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@yandards - how does that work? Is that on G60s and 8v cars? I would have thought the 16v doesn't have a MAF as it's purely mechanical fuel injection (K-Jetronic).

Also - pulled a spark plug and checked for spark and got a nice shock off it so it looks like it's getting current! Then disconnected the central lead from the distributor and ran the starter and there was a good smell of petrol from the plug hole, so it seems to be getting fuel. Tested all the temp senders - fine - and even swapped the ECU coolant temp plug onto the other sender in the thermostat housing for the radiator fan - car started, but cut out again on idle after 5-10 minutes. To me this leaves: - dodgy Hall sender on the distributor ( a pain to test as access is not very good for getting a multimeter on it) - crank position sensor (although would have thought engine would not start at all if this was dead) - leaking injectors flooding the engine - Lambda probe (it only happens when the car is on the full fuelling cycle, i.e. Lambda signal on) Any ideas here? I have a new crank position sensor on the way (even though I have a spare, but it's second hand as well) and am looking into a distributor replacement - they can be got, but are pricey. The hall sender is built into the distributor casing itself and there doesn't seem to be a rebuild kit available.

Here's a picture of the no 1 plug:[ATTACH]82156[/ATTACH] Any comments on the condition - they've been in for about 5000 miles?

What's wrong with it?

Good to hear you sorted it.

VW had a manufacturing plant in Mexico so it may have been that they farmed out some of the panels to there. There have even been stashes of NLA parts found in Brazil and Paraguay in recent years. The original Beetle was made in Mexico long after production ended in Germany.

Stick it into Google and you might find something. The German is for the paint colour- satin silver.

Make sure everything has a proper return to earth via the loom wiring as far as the earth mounting points to the car body. IIRC there is an earth point on the left hand side behind the dash glove box, and another one near the fusebox on the right. These may have been disturbed during the dash out/dash in job. You'll probably need to get a multimeter out to check this kind of stuff. You can also get a current reader device (LED screen with a bit of wire and a fuse connector on the end) which plugs in instead of one of the fuses, which will let you check which circuit is drawing the current.

Thread resurrection as I'm doing this at the moment - I have an old blue temp sender here - it tests 2860 ohms across the two pins when cold. VAG have a temp vs resistance diagram here - so I presume it's within tolerances at room temperature. Threw it into a bowl with boiling water and it changes to 560 ohms, so that looks right. You can test vacuum by using a T piece in between one of the vac hoses and a pressure tester. I was measuring 1,.5 bar at idle I think.

Good point Dox - back to basics. I'll pull the no. 1 plug when it happens again during testing.

I've replaced relay 109 with a spare I had and will test more tomorrow. I was seeing 13.8-14.2 volts in VCDS at the ECU, with no large variations. One strange thing I saw was that the coolant temperature reading is -49C with the engine turned off? If this is not right it could be our old friend the blue ECU coolant temp sensor again. Will swap in another and work on it further over the weekend. Didn't stop it starting though - same overall symptoms - engine runs for about 10-20 mins and then cuts out and won't start for another 10 mins. The first image are the VCDS readings with the engine running and up to temp - the second one is with it off, but ignition on. One thing I'm not sure is the EGR temp at the bottom right - this always reads 217C. Still learning this stuff.

@greenrado - thanks for checking, so that's in line with what I'm seeing. Great.

Very hard to get second hand and not available new - the other side is. Hopefully someone on here has one for you.

http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/high-performance-shock-absorbers/bilstein-b6/ B6's are "high Performance" - closer to OEM, but slightly better, B8 are sports dampers and come in the Bilstein spring and shock sets. I run the B6s to get better damping with -30mm H&R green springs and OEM bushes to get a slight drop, improved damping but nearly OEM type comfort. I think you'll find the B8's harsher for everyday use - but it's only my opinion and there are plenty on here with experience of a huge range of suspensions. Generally, you get what you pay for. You'll also be surprised what a difference replacing all the 20 year old bushes with new ones will make, without touching springs and shocks. If you don't do the lot, you'll only see partial benefits, but I know it's expensive. It's also possible to source something very close to how they came from the factory between VW dealers and some aftermarket parts.

I run Bilstein B6s - no problems so far. Are you just replacing springs and shocks? It depends on how far you want to go, but you should look at the suspension strut top mounts, bump stops, rear axle beam bushes, front wishbone bushes, ARB bushes, tie-rods and ball joints if you want to do a complete refresh.

All Corrado VR6s had the plus suspension with wider wheelbase - known as the "Plus-achsel" to VW. Also found on VR6 Golf MkIIIs as far as I know.

Just had a really interesting quick chat with Vince at Stealth about this. According to him, 3.5 bar at idle and 4 bar with the vac hose off is perfectly normal, so it looks like there is absolutely nothing wrong with my pump. He suggested I monitor the ECU voltage in VCDS over time when the car is idling to see if there is any variation - could be pointing at our old friend relay 109 again, or the wiring to it. Will work on this tonight or over the weekend and report back.

Bumping this up in case there are new eyes looking at it - and if anyone has a VR6 and a fuel pressure gauge to hand it would be real favour if they could test their pressure with the engine running and let me know the results. Many thanks. I even asked Pierburg in German about this and they say all their pumps for the VR6 are 3 bar, that's all they ever sold and in 10 years they haven't had any negative feedback on them! Why then a 4 bar fuel pressure regulator?

If you know the car is mechanically sound I would go for the respray and carry on. If it looks as if it needs lots of other stuff doing as well it's a more difficult decision. After having owned a MkII GTI, Audi Quattro and now the Corrado I would now say buy the best condition bodywork and chassis you can get - as all the mechanicals and even engine transplants can be sorted relatively easily but rust and paint are the killer in terms of money and can break your heart.

I've just bought the following - Bremi are OEM quality and are red. http://www.ottocarparts.com/shop/parts/101454-bremi-ignition-cable-kit-997.html I'll let you know how I get on. VW Classic parts can do the coil pack leads, but the distributor version ones are NLA apparently.

You'll get them off a breakers or direct from VW. You can also get the pins out with a special terminal tool and swap them over to another connector.

From the US: http://www.ecstuning.com/ES273188/ - not cheap though.

You can get them new, but without the badge, from VW Classic Parts or VW Heritage if you want a spanking brand new one - that's where I got mine http://shop.volkswagen-classic-parts.de/vwcp/scirocco-corrado/corrado/body/exterior/radiator-grille-satin-black-535853653a-01c.html Most second hand grilles are likely to have broken tabs at this stage.

It was a direct fit on my 93 VR6 - as far as I know they are all the same. To be honest, if it's a 20+ year old radiator in the car I would just replace it and the plastic radiator neck to be sure, it's not especially expensive compared to the cost of other parts on the Corrado. The VW one would still be made by Hella, Behr or Valeo, just stamped with a VAG part number and maybe an extra quality check.

Still worth pulling fault codes from the ECU. That's what it's there for and it will pick up on any faulty senders or wiring issues.