis" from the Corrado Club of Canada: http://www.corrado-club.ca/tech/VR6faq.pdf His breather hose looks like just a hose and without the valve part (where the number 7 is on the third photo down). What's going on here? ETKA (or whatever the dealer equivalent is these days) seems to show a pipe like Dennis' (although not available separately) whereas for the Golf VR6 of the same vintage it shows the disc-shaped thing set into the pipe (again, not available separately). How come his doesn't seem to have this valve?

Now that I've fixed my coolant leak and ABS sensor issue, it's time to turn my attention once again to the poor running of my VR6. I replaced my lambda sensor a while back, but had issues with the wiring. One of the wires before had been broken and the plug had been bypassed for this core. I was forced to do the same with my new lambda probe. Initially the car ran great (like I'd never experienced before), but very soon the running issues came back: lumpy idle, wild hunting for 30 seconds after a cold start, hesitation, occasional conking out at roundabouts. I've now re-wired that about 3 times now and it's totally covered in electrical tape and I'm pretty sure that it's good now. It's not ideal, but I'm now not so sure that the problem is the wiring. However, I get the following code in VAG-COM: 00537 - Lambda (Oxygen Sensor) Regulation 11-10 - Control Limit Not Reached - Intermittent I never used to get a code at all with the old sensor, but that may just be coincidence. I'm now thinking that me clearing the code is allowing it to run well again for a short time before it notices that there's still an issue. Maybe the old sensor didn't detect the changes as well and hence didn't throw a code when it should have. In the not too distant past I've also replaced all HT leads, the coilpack and most recently all the spark plugs (again) and the issue is still here. I'm actually beginning to think there's an air leak, allowing unmetered air in. I'm not 100% sure, but sometimes I think I can hear a sucking noise if I've got the bonnet up, especially for a second or two immediately after switching off the engine, as everything is coming to a halt. Also on the air inlet, where the smaller pipe (with the dummy sensor (right at the top left-most spark plug)) joins the large diameter main ducting, there's oil on the outside. This seems to suggest that that joint is leaking air. Could this be the cause of my running issues, and of the VAG-COM code above? How much does a replacement for all this ducting cost? One other thing. Once I had the following code in addition to the one above: 00533 - Idle Speed Regulation 10-10 - Adaptation Limit Not Reached - Intermittent What I did notice that time was that I had actually forgotten to tighten up the jubilee clip where the MAF joins the ducting. The car ran really badly until I tightened that up, where it improved but still isn't great. This code hasn't reappeared but the first one I can keep clearing and it will always come back. Any help with the following would be greatly appreciated: 1 Bearing in mind what I HAVE replaced, do these symptoms sound like an air leak in the inlet ducting? 30 seconds of RPMs hunting on cold start, occasional conking out at junctions, hesitancy, lumpy idle. 2 Is new ducting expensive? 3 Is it possible to repair the junction where I suspect I might have a leak, with some sort of tape? 4 Does the MAF throw a VAG-COM code when it's failing? 5 Any way of testing the MAF? 6 Could an air leak result in a lambda probe code like I'm getting? Any other help gladly accepted. Cheers. Edit: BTW, I have no cold or hot starting problems. My car has never been difficult to start.

I couldnt agree more! Indeed. I've actually done alignment myself by eye before and then watched them do it properly in the alignment place and seen that I've got it just about spot on. The thing that concerns me though is that if your camber settings are off, then how does this affect the toeing in/out? Presumably you have to get camber right first, THEN do alignment. Also, I've often wondered about this scenario. You know how if you replace a ball joint they always say to mark the position of the old one, well, what if you have no confidence that the old one is properly positioned, or if you're replacing everything and don't have previous marks to align to? What is the procedure then? The way I see it, camber can be adjusted in two ways: (1) by the camber adjustment bolts on the strut and (2) by positioning of the balljoint. How do you go about positioning ball joints, camber bolts and track rod ends if you have no confidence that any of it is in the correct position in the first place? Thankfully the caster setting is not adjustable (so I believe) but I guess wear on bushes could mess about with this.

