tony_ack

As some of you have seen, I've had a pretty tough time getting a decent insurance quote on the VR6 this year. The lowest so far has been £860 from Brentacre, which is a fair whack to do only 8000 miles a year. The insurance on the Corrado runs out at the end of this month, and the tax at the end of next month. I have been mulling over the idea of parking the Corrado for winter and getting a cheap diesel daily (a MK3 Golf TDI or similar). Ideally I would something I could buy and insure for less than it would cost me to renew on the Corrado, but quotes for the Golf are still coming back at £450 per year TPFT (which is what I paid to insure my MK2 GTI a couple of years ago fully comp!!) so it may cost a little more than I want. Obviously a diesel would half my fuel costs, saving me £70 per month, and if I get a car with some tax on it I make a bit of a saving there too. I do have a dry and sturdy lockup that I rent for £10 per month to store the Corrado in, so storage isn't an issue, though it isn't at my home address. I would rent the garage whether I store the Corrado in there or not, so doesn't factor into the storage costs.. I have tried to think of the pros and cons of the idea, and I'm still undecided! Pros: -The Corrado is off the road over the winter - no road dirt or risk of accident damage -After a couple of months, I will have saved money in running costs, and then it will start to pay off (hopefully!) -It will give me a chance to look at the bodywork and underseal, finish off the aircon and do other jobs on the car without worrying about getting it back on the road on Monday morning -The Corrado is on summer tyres and needs two new tyres soon -I will save on mileage (currently on 220k) Cons: -I love driving the Corrado and will miss it A LOT -I will still need (okay want) to tax/insure the Corrado next summer (though maybe a classic policy would now be an option if I restrict to 3000 miles per year?) -The replacement car may need some money spending on it, and I would be tempted to spend a little on tidying it up -The Corrado is possibly more comfortable over winter that the car replacing it! -I don't want the Corrado to develop problems while in storage - from experience cars are more reliable when they are driven regularly! What would you do?!

At least now I know why my renewal has gone up

Well, my dad didn't test the spark, but he got it started in the end. The battery was flat when he tried, so he had to jump off another car. It ran for a a few seconds, then cut out and died. When he tried to start again the starter span freely - my dad said there was no compression (to be fair this happened to me once last week, I just assumed it was a dodgy starter!). It finally spluttered into life on a couple of cylinders, then the other cylinders came in one by one until the engine was running fine again. He thinks the problem was that the tappets were stuck open, and that it usually indicates that too thick an oil is being used? He used to be a mechanic so knows a fair bit about these things! It's currently on the Titan Pro S 10w50, which I put in a few weeks ago. Obviously this is on top of the underlying starting issue. As you would expect, the car has behaved impeccably since then, so no chance for further diagnosis!

Thanks for the advice... the car is at my parents in Bury as I'm staying there while working in Manchester. Hopefully it will start later today so I can get home! Really do hope it is the crank sensor as it doesn't sound like it's too bad to replace. For the worst case nightmare scenario, it would be the immobiliser! ---------- Post added at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:31 PM ---------- Out of interest... is it possible to change the sensor without any tools? As a quirk of fate, the site I'm working at is within walking distance of a GSF branch, so I could go and pick up a replacement. The problem is that I don't think my dad has any tools at home... I will try and get my dad to test the spark while I'm at work as I prefer not to throw money at a problem without proper diagnosis (he used to be a mechanic so maybe has some spare plugs lying around...)

