tony_ack

For the sunlight sensor, I don't have a pic of the whole thing I don't think... The one from the MK4 already has a lens, and I installed it in exactly the same place as (other) Tony. You need to try and get the 'pigtail', so you get the plug and a snippet of loom as well. A MK4 loom does make things a lot easier if you have access to one. It will give you the dash plugs for the climatronic, the wiring for all the sensors, and with a bit of luck, the outside temp sender. I get the impression that the fan is more powerful, though because I still need to replace the broken ducting, it's probably not as good as it could be in mine. I will say though that despite air escaping before it hits the vents, the air flow as it stands is at least as powerful as the standard Corrado, and probably more so. Noise level is fine - turn it up to full and it will make quite a bit of noise, but again not really any more than the old Corrado blower. I didn't use any felt for damping this time when rebuilding the dash... it's really a case of seeing where the rattles are first, then attempting to damp them. One thing I did do was wrap most of the dash loom that was exposed in black cloth loom tape - not only does it tidy it up and make it easier to route the wiring (which on it's own will cut down on rattles), but it also means the wires won't be clattering anything. Another thing I tried to do was to ensure that I had all the correct screws, and replaced as much broken trim as I could (which included the dash itself as I had a vgc spare) I had in the past already used felt and lubricant on the glovebox as that tends to squeak a lot. Another issue I had was the ignition cowling (which tbh you don't need to remove for the install) - the problem here was that the rubber block in the cowling had come loose and was no longer damping/holding it in place. I've also done the lower shelf now as well, it's cut a bit differently to Tony's, but that may be because I have been more/less clumsy than him in different places! I ended up cutting a piece of the shelf floor that I'd already removed to make the backing, and plastic welded it on. It's a bit messy at the back, but that's the bit no one ever sees! I've lined it with some black felt to smarten it up, and it looks okay now. I still need to do a bit more tidying, but it's not bad at all. Of course it all has to come out again at some point to put in a new ducting... One thing I'm not happy with at the moment is that the evaporator gasket isn't pressed against the bulkhead, and there's a 1-2cm gap at the moment.... it's no disaster, as the pipes do poke through, but I'd like to try to get it a bit closer (without breaking the new ducting...) Aircon still isn't in there yet, and I still haven't sourced the parts. To be honest I've run out of money for this at the moment, and I've worked out it will cost me a few hundred pounds to get it all working (regas and custom pipework will push up the price). I'm still looking at different condensers - does anyone have dimensions for the original diavia condenser (LxHxW)? I've got some dimensions for other condensers (including the Polo one), and for the VR6 rad itself, so I'm working out what might be best. Golf VR6 may yet be an option, but I've heard that the bottom pipe sits too close to the cross member unless you move the condenser. Other parts to consider: Compresser (Golf VR6 -made by Sanden - same one as on the Passat and poss Corrado) Aux belt for aircon Pressure switch (got the loom plugs for this now Custom pipework Regas (well, just 'gas' I guess!) I've already got the brown temp sender. ---------- Post added at 07:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:55 PM ---------- On non-Climatronic news...! I went across to Harewood House today... I wasn't planning to go, but my missus wanted to take the Golf, so she dragged me along! Saw some nice Corrados on the CCGB stand - it looks like BBS RCs are a wheel of choice at the moment! I also got a new key... £35 from one of the trade stands seemed like a decent price for a transponder key! As with most new keys, it didn't work at first, but with a bit of Dremel work to smooth the edges, it is working now, transponder as well! My fear of losing my only set of keys (or even worse, the stupid alarm locking them in the car when I didn't ask it to) is now gone!

My replacement ducting unit arrived today and it is almost identical to the unit I already have. It came with all the motors, sensors and loom. In case anyone is looking to get some of the parts, the guy selling had 3 available for £40 each (posted) http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250765060815&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_1326wt_905 You'll need a control unit, but there are some available on e-bay for less than £15 posted.. Alternatively, this is the guy I got the 1st unit off - it came with the ducting (all motors) loom, control unit and sunlight sensor - he has one unit left at £75 plus postage. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Golf-MK4-Bora-Climatronic-Upgrade-Kit-IV-R32-V6-GTI-/320735044407?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4aad4c6337#ht_500wt_922 I wouldn't usually give people free advertising, but just wanted to let people know that there are bargains about!