Yeah, the wishbones are old but I'm pretty sure the bushes were all replaced (I got a whole load of stuff done not long after I got the car. Wish I'd done it myself, because I was not impressed with the results. Guy missed a totally shot shock absorber.). The tyres are the Toyo Proxes T1-S, which are no longer available and have been replaced by the T1-R. I'm pleased with the tyres and have had them for probably 25,000 miles or so now (nearly 6 years), but they are nearing the end of their life. Poor tracking and various suspension problems have probably shortened their life, but I don't think that mileage is too bad on them.

I would suggest trying to twist it and rock it back and forth. You will need a serious amount of pulling force too. You will likely wreck the seal but they're not that expensive and you'd be wanting to put new ones on anyway. Just be very careful with the backs of your hands. When it suddenly frees off there's a lot of sharp stuff around that can tear chunks out your hands.

Having now fixed my leaking coolant system (it was the hose below the crack pipe leaking) I am now getting coolant temperatures of 85C on the motorway, with it rising to about 91C in town for a while, but then dropping again once settled at that speed. The oil temperature now sits just under 100C (96-98) but can rise to 104 or 106 on enthusiastic driving.

As I mentioned, having reassembled everything I started filling with coolant and noticed a leak. I had already put 2 litres of neat coolant in and was going to then add 3 litres of water so that I had the 40% strength recommended on the G12+ bottle (I think Bentley refers to G11 which seems to not require as high a concentration. I would go with the G12+ recommendation rather than Bentley), with half the capacity filled, then top up gradually until the level is reached. With brand new clean coolant in and a leak, I didn't want to simply dump this, so I found a piece of domestic drainage pipe, cut it to length, undid the crack pipe drain valve and carefully channeled all the coolant down the drainage pipe into a basin. If you don't do this then it runs straight down the block, pulling all the rust and oil off and contaminating the coolant. Here's a picture of the leak.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6060097.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3] I had to remove the bumper and slam panel again, but this time it took about 10 minutes. I removed the front of the thermostat housing (the bit that the crack pipe goes in to) and the crack pipe and this is what I found.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060098.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3] See the bits cut out of the seal? That was a brand new seal. The blue stuff is a non-setting gasket sealant made by Comma (I think) and developed by Rolls Royce apparently. I was trying to minimise leaks. It seems I was far too conservative with my cleaning up of the block where the pipe goes in. Once I removed it and carefully felt around, I felt a sharp bit of corrosion which must have done the cutting. So, I scraped away with a chisel and screw driver, and finished it up with a Dremel and emery paper and got it totally smooth. I had thought that there was meant to be a ridge, but there isn't. There is only the big ridge deeper in that is meant to be there but I had a 'rust ridge' which I totally removed. Luckily I had accidentally ordered seals for the crack pipe, not realising that it came with them anyway, so with a perfectly smooth and widened block hole I put the pipe in again and it went in much easier this time and required no tapping with a hammer and block of wood. I guess if you have to tap it in with a hammer then you've not removed enough corrosion. Here's a tip for you. I've seen people suggesting that you should use a bit of oil or grease to get these sorts of things to go together more easily. It's certainly difficult to assemble things with dry seals, but I think oil or grease is a bad idea. It could attack the rubber. With a cooling system though, why not just dip your finger in the coolant and smear that round the rubber seal? The seals are designed to be in contact with the coolant, and it makes them very easy to slide in. With the corrosion all removed and a smear of coolant the crack pipe slid in very easily and on reassembly it never leaked and hasn't leaked since. Don't be scared to remove the rust from the block and give it a proper clean up. Just don't remove any good metal! Here's a slightly fuzzy picture of mine having gone to town on it and got it cleaned right up.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060102.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3] Well, that's about it all written up. I eventually got about 9 litres of coolant and water in the car. The capacity is, I believe, 10 litres, but there was probably some left in the block. I didn't bother filling up via the top hose this time. It all went in the expansion tank. I drove home and checked the next day and got another 600ml of mixture in, and it hasn't dropped at all since. The good news is that the temperatures are now very satisfactory. I was getting about 105ish coolant all the time with 110ish in traffic, and >116 oil all the time before this (obviously I was losing coolant). Yesterday was a very hot day here in Glasgow and the coolant stayed at 85 on the motorway, only rising to a tiny bit above 90 in the town (but then dropped again once the fans kicked in). The oil is staying at around 96-98 now at 70mph and in town too. I got the oil to go to around 104/106 when driving with enthusiasm, but it's nowhere near the 120 like it was reaching at times before. I'm very pleased with the temperatures now. All in all, this job wasn't that bad, although I could have done without the sheared bolt, but it all worked out in the end. Access to good tools is important. To illustrate this, here's one final photo of some tools I used during this job. The one on the right is probably 19th century! The rivet is very loose, but this was just perfect for the hose clips. My grandfather left us a lot of tools and it's amazing what we sometimes end up using on this car.P6060099.JPG[/attachment:3aj3lhu3]