GRRRRRR! The car is a 1995 VR6, with original OBD I engine, Scrick manifold and Stealth remap. The car has been starting fine while I've had it, and continued to start okay after the Schrick/remap, however in the last few weeks it has developed a cold starting problem, and I have not done any work to the car that may have caused it. Sometimes (about 1 time in 5) when I try to start the car it will turn over but will not fire up (it starts first time the other 4 out of 5 times). I will turn over and over but get absolutely no signs of firing up (doesn't even stutter). The battery inevitably weakens, so I have to give up. I then go back to it 30 minutes later, and it starts up as if nothing was wrong! I used to get a smell of fuel, so I checked under the car and noticed a leak around the fuel filter, so last weekend I swapped this for a new item, and tightened the hose clips around the pipes to it (I need to get some proper fuel hose clips). I also changed the fuel pump relay. Since then the car has been fine all week, and then today... same problem! I did not smell any fuel today though, so maybe what I smelt before was the leak from the filter. One thing I have noticed is that I do not hear the fuel pump priming. With the MK2 (both 8v and 16v) the fuel pump made a very audible whirr when you turned the ignition on. With the Corrado, I sometimes hear a relay click at the back of the car when I turn the ignition on, (so I guess the fuel pump relay is working) but no priming sound - even when it starts up okay. I always thought that this was normal on the Corrado (i.e. the priming was very quiet) but maybe this is not the case?! Other details that may be relevant... The car does have a factory immobiliser, and I have had problems in the past, but the symptoms are different - i.e. the car fires up and dies again. Also factory immobiliser problems tend to be more consistent There is also an aftermarket Cat1 alarm fitted - a Laserline 996 v2... it is quite old, but the immobiliser usually disables the ignition... the car doesn't seem to have any problems here - I get the ignition on fine, it just won't fire up! Is it possible it has a dual circuit that disables the fuel pump as well? Where would I even begin to find out?? I am seriously considering just sticking the Corrado in the lockup over winter and getting a cheap daily hack, especially with the outrageous insurance renewal.

Do you have a dedicated amp or is it all powered via the headunit? If so, do you have front crossovers installed? The standard tweeters have a basic crossover installed - it could be that you wired up to this incorrectly? Do you know whether you got any sound from the door speakers? If you have a dedicated amp, then you may want to power the rainbows via the amp, and the tweeters from the head unit.

You could replace your whole rear brake system if you're feeling flush, but I like to keep costs down if I can! Personally I would change discs and pads only if they need it. Don't forget you need new bearings if you get new discs, so costs start to escalate. Unless your carriers are seriously fubar, I don't really see much point in replacing these?? The slide pins usually clean up really well with a wire wheel on the drill and some new grease. New cables are always a good idea. The MK2 calipers aren't ideal, but if you include a clean of the handbrake mech as part of your annual service routine, they should be fine. You say that the tappets quieten down 3 seconds after starting?! I don't think this is much cause for concern to be honest, and I'd even go as far to say it's pretty normal! For your wiper stalk, you surely should be able to find one off a car that's being broken? Plenty of parts always available on sites like vwgolfmk2 and golfgtiforum. I wouldn't have thought it would be a hard part to find since every MK2 GTI between 1987 and 1990 has the stalk you need!

Not at the moment - Still have it but need to arrange a time with Hasan to drop it off/pick it up.

I always thought MK2, MK3 and Corrado calipers were interchangeable? MK3 calipers offer an improvement as the mech is inside the caliper rather than exposed like on the MK2. The MK4 caliper upgrade also works on a MK2. I would definitely change the cables if you're doing the calipers - the cables on my Corrado had seized in the guides, and I ended up needing to dremmel it out!

D'oh! Oh well, I'd be happy to get the £65 for it. Yep, you have first dibs, let me know.

I am selling my machine polisher. It is a Meguiars G220 DA polisher, which is great for beginners. It's the v1 which is no longer available. It's not got a couple of the features of the v2 (e.g. pressure sensitive speed control) but is still an excellent machine The polisher has been used a few times on my own car only, so has seen little use. It comes in a plastic case with handle (and attachment bolts/allen key), full size backing plate, and also an additional small backing plate for the smaller (and more convenient) 3.5" pads. Although the machine is in excellent condition, I have misplaced the spanner needed to change the backing plates, however any thin 15mm spanner will work. Sale due to the fact I'm upgrading to a rotary. I really don't know how much this is worth as you don't see many for sale, but as a guide I bought it for £120, and the V2 sells for around £160 new. I'm going to have a stab in the dark and say I want £65, offers may be considered. Collection from Sheffield preferred, but I can price up postage if required (suspect it will be about £10)

How is the rear panel, from the bottom of the boot opening down to the bottom of the panel behind the bumper? Going to check mine at the weekend but I've got a feeling it's not pretty!