Is the captive nut inside loose? If yes, depends what tools you have at your disposal... angle grinder, blow torch, drill, dremel! If not then see if there is enough of the bolt left to get some Irwin bolt removers on the remains. If it's just a stud, then see if a stud removal tool will work. Use plenty of Plusgas if you're not cutting it off.

The control unit fits like a glove - wish the same could be said for the ducting! I'm not sure if they're all the same, but mine came without the u-clips to secure it to the centre console (maybe they fix differently on the MK4?). Either way, use the u-clips from your old controls if needed, and attach the control unit in exactly the same way as the old controls (i.e. from 'behind' the centre console). Even the surround fits with no messing! The original surround has a rubbery coating on it but looks more in place than a walnut or brushed steel effort on a standard car

Here is the panel in the dash... the ashtray looks wonky because it is - one of the clips has broken

Not done the shelf yet either - I've done the glovebox - I cut out a section in the middle of the glovebox, and then plastic welded the back 1/3 of the glovebox to the front 1/3. I then put some duck tape around the exterior for a bit more support, and also some cotton loom tape over the join inside to smooth it all out. I started cutting the lower dash but my Dremel's battery ran out. As Tony says, it's just going to be a case of cutting it smaller and smaller until it fits. I'm hoping to plastic weld again, possibly using some of the off cuts to make the backing, and I've got some black felt stuff from Hobbycraft (usually reserved for Rattle Patrol) if it needs tidying up.

I'm after the ashtray surround (the bit under the heater controls that the actual ashtray slides into). All clips must be intact - the top left clip on mine is broken, causing it to rattle around. Don't need the ashtray itself, and I don't mind if the bulb isn't working

Check to see whether the clips on the bumper skin are broken. Also check the side brackets on the skin that slide onto the wings. To get the bumper off, it might be best to cut off the bolt that's been destroyed - the bolts are held in by captive nuts on the bumper brackets, but they are inside the chassis leg when the bumper is on the car.

18Mbps (measured) with Sky! The benefits of living near the exchange :-) Distance from the exchange is the main factor when calculating download speed, but it also depends if the exchange is LLU enabled for your chosen operator - if not then they will only be able to offer the (slower) white labelled BT Wholesale IPStream service. Also very generous with download limits ('unlimited' is never actually unlimited, but I've never had any issues with Sky even when downloading 100Gb+ per month). I have the old Netgear router so can't comment on that I'm afraid as they have a new one out now, but it came with 4 LAN ports and I can't imagine the new one being worse. The only issue is that the username and password are hidden in the router, so you can't get them out and use another router unless you hack it. It's pretty hard to beat the price if you go for TV, calls and broadband tbh. In an age where we are swapping insurance and utility companies every year to get the best price, I've been with Sky broadband for 3 years and never felt the need to swap.

Thought you would have read this?! Only applies to the later VR fan controller (10-pin+4pin) Fan Controller (later VR6 and/or aircon) 1 - ro/ws - Aux water pump 2 - ro/ge - pin 3 of aircon pressure switch 3 - A/C thermal cut off switch pin 2 4 - br/ws - fan run-on switch 5 - sw/gn - Stage 3 switch 6 - br - earth 7 - ro/sw - yellow temp sender (pin 3) 8 - Gn/ws - AC Thermal cut off switch pin 2 9 - Live feed 10 - gn/ws - aircon clutch pin 1 If there's no aircon, then pin 3 is the feed from the yellow temp sender to activate stage 1. Fan controller inputs/outputs 1 - Output - (activates Aux water pump) 2 - Input - High pressure in A/C system indicator (activate stage 2) 3 - Input - Activate Stage 1 fan 4 - Input - Activate fan-run on 5 - Input - Activate Stage 3 fan 6 - EARTH 7 - Input - Activate Stage 2 fan 8 - Input - Activate aircon compressor 9 - Input - Ignition on signal 10 - Output - (activates aircon clutch) 1 - Output (activates cooling fans, full speed) 2 - Output (activates cooling fans, med speed) 3 - Output (activates cooling fans, low speed) 4 - Battery Live

Thanks - the interior isn't perfect, but looks pretty decent now for an 'old' car! The loom isn't as bad as it looks - I found the CC plugs straight away. It took me some time to trace back all the wires, but I got there in the end. The most time-consuming thing was separating the bits I needed out of the main loom - especially the A/C signal wires and outside temp sender wire which ran the full length of the engine loom. I've got two errors on the Climatronic 1. No vehicle stationary signal (not sure the Corrado has an output for this) 2. Aircon pressure warning (not surprising since there's not aircon)

Happened to me last week too... must be that time of the month!