OK, having got this far, it's time to put the bumper on, but I still had a bit of bolt stuck in mine. I used some top quality drills and a lot of care and managed to drill it out. It can be useful to use imperial sizes sometimes as you can get sizes between the metric sizes and remove more metal sometimes. The trick is to try to remove as much metal as possible without removing the thread. I got a tap and die set from Halfords to help me out and managed to make an 8mm thread inside the remaining bolt (the size should be 10mm). I thought that by threading an 8mm thread, I might be able to use an 8mm bolt to somehow shift the remaining bit of bolt. This didn't work, and so I had to eventually drill out even more. But luckily, with just a sliver of metal left, the remaining bit came out, like a little helicoil, but this is just the remaining bolt. Here's a photo of the hole where the bolt was stuck, the sliver of bolt that came out after all the drilling, and a bit from my tap and die set. I used the 10mm tap to carefully clean out the thread. The thread was actually undamaged. This was a horrendous bolt to get out but patience and precision drilling got it in the end.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060091.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu] The next photo shows the bumper attached. Bentley says that there should be an 8mm gap (vertically) between the bumper and the wing panel (and hence the slam panel bit). My bumper was originally tight up against that. It's now correct, but I'm not sure why it was wrong before. Maybe it was to do with the radiator being on too tight, or maybe the bumper bolts themselves were just far too tight. They should be 85Nm, which is quite tight really. Anyway, my bumper is now sitting correctly. By the way, my wing IS dented. It was like that when I got it.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060092edited.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu] The next photo shows under the car. I know the cross member thing is very rusty. It's a 201,000 mile car! The 5 arrows on the curved metal strap thing need to be removed to get the bumper off. You then need to pull that strap out towards the back of the car. This holds the bumper on to the slam panel. Be careful when removing the strap as you will get a facefull of rust. The large arrows point to where the 2 sets of 2 main 17mm hex bolts are to be found. The small arrow to the left of the right large arrow points to another small screw that holds the bumper on to the serpentine belt guard. This screw, the 5 on the strap and the 4 17mm large bolts are ALL that need to be removed to remove the bumper (on the VR6 at least). Once these are removed, all you need to do is pull the sides of the bumper out and over the wheel arches as you slide the bumper forward. Take care as it will suddenly drop to the ground so use something or somebody to catch it. You can then unplug the wires for the front fog lights (you should have already removed the indicators by prising them carefully towards the outside with a screwdriver and disconnecting them). When refitting the bumper, you'll notice at the side of the car that there are plastic bits with circular bits on them that fit inside a channel in the bumper. Make sure these are aligned properly.P6060093edited.JPG[/attachment:3195r7xu] Continued in next post...