I think the FSA regulate the insurance industry. Given the job they did with the economy, it's no wonder the insurance charlatans are making up the rules as they go along.

Do you even have 'winter' in Devon?!? Hibernation is not for me either - the car needs to be used.

First of all it depends on how badly your roof is damaged. Get a quote before anything else to see what you're dealing with. If it's a lot, then it really depends on how much you love your particular car. If you decide it's not worth it, then you need to decide whether to claim on the insurance or not. If you do claim, bear in mind that you may lose no claims, and you will also have to declare the claim when renewing, pushing up your premium. Also, if you decide to claim, I would do my best to keep hold of the car if you can so you can take off any parts that are worth anything to you. Even if they won't let you buy it back, make sure they don't take the car away, unless they are going to return it, until you are happy with the payout (also gives you chance to scavange any parts off it after it's been inspected!)

Here's one just outside Llanberis on the way up to the Snowdon car park, taken earlier this year. Great roads out there, beautiful part of the world. Spent my summers at my grandparents in Pwhelli as a child. I loved the journey too, as you leave Manchester and pass Birkenhead the ubanisation disappears and then the A55 costal road is a nice drive too - the sea on one side and mountains on the other, and with a couple of tunnels :-) Then once you come off the A55 to head into the peninsula it just gets better and better. We also drove from Pwhelli to Cardiff a few years ago which was a fantastic journey through the middle of Wales, shame it was in the missus' 306 1.4 - the Corrado or Golf would have loved it!

It may be sacralige, but when I gave the car a service myself last month, I updated the service book with the mileage and date that I did it. I'm not trying to pass it off as a 'reputable' service, more of a record that the service was done so I know for next time. With regards to VW service items prices, the VR stuff is obviously a bit more expensive, but I did the oil and filter on the MK2 16v using items bought from VW a couple of months ago, and it came to under £20 for the oil (Synta Silver), filter and sump plug washer, after discount

Hi mate, found this one in the photo archives from Elsecar earlier this year...

While I was off this week, I wanted to do some work on the missus' Golf, which has the same KR engine as the Corrado. It had been running pretty pants lately, idling badly and pinking quite badly in all gears and revs over 1/2 throttle, even though it was being fed with super unleaded. I decided that the fuel and intake system was due an overhaul. 1. Tested the fuel pressures to make sure they were in tolerance - all was okay here. 2. Gave the metering flap, intake boot and throttle body a good clean to get rid of all the gunk 3. Swapped from a K&N panel filter back to the standard filter 4. Took off the intake manifold and replaced all the gaskets, including the ones to the throttle body 5. Renewed the vac piping 6. Checked the injector nozzles. They were okay, but the injector seats were shot (and already crumbling - right above the inlet valves!!!), so I ordered some new seats from VW classic parts. Also got some new seals on order from VW. 7. Checked resistence across the WUR - in tolerance 8. Cleaned ISV and checked it was buzzing... it wasn't. Found the earth terminal was corroded AND the wire to the temp sender was shot... fixed these and now it's fine 9. Checked the timing... it was about 25 deg BTDC!!! Set it to 6 deg BTDC (probably the cause of the pinking) 10. Set the base idle to 1000 rpm and guesstimated the CO (it's a bit rich tbh) I took it for a drive and it's miles better now... pinking is almost gone and a little hesitant when first started when cold, but a big improvement. I think the remaining problems are partly due to the false air entering through the injector ports which will be sorted when I get the new seats.