Here are some random pics of the car as a whole that I took before First Aid Kit - £8 off ebay, perfect fit in the armrest! Cup holder - needs to be beige but the paint peeled off on the first attempt Restored interior (before it got dirty again this week) Some outside vanity shots

Here are some pics... sorry there aren't more but I will get some more when I swap it all for a non-broken ducting. The unit: Golf MK4 wiring loom: The trimmed footwell vent Dismantling the dash The remains of the bolt that set me back 2 hours Not the neatest hole, but it does the trick Nice splice though! Removing the ABS relay stud Almost-fitted ducting (pre-disaster)

It will be getting the temperature reading from the sensor in the fresh air intake duct Not too sure about the speed signal wire - I've not checked the voltage across mine, but I know it works as the radio does auto-level the volume depending on my speed. I've had a bit of a disaster on mine today (again)... I managed to get it in fairly easily as one piece - it took about 10 minutes to get the lower stud through the hole, but I got there in the end. I drilled the hole for the self tapper, and started to tighten. It started to pull it all up but then I realised it wasn't getting any tighter. It turned out that the mounting on top of the fan housing was stopping it going up any further (I had cut about half of it off previously). I decided to try and cut the rest off, but there wasn't room for the Dremel. No worries, I just removed the screw again and pulled the fan housing towards me a little for access and... SNAP. The unit was split in two. The clips were all loose in the middle, and on further inspection I realised they'd sheared off the plastic they were attached to. I tried to plastic weld the broken bits back on, but it wasn't strong enough. Unfortunately I don't have a stockpile of climatronic ducting units, and I needed the car back on the road by Monday, so I had to do the best with what I had. I am planning to get a replacement unit, but I had to build the car up again as it was. I trimmed off the offending mount, put the self tapper back in and used duck tape where the unit had split to try to reduce the amount of air escaping. On the plus side, air loss is minimal - it's an improvement over the old heater controls as I had no direction control on them (snapped control levers) but it really does need fixing. I built the dash back up this afternoon. I still need to trim the passenger undertray and glovebox, but at least the car is drivable now. To top it off, I went to start the car to go home, and there was nothing. The ignition lights came on okay, the relays clicked, but when I turned to start, the starter wouldn't engage at all. After some investigation, I found it was a wire near the ignition switch - it had been cut by a previous owner to have a push button start - but I had removed it again, but only used a crimp connector to reattach the ignition switch. Because I had been pulling at the fusebox, the connection had come loose. No messing around this time - I soldered it properly. It was nice that the climate control worked on the way home! It was fairly cool outside (15 degrees) - I set the cabin to 18, but it was still putting out warm air... that said I never felt too warm, so it must have been doing its job. I also noticed the revs were a tad high, but they dropped again when I pressed the ECON button. I haven't even wired the compressor in yet! ---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 PM ---------- I also noticed the bit about the windscreen vent - I have a feeling mine never fitted properly. It attaches to the cc unit okay when screwed to the bulkhead, but there's a gap between the vent and the dash. The centre vents don't quite line up either.

MK4 outside temp sender: 1J0 919 379 Harness plug for sender: 357972752 Corrado outside temp sender: 357919379A I have read that the MK4 outside temp sender isn't compatible with the Corrado one, and it's best to run both, but I don't know for certain if that's the case. On the MK4, the temp sender runs to the climatronic, and then a feed from the climatronic goes to the MFA (the thinner blue/red wire) ---------- Post added at 04:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ---------- I'm going to give it another go tomorrow morning 3. will the hoses be secure enough without the connectors? 6. This is what I didn't do last time - I just got the stud in, not tight, and it was nowhere near the right place. It makes sense that tightening it would give a lot more clearance 8. I remember doing this when changing a MK2 heater matrix, and there was a lot more room behind that!