Well, here's the final update on this saga. My cable modem died on Friday so I've just got a new one today having no Internet all weekend. I finished the job on Friday but not without a setback. I had re-assembled everything and started filling it up with coolant when I noticed a leak, right where the crack pipe enters the block. It was leaking without even any pressure, so I had to totally dismantle everything again, taking the bumper and slam panel back off again. I had hesitated to fully re-assemble it before checking for leaks but since you need to attach the radiator again, I just decided to fully assemble it all. I got it fixed eventually, but more on that later. Also, the other good news is that I managed to get out the remaining bit of bolt, with some precision drilling. So, here's the details with more pictures. Firstly, on reassembly of the car, it occurred to me that something wasn't quite right with my radiator. I suspected mine wasn't quite right with the height, with the bumper being too close to the slam panel bit and the radiator seemed too tightly attached, if you know what I mean. I noticed that the radiator had little pegs which slot into holes in the cross member and I guessed that these were supposed to have rubber spacers in them. So I checked ETKA and sure enough, there are rubber feet and mine were missing. These are actually quite important as they keep the radiator and cowling up off the cross member. Mine was resting on this and has encouraged quite a bit of corrosion there (which I have now hammerited). I also suspected that these rubber feet might be the same as those on the air box, and so checked ETKA. Sure enough they are the same part number, so I just took them off the air box and put them on the radiator. I can get new ones for the air box any time and it's much easier to get at. I always had one of the three missing on the air box anyway. Here's a photo of the radiator pegs and the air box with rubber spacers which I moved onto the radiator. It now sits at the correct height.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6060084.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f] The next photo shows the radiator in place, with plastic air guides attached. Note the radiator hangers on top of the block of wood. These hangers don't actually hold the radiator up (the rubber spacers do). They appear to be to stop horizontal motion back and forth. Mine were cranked up incredibly tight and had appeared to pull the slam panel down as they gripped the radiator really well due to the corrosion on them. The longer hanger goes on the left (from the perspective of this picture) and the shorter one goes on the right. There's a bit of confusion as to which way round they should be though. ETKA shows both of them with the down bit at the back of the car whereas Bentley shows them with the longer one having the down bit at the front and the shorter one having the down bit to the back. Bentley appeared correct according to the way mine was, and it seems to make more sense as there is a slot for the longer one. Regardless, I had to push the radiator a bit at the left to get it to line up, but I guess it might be slightly warped due to the incorrect way it was fitted in the past without feet and being too tight etc. I think ETKA is wrong here. Here's the photo.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6060087.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f] Now here it is with the slam panel attached and the radiator on. Look carefully and you'll see how the hangers go. There are 14 hex head screws with washers that hold on the slam panel. I've arrowed all 14 of them in this photo. Before you attach the slam panel, it's a good idea to grease up the bonnet release cable. Also get somebody to pull the lever and hold it in that position as it will expose more metal of the cable for you to grease. I have managed to eliminate my bonnet release noise now.P6060088edited.JPG[/attachment:32wggt5f] By the way, see the bit between the two lowest arrows? I found a screwdriver in there! It must have fallen down in there when someone was working on it in the past. Continued in next post...

One last photo. Here's the Irwin bolt grip set which I bought from Machine Mart. I bought the base set which consists of one of the rows of 5 (can't remember which) and the plastic case and also the extension pack which added the other row of 5 to fill in gaps in the sizes. I think the total cost was around £45, but you can buy them possibly about £10 cheaper on Ebay, if you buy them together. I needed them quickly, however, so paid the dearer price from Machine Mart for the convenience of getting them that day. These are fantastic tools for removing nuts and bolts whose heads have rounded off or otherwise damaged. Unfortunately they grip so well that it is possible to shear bolts off if they are so corroded that they won't shift, but then nothing will shift them in that case, except maybe tons of heat, but you can't always get access for that.

