muppetlab

I dont mind getting oily myself but still need to get it mapped and the head bolts as you say, to be honest i think i will look at boosting the n/a engine with a cam and maybe an inlet manifold and look to other things like methanol injection systems!

Hi Kev, yep i have read yours and the stealth turbo threads in awe but to be honest i cant really justify the 4 odd grand that it would cost. I did consider an r32 conversion but again the costs mounted up so the supercharger appeared to offer bolt on peformance gains for a modest investment. To be honest i have solid engine mounts and heavily stiffened suspension so am falmiliar with vibration and rattles and the supercharger whine was quite appealing :D Bit dissappointed that the power comes on so high in the rev band as i always thought superchargers provided a smooth consistent power delivery in contrast to a turbo which only provided its power when on boost. The running issues are a concern too as its my daily and i have just sepnt 10 days without a car after a coil pack blew up. Now all the ignition has been overhauled the power is much better and soooo smooth now but i still have that itch to make the old vr just that little bit quicker, and give it the power that it looks like it should provide. cheers Jez

Make sure the dipstick tube has the proper plastic cap on under the dipstick top bit. The previous owner on mine had just shoved the dipstick into the metal tube and it always read okay but i only found out like you when i drained and refilled the oil. Just did an oil change on my vr and i use 20w50 oil especially if its a higher milage. I was being cheeky and topped up with some thin stuff previously that was lying around and it made the engine very noisy and tappety and it burned a lot and fouled up the plugs so steer clear of the lighter grades. No offence meant by my previous post but you did walk into it :D

And the buzzer came on because............ :sleeping: The oil was low :clap:

Considering a bit of a bolt on performance gain via a vortech supercharger. My ole gal is a bit long in the tooth, is a supercharger just going to rip the engine to pieces if its not in the flushes of youth? Any one with experience of one on a daily? Do they increase heat a lot or mpg? cheers Jez

Any leaks in the exhaust before the lambda sensor, can mess up sensor values and hence fuelling.

Whilst more modern cars like the R32 are probably quicker they dont have any soul. I've had loads of cars some new some very fast and some complete heaps. The Corrado is the best i have found. Its got the practicality of a hatchback and makes me smile everytime i push the load pedal into the carpet. With sorted suspension and a brake upgrade it drives like a proper sports car and aside for a lotus elise i had its the most involved drive i have had. Plus i think it has more cred as loads of people have an r32 but how many of them even know what a VR Corrado is? Whilst many people consider mk1 golfs a classic (which they are) i think the Corrado is even more so a classic. Every Golf owner i meet has admired the Rado and you dont see the local hoodies hanging in tescos car park in a VR cus they cant afford the insurance. With all the folks breaking them up for spares they must be getting fairly rare. I hardly ever see any my way, does anyone even have a clue how many are left???

Thansk guys for all the support and help. The noise has mostly gone and its back to normal rattly noises, think it must have been a sticky tappet from sitting for a couple of weeks. Had a search on here for the chains etc and to be honest i cant afford to not use the car as my daily and the cost of having the chains done somewhere else just isnt warranted given the engine has nr 200,000 mls on it, burns a bit of oil and has a gearbox that sounds like its dragging on the floor in 1st. If i was going to have it off the road for a couple of months i would swap an r32 engine in it and replacement gearbox rather than spend a whole lot on the old 12v. Going to do the plugs and dizzy cap and rotor and an oil change this weekend which will hopefully clear up the dead spot around 2000rpm, no codes coming up now at all which is good. Might whip the cover off the top and check on the condition of the top tensioner pad bit, not sure if i can change that without dropping the gearbox etc but will have a search on the forum. Parts are becoming impossible to get round my way from local factors for the vr6 and its now a case of gsf or eurocar parts or vw for all my bits which is annoying as i am very impatient when i want to do something!! Keep up the good work, i shall now be subscribing to the forum as its an invaluable resource as far as i am concerned with respect to keeping the corrado on the road and not broken into bits, but it was a close call this time. Oh and to the local garage who had the car for a week and when i asked for it back cus they had done nothing in 7 days replied "its nothing obvious". Well i would say no spark is pretty bloody obvious and one of the first things i would check, how difficult is it to trace it back to the coil. :roll: Cheers Jez

Well RB seems you may have been onto something. After a nightmare i got hold of a new coil, fitted it and she fired straight up, bit rough but it goes. Seems to be down on power maybe a cylinder, going to get the dizzy cap and rotor replaced and new sparks and see how it goes. Only concern is there is major rattle from the top end or the chains maybe thats a bit worrying as it was not there before the incident :shock: Could be the timing chains have had it, or a stickt valve but it sounds like a pretty sick old car now. Still goes so its going to get driven now but think i am on borrowed time. Anyone any idea how easy/hard the chains are to do? Another search i feel....... Still i cant remember feeling as happy as when the old gal spluttered into life :D

Might be interested in the charger, how old, what kit etc???

Hi RB, no burning smell but i was out of the car pretty quick as it was on a roundabout approach and an ambulance was approaching with its blues and twos on, timing eh. I think i have a fluctuating continuity on the middle of the 3 wires that go into the coil. i take it this is the trigger wire from the ecu? Have tested the injectors again and there is constant continuity when cranking so that tells me at least that the injectors are not working i think and i have no spark at the HT leads or the King lead so it got to be either crank sensor or other electrical problem. Camshaft/hall sensor would not cause total shut down as far as i can work out, similarly coolant sensor would not cause total cut out as far as i know so what does that leave?? Dodgy imobiliser cutting in on the road? Dont they have to have some sort of fail safe?? Ecu blown up?? Thanks for all your help, i am just trying to work through things so i dont end up having to buy masses of expensive parts and finding its none of them. Mind you that still works out cheaper than taking it to a local garage to be charged £30 an hour etc.. cheers jez