I am starting to feel that the car is almost "finished" and where I want it to be! Well, Corrados are never really finished, but I'm pretty happy with it at the moment. I had noticed last week that the passenger front mount was a mess, which was annoying as it is a genuine mount, and less than 6 months old. I suspect that the front mount is the latest casualty of the dodgy alignment. The mount hadn't worn, rather it had collapsed in the centre, so the strut had kind of pushed the rubber in the centre upwards, meaning there was about 1cm height difference between left and right. I changed it yesterday for a Febi VR6 item - I know they're not the best quality, but it was all I could afford, and to be fair I don't want to spend loads on genuine if it's just going to fail again in a few months. They're easy enough to change - I left the strut attached to the hub to make sure the alignment wasn't messed up, and compressed the spring so I could get the mount off. All done in an hour. I also had a mess around with the airbox... I removed the helmholtz resonator and the trumpet to give me a bit more 'loud' on WOT... I do like the noise it makes now, the induction roar on a VR is pretty sweet, and the best thing is that it sounds no different to the unmodified airbox unless you give it some beans. Also, I've not damaged the airbox in any way, so I can put it back to standard if I want. Finally, the brakes are improving all the time. I got a bit of good luck yesterday... after clearing out my lockup I went to hand back the keys, but the lady who owned it wanted me to stay on at a reduced rate as she didn't want to get a new tenant in. So my rent was reduced from £55 per month to £10 per month... I could have got it for nothing but I would have felt a bit uncomfortable with that. So I still have somewhere to work on my car! So here is the next list of jobs I want to do to finish it off: -Aircon (though this is on hold until I can afford the parts) -Rattle and squeak patrol -Fix heated mirrors -Sump gasket oil leak (need to wait for the next service) -Underbody treatment and repair -Stone chips (not many of these) -Various body dings and a couple of rust spots Definitely a lot better list than the one I started with a year ago! ---------- Post added at 02:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ---------- Some pics I took yesterday near Sheffield:

Stages of Corrado ownership: 1. Wow, this is fun 2. Time to sort out a few of the niggles 3. Oh, I wasn't expecting that 4. This problem appears to be worse than I thought 5. While I'm changing that, I may as well change... 6. Now I've fixed that, it's made something else break 7. Finally got the whole (cooling/oil/brakes/exhaust/suspesnion*) system renewed and working (* delete as appropriate) 8. Ah, I missed that bit, but now it really is working properly - good times! 9. Oh ffs now what's wrong 10. Repeat stages 4 to 8 11. Finally it's done, surely nothing else can go wrong (I) 12. Now what's wrong with it??? 13. Finally it's done, surely nothing else can go wrong (II) 14. Smug warm feelings when everything is working as it should and the car is a joy to own and drive

They are the main type of screw used in the dash so they are usually the ones you have left at the end after changing the heater matrix

I see you live in Sheffield, so I guess you're parked on a hill... I've found the door membrane isn't as crucial on the Corrado as on the MK2, but still important to keep your interior dry. As said, the bottom seal is the most important - water is relentless and gaffer tape will relent sooner or later, especially when it starts to find gaps and starts pooling. One trick I have used in the past is to have an 'inner flap' sheet which I attach from halfway down the door, and then let it hang loose in the bottom of the door - this is in addition to the main membrane. The idea is that the inner flap will deflect most of the water straight to the bottom of the door, giving the main seal much less work to do. The VW stuff is best to use for the adhesive, but in a fix, I've found adhesive foil tape to be excellent for sticking down the seal

From previous posts, it sounds like the wife wouldn't be too fussed by not being able to drive it! Or is she warming to the Golf now? Also, if she is fully comp on another (her own) car and over 25, she should be able to drive the Golf 3rd party anyway. I'm not sure how much FJ is, and what your circumstances are, but it usually only pays to insure a standard MK2 on a classic policy if you're not going to use it much - I insured my 8v (okay three years ago now) for about £500 for 15000 miles per year with Admiral. Because it was a normal policy, I got to keep and accrue my NCB as well. Oh and yes, the 8v goes forever if treated fairly and serviced regularly. The highest mileage I've seen in the flesh is 275000 miles, but I'm sure there are higher ones than that.

Intermittent functioning screams 'broken connection' to me - either in the wiring or the spoiler module itself. Check the wiring into the module first - this last bit could be a cheap fix.. I think according to the Bentley manual the speed input into the module comes in on pin 8.