Congratulations - I think you've done the hardest part now! Wiring is easy in comparison... Do you think it would be easier or harder to install as one unit, rather than split? I guess with the evaporator studs removed, it may be easier to get everything lines up properly. Do you know what size the self-tapper was? I am guessing it doesn't foul the fan at all. How much trimming did you need for the footwell trim? I cut off a long-ish piece that is closest to the levers when installed - is that all that needs removing? I am guessing that you cut off the evaporator drain pipe? I'm thinking of cutting mine off, and attaching a rubber hose instead to give me a bit more flexibility in finding the hole I'm going to drill in the bulkhead for it. BTW I checked the part number of the evaporator we both had in ETKA (proper ETKA 7.3, not Vagcat) and it's not to be found... weird. ---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ---------- Jay - I'm guessing you mean the B4 Passat one? The problem is they're pretty hard to find these days

I fear the BBC have their hands tied. A number of powerful people in the commercial tv business, led by Rupert Murdoch, have been criticising the BBC for years. Their case is that the BBC has an unfair market position due to the fact that the UK operations are almost entirely subsidised by the government (licence fee), which they argue is unfair for competition. Because of this income the BBC does not have to rely on commercial breaks or sponsorship, and can instead provide wall-to-wall programming and be free to create shows without interference from shareholders or a board of directors. As much as it pains me to say it, Murdoch has a case here - Sky do not receive the same subsidy, and I suspect have to pay the government for their broadcast licence. While everyone in the country with a TV is forced to pay for the BBC, people have to choose to pay for Sky (on top of the licence fee). All that said, I think the BBC as a whole does far more good than bad for the UK, and you have to question Murdoch's motives when Sky is pulling in substantial profits (clearly they're not at THAT much of a disadvantage in the real world). In addition, BECAUSE everyone has to pay for the BBC, the BBC has to cater for everyone - unlike the big TV networks who commission and drop tv shows at a whim based only on short-term viewing figures, the BBC cater for niches that would otherwise not be commercially viable. Which brings us to where we are now. The critics have been getting louder over the last few years, and even though they are in the minority, they are a powerful minority who hold quite a lot of political sway and are looking to protect profits. Making the system fairer for the likes of Sky will not represent the best result for the public, but this government (and the last) have felt compelled to make changes. The BBC has been forced to reduce its website content and web presence (not sure why - was it too good?), and there have been other announcements of cut backs which are starting to make their way into the programming. There has been a trend towards getting the commercially-funded BBC America to fund some of the higher budget shows (Doctor Who, Torchwood), and other shows have had their series runs reduced or filled with re-runs (Top Gear, Mock the Week). The F1 renegotiation is the latest in the line of budget cuts. Sky knew about the situation and came in with a generous offer. The BBC may have been able to match the offer financially, but would not be able to justify the expenditure to the powers that be when other programmes are being cut. Like it or not, F1 is still a relatively minor sport in the UK, and doesn't appeal to all the licence paying public. Rules were bent to ensure that the F1 'crown jewels' were still technically free-to-air, though much like the England football internationals, fans can only follow about half of the fixtures. It will be interesting to see whether Sky attempts to buy the BBC production team and presenters. Is anyone else worried about the prospect of ad-breaks halfway through races?

Spotted a nugget in traffic in Sheffield yesterday afternoon

I may give the MK4 matrix a try - it could be what is holding me back... I can get the lower stud in the hole just about, but I could do with another cm or so to give me the room I need for the footwell ducting. I will try splitting the unit again to see if I can get the individual parts lined up okay. Hasan - I'm not sure whether you have the loom beyond the CC unit? it makes it a bit easier to test if you do. I can't 100% confrim the wire colours on your will be the same, but you will need to connect at least the thinner black/blue wire to positive, and the thinner brown wire to earth. This should supply power to the unit and to the flap motors. If you want to go further, connect the thicker blue/black wire to positive, and the thicker brown wire to earth to test the blower motor, but you will need at least a 20A supply. You can also connect the blue/grey illumination wire to positive If you connect the control panel, you should be able to get everything (bar the aircon) working Make sure you elevate the unit so the servos on the bottom of the unit can turn okay