Okay so far i have worked out i have no spark to the plugs. Traced back and no spark from coil either i think. Anyone know how to test the coil. I put a multimeter on continuinty across the middle thiner input wire and get fluctuation on cranking which seems to indicate the ecu is triggering the coil?? How would i test the coil to see if its works?? Have tested the fuel pump with a jumper lead across the relay socket and it works okay, the ecu works okay with a jumper lead also so think i can rule them out maybe, but guess i need to test the triggers on the relays as well to make sure they are being switched but having jumper them they should have worked anyway right?? Update: Not sure if coil works but put meter across number 1 injector and have 12v at ignition on, when cranking this drops to 8-9v but does not ground out like i thought it should?? Should it drop to nearer zero?? thinking maybe with no spark and possibly no injector pulse its the crank sensor. Can anyone confirm the injector reads for me?? and wether the trigger wire for the coil when tested on continuity should just jump all over the place. The Only things i am certain of is that the fuel pump is getting enough power and the fuel is getting to the injector rail and i have no spark. So i need to find why there is no spark and why the injectors are possibly not firing. Sorry for the long post just kinda thinking out loud....

Thanks RB have checked the dizzy rotor and its going round, i just dont seem to get a spark though. Am on my own at the mo so difficult to check the cams but i am trying to rule out other electrical gremlins too as well. thanks for all your advice its appreciated. cheers jez

Thanks a million, i can probably rule that out then, as mine is just in spec, might try another to be sure though as i am having a mare at the mo trying to get to the reason why my vr cut out. Cheers :D EDIT: having checked the car over i am sure i getting no spark and pretty sure the injectors are not working properly, so its pointing to the ole crank sensor. guess i will have to bite the bullet and get one.... cheers

Have searched and searched on here and have found a post about checking pin 23 at the ecu plug. Can someone confirm if this should have 12v with the ignition on, as mine does not and if it should any possible causes. cheers Jez

Can anyone tell me what the resistance should be on a vr crank sensor, mine has cut out and wont start and i suspect the crank sensor, is there a lower resistance level that would cause a failure as mine is reading approx 500. cheers jez

Hi checked the connector and its just a spade terminal someone has crimped on so no help there. Think its in the fuel pump circuit though as it is the same colour wire (red/yellow)

Right this is getting to me now. Have checked the crank sensor and it shows a resistance of about 500, the injector nearest the air filter end has 12v across its 2 terminals with the ignition on, the fuel pump is pressurising the fuel lines and it cranks over okay. Changed the relays for the ecu and fuel pump anyway to rule them out but although i have 12v from the coil i am not sure if its good enough as i dont seem to be getting any sparks at the plugs. I also have a yellow wire from the multiplug on the engine which looks past its best but it seems to be making contact but does anyone know what it is. I really need to know if the crank sensor resistance is too low and what i else i can check to get the damn thing to spark at the plugs, oh and what the yellow wire at the multiplug does and which wires i can check at the maf to see if the ecu is working okay?? I know its a lot of asks but i am really stuck on this one. The only code i get when scanning is the speed sensor g28 but it would anyway if the engine is not running. :( :(

blackberry rado south bound on m5 nr bridgewater today around midday. Did not get a good look as we were going the other way in the rangey but looked tidy from a distance :D

Thanks for the reply, the car is still at work but will try and check it out later this week. Thanks for your help. cheers

Opened a can of worms by dropping the fusebox down and finding a nightmare of several alarm instals and bodges. :shock: One wire red/yellow has been spliced and theres a large (yellow) female spade connector on it. I assume it plugs into somewhere or maybe they ran out of crimp connectors? Or it maybe where a immobiliser was tapped into the fuel pump circuitry,and when that was removed they just rejoing the wire with a spade connector? The only place i can see it might plug in is a male terminal just below the fuel pump relay on the back of the board at the bottm if that makes sense. Can anyone tell me if there is supposed to be anything plugged in there and wether its this red/yellow wire? Its a 92 vr if that helps. I know wiring is a nightmare job and its difficult to explain without seeing it. When i test for current at the spliced connector i get a momentary flash of voltage when the ignition is turned on. As my car is not running at the moment i cant tell what happens with the engine running but my best guess is its the fuel pump wire and the brief flash is the quick burst to prime it before starting? If anyone can help that would be great as i am really missing driving the old gal in this hot weather as the roads are nice and grippy at the moment and theres some corners near me that are great in the dry. cheers jez

Thanks for all the suggestions. going to hopefully do some electrical tests tomorrow and try and see if i am getting fuel and spark first. If i have both then will investigate camshaft :shock:

Worried now as that sounds expensive to fix, maybe i should have checked the chains, always reading about them on here, hope its not though. Do i have to remove the camshaft postion sender? Is this with an obd1 engine? Hope its not that as it would be cheaper to swap a different engine me thinks. :(

Thanks for the suggestions, to be honest the missing i think was more like a burned postion on the tps as it was only at a precise rpm and not always. This Back fire was just a one off and as it backfired it died completely. Will try the relays though as they are only cheap 109 and 67, plus get a crank sensor as chances are if it aint bust it probably will soon :roll: Goin to get the garage to check the spark and fuel situation and play it by ear. I know from friends experience that paying garages to trace electrical faults gets very expensive, so would rather do that myself, armed with a multimeter and a couple of sensors, would only cost me maybe 2 hours of mechanics time for all the sensors and relays i need. cheers fingers crossed its the sensor or relay.......

No had an old e30 that was nice and sorted, for fast road work and loved it, just dont want to get rid of the vr as i have spent so much time and money on getting it where it is. I am 90% on the crankshaft sensor as cant see owt else that could just stop the car so suddenly. May be coil but will check this before the crank sender. cheers Jez