tony_ack

I've run both on the Corrado, and also run the Toyos on a MK2 Golf. The Toyos are a good middle-of-the-range tyre - not earth shattering but they do a decent job. The Contis are in a different class though. They even improved the ride, probably as the Premiums have a relatively soft side wall.

Mine had the exact same problem yesterday! It's been working fine, and then it just wouldn't close. It won't open either. The relay clicks in the motor, but it makes no attempt to move either way. Not sure if it's a coincidence, but the clocks now lose power when I switch the engine off as well - both things happened at the same time. Could be a fuse?

Could be the crank sensor on its way out.

Posting isn't too bad if you get a system going. Buy loads of bubble wrap and padded envelopes up front. Do a post office run twice a week. In bigger post offices they have automated parcel drops. Bits left over tend to be pretty random, but usually things like interior trim hang around for a while. If you don't want the mess of removing the engine, sell the shell, engine, loom and drivetrain in one go as a conversion donor, after you've stripped the rest of the shell. When I broke my written off Golf, I ended up with loads of parts left over, and struggled to sell them, so I offered them all as a job lot for about £70. The bits were probably worth more separately, but when you get to the dregs, you need to be lucky to find buyers who need the bits you're selling.

If you want to go any further with this, then I'd say your best bet now is to replace the oil cooler. You've ruled out all the other signs of HG failure and there's nothing except the water in the oil that suggests the headgasket has gone. There is still the risk that it's not the issue, but it's always best to replace the cheapest part first when you're not sure. When you replace the oil, it may be worth using some really cheap 10W40, and then running it and changing it again a week later to get rid of the water contamination and flush out the system. The steam from the rad is a little ominous - it could just be standing water on the fins, but probably best to make sure it's not coming from a pinhole leak in the rad.

I think you can re-calibrate the sender? My Corrado under-reads, so never had a problem there. My Golf over-reads. Learnt that the hard way. Having your ex bail you out with a can of fuel is not a good look.

I usually do the compression test and check for other headgasket signs (steam out of the exhaust, pressurised hoses, etc.), and if everything seems okay, swap the oil cooler. I've had this issue twice on different cars and 2 out of 2 times it's been the oil cooler. The HG could potentially still have gone between an oil and water channel, and you'll get no other signs, but if your choice is between taking off the head or replacing the cooler, I know which one I'd rather do first. If it's the original one it's probably past it now anyway. They're really easy to change by the way, once you've dropped the oil and water.

Could be the oil cooler, they tend to be responsible for a lot of water in oil issues.

They don't really. There may be a small effect from having a bigger initial bite, which will transfer weight to the front quicker, bogging the front of the car and increase front tyre grip slightly (conversely decreasing rear grip). The only other thing is that bigger brakes will work better at speeds where you can't lock the wheels (or may allow you to lock the wheels with bigger brakes, where you couldn't with standard ones :-) )

Have you checked the gearbox oil? 5th is the first to go if it's oil-starved.

Does this spell the end for the Corrado? No more heading off to China to re-manufacture parts that VW made obsolete years ago? When your genuine exhaust finally fails, that's it, show's over?

Erm... this would mean I'd be left without a car to drive, and I can't afford to put it back to standard or buy a new one?

Checked and the panel is fitted from behind. I used the u-clips from the original controls. Fits like a glove! I did take a panel apart, but it was a while ago, and I can't remember if you can change the filter.

I had the entire MK4 loom, so I stole all the relevant wiring off that, including the climatronic plugs on the car loom side, wiring into the clocks (actually I tapped into the speed sensor wire going into the radio on the Corrado), most of the aircon wiring, including the bits to the fan controller, and also the wiring for the outside temp sensor. As a little bonus, the outside temp sensor was on the loom as well :-) Making the loom was quite straight forward to be honest - I just soldered into the existing loom where I needed to and got some heatshrink stuff over it to neaten it up. I also took the opportunity to wrap the whole dash loom in that cloth loom wrap and the dash is almost silent now. The most difficult bit was probably working out where all the wires went - Tony was a great help for that. The dials look good in the link.. I might go the other way and change the climatronic unit to match the rest of the dash. iirc the Octavia MK1 Climatronic panel has a green display?

Integrating the diagnostics is easy if you have the OBDII style port on later Corrados. Just tap into the line into the diagnostic port. These could be useful as I noticed on mine that the heater flap opens far too much on lower temps, so it makes the car too warm. You can use Vagcom to reset the system and to manually adjust the flap settings. The connection into the ECU are quite easy too iirc - there are connectors on the back of the fusebox which you tap into. The main function of these is to raise the engine revs when the aircon is activated. The climatronic panel surround fitted perfectly on mine and looks really really neat.