I took some photos today of the tools I mentioned in my post above. Firstly, here's the box you get with the flaring tool. I've got some unions sitting in the top, with some bleed valves and brake hose clips.Corrado92.pdfP6050075.JPG[/attachment:2evci98t] Here's the toolbox opened with the flaring tool visible. It is placed in a vice and the handle used to crank round the die (one is just visible in the top left) into the pipe which is gripped in place by blocks. It's very easy to use. You can also see my Halfords brake spanner. Very good quality. The Automec one isn't really up to much. Also note the wee plug device we made over on the right. You sacrifice a union and a small piece of copper pipe, make a flare as normal (note its domed appearance. The double flares go back in on themselves but VWs use these single flares.) and then hammer down the end of the pipe to make a seal. You can use this as a plug for the ABS while you make up each pipe and minimise fluid loss and air ingress. You should really also make up one with a 12mm union as one of the unions on the ABS is 12mm.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050077.JPG[/attachment:2evci98t] Here's a picture of the ABS unit under the bonnet. If I remember correctly, the two rightmost unions (from the point of view of this photo) are for the fronts and the next two along from them are the rears. Do one wheel at a time and you can't go wrong. Note that the 3rd one along is a 12mm union. Not sure why but probably something to do with not mixing the rears. I think the rears crossed over each other, so it's probably to make sure. You can't really mix up the fronts as one of them obviously veers off to the passenger side. This is where I used the improvised plug tool I made with the sacrificed union and small length of pipe.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050068.JPG[/attachment:2evci98t] Here's the pipe deburring kit, which I forgot also contains a bending tool. Most bends can be done by hand but you will likely want tight ones in some places and this bending tool certainly helps. I didn't find the deburrer so useful, probably because I used a proper cutter which minimises burrs. Many people use hacksaws, which is actually strongly discouraged because burrs and unstraight cuts can occur which make good flares difficult.2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050078.JPG[/attachment:2evci98t] And here's my wee cutter. A lovely wee tool. Those who appreciate good tools will enjoy using this! It's Sykes Pickavant and is adjustable such that it can even be used on plumbing pipes! Well worth it again.P6050079.JPG[/attachment:2evci98t]

Next is a photo with everything re-assembled, but still missing the radiator. This is the point I was at when the monsoon started, so it's still in this state. To get the new crack pipe in was really tough. In the end I resorted to tapping it in with gentle force with a block of wood and a hammer. It actually goes in quite far and is actually very tight when it's in. I just wonder if I've tapped it in too far. I'll explain further with the next photo. Note that the pipe isn't horizontal (it's not meant to be). Note the careful positioning of the two oil cooler hoses. I think mine were under stress as they were very much more crushed up against the previous crack pipe. One had actually partially melted where it touched the crack pipe. Note the clips holding the alternator wire. I've had to remove the left one out of its alignment pin on the crack pipe (that's what those pins are for) to get it to sit nicely with the wire.passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050080.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z] OK, here's a close-up of the right side of the crack pipe seated inside the thermostat housing piece. Have I tapped the crack pipe too far into the block? I'm slightly concerned that the alignment notch isn't hard up against the thermostat housing piece as it could be, but everything else is aligned correctly. I think it's still sealed inside OK and am hoping that this is deliberately designed to allow some variation. The thermostat piece is a smooth uniform channel inside, which is perhaps deliberately made like this to allow for slight variations. Only testing will tell.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050081.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z] Here's a close-up of the engine block end of the crack pipe. Is this too far in the block? Is that even possible?2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050082.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z] Lastly, here's a close-up of the two £6.50ish rubber hoses that you'd be mad not to replace at the same time. I re-used 3 clips and bought a new one to replace one I snapped. Take care and time to position these hoses to minimise stress and to try to keep them away from the crack pipe. Note that the two oil cooler ends are of larger diameter than the crack pipe and block ends of the pipes. Take care to put the right pipe in the right place. They are shaped for their positions. Take care to position the spring clips for easy access later, a point neglected by many.P6050083.JPG[/attachment:r69o117z] OK, that's all the photos for now. Hope this is useful for others. It's not a tough job (assuming you get the bumper bolts out OK), it's just a bit time-consuming.