Yep - the part number matches what I have. Thanks for the pics as well - you appear to have quite a bit of clearance for the bottom vent too - does the temp control flap arm (the one near the back) also clear the bottom vent housing okay as well? I had a few problems with the fan part - first there is a rubber mounting on top of the housing near the intake duct - this may need to come off to fit under the Corrado dash. Then there's a drain pipe in the evaporator housing, which I guess you may be able to cut off if you're definitely not installing the aircon. Next, the stud on the evaportor housing didn't quite line up with the hole for me when connected to the heaterbox. Finally, I needed to cut off one of the studs under the dash for mounting the ABS relays (these will have to be moved). For your question, the short answer is I don't know, however since all the wire does is pass a signal from the CC to your Vagcom interface, it should work in theory. I don't know the ins and outs of how OBD2 communicates with Vagcom (or in the Corrado's case OBD1 pretending to be OBD2), but my guess would be that it uses a bitstream - Vagcom will send coded poll requests for each subsystem down the wire, and when the CC unit recognises a poll request meant for it, it will return the requested data back to Vagcom, or perform the requested action (e.g. reset the flaps). I noticed that on the Corrado, there is already something wired into pin 7, however if the above is true, this shouldn't be a problem, as each subsystem does not need its own pin. Also, in the MK4 loom, the CC OBD wire was spliced into quite a few more, so it looks like quite a few systems interface on pin 7.

Any chance of a couple of pics, and the part numbers that are on the heaterbox and evaporator box? I tried fitting with only the lower stud, but even with the footwell vent trimmed, it still looked like it wasn't going to fit! Good luck in getting the air intake bit attached - I think you'll need to do a bit more trimming!

Cheers Tom, I think the Octavia and TT also share a similar design too... I've looked at pictures of the A3 and it looks like the MK4 fittings unfortunately

I forgot to bring the MK4 heaterbox home with me, and didn't take any pics earlier either :-( I'll get some at the weekend. I've found some more pics of the Leon heaterbox, and have changed my mind again now - the fixing points look like they're in the same place as in the MK4. But then Coolrado definitely fitted a box from a Leon with no problems... Really don't know where to go from here until I can find a box that fits.

Just got back now - I've built the car back up with the original heater box, though there's no blower motor as I've already taken out the wiring for it. I've left it garaged for now as I won't need it until at least Monday anyway, but at least it can be driven when I do need it. Tony - I started to go down the route of drilling new holes. On the surface, the problem appeared to be that the top heaterbox stud was about 5cm lower on the MK4 heaterbox, so I removed the stud and tried to fit it then. Then I found that the stud near the evaporator was about 3cm out, so I drilled a new hole for that. FINALLY got it in, but then there wasn't enough clearance for the footwell ducting, so in other words it looks like all 4 studs fit differently on a MK4. I think the only way to go now is to get another heaterbox that fits, as without the studs to line up, I'm pretty much guessing where it all goes. On the bright side, at least I'll have some spare duct motors. I think the hole I've cut for the evaporator pipes can still be used with the correct heaterbox - I've cut a fairly big hole as the gasket around the pipes gives you plenty of room to play with... if you look at it that way, I have made a little progress today. Dan (Coolrado) definitely got a Seat Leon box into his corrado without any messing about with the holes, so at least one later one will fit. I checked the Leon part number against the MK4 one on Vagcat before I started getting the parts together, and they were the same - but looking at the one I have, it's a different part number that isn't even on Vagcat. So either Vagcat is wrong, or there was a later revision (which I appear to have). Can't really see why VW would have changed all their tooling for the last couple of years of MK4 production though? ---------- Post added at 06:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ---------- With so little info about on this, I've had to start looking at pics on e-Bay :-) All the MK4 Golf ones I have seen have the studs in the same place as in my MK4 box, so it looks like the MK4 had different fixing points to the Corrado. Unfortunately it looks like one of these will go through one of the ABS pump pipes, so that well and truly rules out the MK4 box. The Leon one, as far as I can see, has the top stud for the heaterbox right at the top, so it looks like it's in the same place as on the Corrado, and this surely must be the only option to go for. It also means that Vagcat was wrong as it must be a different part to the MK4 Golf In case any one is wondering, the two fixing studs behind the heater matrix housing are 23cm apart on the Corrado. All is not lost... my loom should still plug straight in with a bit of luck.