I'd say I'm like you in the way that I enjoy my car, and have it mainly to drive, but at the same time I think you're being a bit harsh on people who take pride in their motors! I can't see why you can't have it both ways? I'm driving mine daily at the moment, and I think that when the insurance is up for renewal I'll probably switch to driving it full time. I like not having to worry about keeping it my car pristine, being able to chuck a load of waste in the back to take to the tip, not worrying about parking at Asda, but at the same time I do take pride in it. Washing/waxing/detailing isn't really a chore - washing by hand is probably less than an hour a week, including getting everything out and putting it back, and then a wax every 1-3 months depending on how the beading is. Also as it's my main car at the minute, I don't necessarily want everything to be perfect, but at the same time I do want everything to work, and for all the trim to be present. Not because I'm trying to keep the value up, but more because I want my car to be a nice place to be. It's funny how on a daily car, how interior rattles take priority over trolley dinks. I have spent some money on my car on wheels, suspension, Schrick, etc., but this is not because I want my car to be a show queen, but it's because I want my car to be the way I want it. I also find that by tinkering and keeping on top of the little problems, the car is less likely to let you down when you don't expect it. Preventative maintenance is a lot better than a big garage repair bill. You don't need to neglect your car in order to enjoy it.

Someone asked how much I wanted for it this morning at the petrol station. I said £5k. He said it was worth it all day long, but didn't make an offer... The woman at the till overheard and said her boyfriend used to have one too and sold it for £6k 8 years ago. Incidentally I haven't seen any other Corrados on the road for a few months now.

I haven't seen one on the road for a couple of months...! They're not as common as they used to be. There are still a lot of Storms on the road though, and some of the campaigns.

A VR? How's your water pump? Mine started to leak and water got into the aux belt pulley. It whistled like a chavvy turbo when I put my foot down and I thought it was air escaping at first. May also explain the scratchy noise if the bearings are starting to go? Only way to find out is open the bonnet and listen for where the sound is coming from.

Got some INA ones from GSF last year. The guy brought out 8 at first, bless him.

If it's your only car, then you really have only two options... 1. Use it until it breaks and ignore all the rust 2. Break it. It's not worth much as a whole - if the rust is as bad as you say it is then no-one is going to touch it unless they want to break it for the engine. If you have somewhere to store it, then get yourself a really cheap runaround for now, and then break the car. Don't aim to get back top dollar on all the parts - not many people want to splash several hundred pounds on performance upgrades right now - but get back enough to cover your costs. Then if you want another Golf or Corrado, sell the runaround, and spend the money you got from that and breaking the Golf on something half decent, and put the rest towards your house. Even if you still want to fix the Golf, I wouldn't spend another penny on it until you have had a good look over the whole car and underneath too, otherwise you're just throwing good money after bad. The fact the chains are rattling is ominous too.

MOT'd and taxed today! Failed the MOT on three corroded brake lines last week - it's been into the local specialist for these and was finished this morning! Brake pedal is very spongey at the moment. The guy who did the work knows his VWs but was a bit stumped, and is happy to bleed them again FOC next week if they don't settle down (last time I bled them, the brakes improved over the course of the week). He bled all 4 corners and the ABS pump as well.

I'd wanted a Corrado since I was 12. A couple of years ago, now that I was older and better off (sadly not wiser...) I set about to find a Corrado-like car, and the Corrado was the closest fit I could find. We could speculate all day about which modern classics are better (and more expensive), who the Corrado appeals to, who would buy one and who would even know what one is, but at the end of the day, the people most likely to want one are those who have owned one before, or those who were smitten with them when they first came out. People like me can't afford a supercar, or even a quick modern car so the low Corrado values were a very good thing. I'm not sure there's much else out there for the same money that I'd want to swap for. The low values allowed me to get a desirable car at 10-year old Golf money. The only thing that is a little disappointing is that the Corrado appears to be in a weird little hole where the car is worth 2-3 times more in parts than as a whole car, so we're getting fewer and fewer decent cars to choose from.

Don't really see the point in you having the CCTV cameras if you're going to accept them kicking the ball against your car anyway. Tolerance is a strange thing insofar as different people have different levels. The 13 year old kid should know better so either they think it's okay to do what they're doing, or they think it's not okay and don't care about the consequences (or don't believe there are any). You need to ask them sternly, but politely, to stop damaging your car each time you see them do it, and then if they don't, speak to the parents and explain calmly what the problem is. There's a big difference between kids playing, getting lost in the moment and accidentally striking your car, and them not really caring whether they do or not. Dreading coming home is a bad sign - if you feel the situation can't be resolved, then you'd be better off moving. Don't put yourself in a situation where you end up worrying constantly about what they're doing as it's not healthy.

If they wear quicker then it seems a bit of a waste to run winter tyres in summer. If you have funds and room, then a second set of winter wheels may be a better option, and a harder wearing summer compound on now if you don't drive it too hard.