OK, the next two pictures show the engine with crack pipe and thermostat housing removed. The corrosion in the block where the crack pipe goes is really quite horrendous and it requires lots of cleaning up with emery paper or Dremels (taking great care not to remove too much material). I'm not sure how successful I've been because I got interrupted with the monsoon, but you need to check here carefully for leaks after doing the job. The mating surface where the thermostat housing goes was very good on mine. I cleaned up with brake cleaner and emery paper.Corrado92.pdfP6050060.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050066.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t] The next two pictures show the new thermostat housing assembled and also a mock up of how it goes with the crack pipe. Note the thermostat inside the lower part. Note how I've positioned it such that the metal pieces going to the apex of the thermostat are not restricting the flow of coolant through the crack pipe piece (you'll know what I mean when you see the thermostat). My old thermostat was positioned such that the flow was restricted by this piece which is probably not a good idea. Note the sensors assembled in their original order (or at least the original order in MY car!). In the second picture you'll see a jubilee clip on the oil cooler hose but I decided to just get a new clip to replace the one I snapped from the dealer since I was going there for bolts anyway.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050069.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t]2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050073.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t] Next is a still life of Corrado parts. Bottom left is the snapped bumper bolt next to an intact one. Bottom right is a snapped bolt inside the radiator spacing piece. This piece is almost £10 from the dealer!!! If you have the time, drill it out and tap a new thread in. Unbelievably the bolt was "on back order". There was not a single bolt for this in the whole of the UK. I declined to wait and bought an M6 bolt from Halfords to use with my replacement spacer piece. The original is 15mm long and the Halfords replacement is 20mm. If need be I can cut 5mm off it but I don't think it will be necessary. Top middle are two plastic clips that fit on the crack pipe and are used (I think!) to hold the alternator wire up, but it doesn't quite fit on mine as you'll see in later photos. Note the inclusion of daisies to finish off the piece. This photo should be in the Tate Modern really.P6050074.JPG[/attachment:3pqazv2t] Continued in next post...

OK, it's monsoon season in Glasgow today (with big sparks in the sky and rumbling too) so I'll take the time to post up some pictures I've taken during this crack pipe replacement job, and comment along the way. I hope people will find this helpful when they have to do it. First up, here's the bumper bracket with the remains of one of the 4 big bolts (the one on the right of the picture) you need to undo to get the bumper out. These bolts require a breaker bar to shift them and unfortunately one of mine has decided to become a part of the frame, probably at the molecular level. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do to get this out, but I've got a tap and die set, so hopefully that can get the remaining bits out once I file them down enough:stromlaufplan_gamma4.pdfP6050051.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd] OK, the next two pictures show the common damage with a crack pipe. Firstly, the ends crumble away. Secondly the branch pipe that goes to the oil cooler snaps off. On mine this only snapped off while I was trying to remove the crack pipe, but other people have it coming off on its own. Mine may have been leaking there, but the real leak in mine was one of the oil cooler pipes, which I totally advise replacing at the same time. There's two of them and they're £6.50ish each. You may want to get new clips too as I snapped one of them trying to remove it. You'll note the seals are missing. The first picture is the engine end and the seal was stuck in the block part. The other end I think I removed myself. My crack pipe was original (manufactured in 1993, but my thermostat housing bits and radiator seem to date from 2001, so I reckon I've had work on my cooling system the year before I got the car.Corrado92.pdfP6050053.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfP6050054.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd] The next two pictures show where the bolts for the bumper go. The first is from underneath, at the passenger side. The second is the channel where the bumper bracket in the first picture slides in. Note that on mine, the two bolts nearest the bumper were in good condition and came out OK. The two nearest the back of the car were much more badly corroded and one of these snapped. Take care with the back bolts.climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfP6050064.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd]2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfP6050065.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd] Next, this is what your car looks like when you've got the bumper, slam panel and radiator out. Not pretty! Note the very rusty block behind the dipstick holder. This is where the leak was and may well have been contributing to the rust. Also note the oily part on the right. This oil appears to be coming from the rocker cover gasket, so I'll need to do that at some point. You can also see some general corrosion on the subframe bit, which I've now painted with some hammerite.P6050059.JPG[/attachment:6jkbzntd] Continued in next post...