Andy T

A word of warning - I fitted the GSF CV joint (GKN/Lobro) but used a VAG plastic CV boot with the proper metal clips, a week later i noticed that grease is flying out a little bit from one point (the largest clip end) it seems that they are not a very good fit on the GSF joints, the clip is 'pinching' the boot causing a tiny gap for grease to fly out of- not good. Wonder if I should of stuck with the GSF soft rubber boot? Any ideas for sorting this? all I can think of is removing the clip, cleaning up the sealing area then putting a little silicone inside the gap before replacing the clip.

See this thread, tools for specific jobs - viewtopic.php?f=45&t=86243 Suspension strut bolts can be 18mm or 19mm, so you really need both a spanner & a socket in both sizes (or two sockets) if the bolt spins. 30mm Driveshaft nut can be 6 point or 12, take hub cap off to check. Does anyone know what sizes these are? iv got to do the CV tommorow but i cant get to the car to measure them (iv got to get a socket for them)

Yeah they look like my old ones, I'd buy those mate as i'll be looking at about £34/pair at the dealer with the VAT, hopefully collecting mine tomorrow!

I've just changed all the front suspension and found that the splash shields were falling apart so removed them. You have to remove the disc to get to the screws, you might need grips to get the rusty hex-head screws out. I bought a new pair from VW, about £8 each but when I got them home I found they don't fit - they only have two mounting holes instead of three and one of them doesn't line up. Guess they've replaced the corrado part with an item off a newer model, gonna take them back tomorrow and see what they say. Let us know what they say then please mate. If the discs and that have to come off I may aswell ride it out until I need new discs or wait until I upgrade or something. Keep the labour costs down as I'm giving up touching anything mechanical now! No space, tools or time or so my garage is gonna do alright out of me I suppose. VW had ordered me the wrong ones, non-VR6 ones. They had to find my chassis number to get the right part number, guess what the price went up too, about £14 each instead! should be picking them up tomorrow.

I've just changed all the front suspension and found that the splash shields were falling apart so removed them. You have to remove the disc to get to the screws, you might need grips to get the rusty hex-head screws out. I bought a new pair from VW, about £8 each but when I got them home I found they don't fit - they only have two mounting holes instead of three and one of them doesn't line up. Guess they've replaced the corrado part with an item off a newer model, gonna take them back tomorrow and see what they say.

It went together fine :) I noticed that the splines on the new hub have flats ground on the first 25-30mm so you can slide the CV in easily, then when you put the hub nut on it tightens up and pulls the CV joint through. Followed the procedure for Torqueing, Even 200Nm doesnt seem very tight initially, then backing off and 50Nm + 30deg seems very low. I guess that alot of that 200Nm still 'holds' when you back off the nut, because the of the interference between splines & hub, so its probably alot tighter than it seems. I couldnt resist tightening it up a bit more though, didn't go overboard just tightened until it seemed about 'right'

Front lower suspension/hubs/Driveshafts - 2' Foot long 1/2" Drive breaker bar 18mm Sockets 1/2 Drive & Spanner (Some Strut bolts,wishbone bolts) 30mm 12-point Socket (hub Nut) 10,13,15,17,19mm Combi Spanners/Sockets 22mm spanner (track rod ends) M8 (8mm) Spline Bit (Inner CV joint bolts) 6mm Allen key, end ground shorter for access (Lower Balljoint spindle) 5mm Allen key (ABS Sensor) Blowtorch for releasing seized nuts will be useful, Angle grinder is often used to save time if badly corroded bolts/parts are getting replaced!

I am just fitting a new GKN CV joint & new hub to my VR, I've just checked that they go together ok and found that the CV only slides into the hub by about 20mm then stops - is this what's meant as compressed splines? The thread of the CV comes through about 12mm which I guess is enough to put the nut on and tighten and pull it through- is this right though? can't see any damage to splines on either part. Are the Cv splines tapered or something? Cheers,

I'm going to start this job tomorrow, I've noticed that some of the sump bolts are obscured by a metal cover attached to the gearbox? Can I remove and refit this cover without any issues, does it have a seal etc? I bought the gasket from AVS, it's a metal-in-rubber gasket made by Elring, in a Febi box(?) Can anyone advise on the torque setting for the sump bolts? I've heard 11 lbft mentioned but is that correct for the late VR? Cheers.

£6! Bargain. Really surprised. Had a good laugh when at VW a few days ago, they quoted £115 each for VR6 Wishbones, and £140 for a Outer CV joint (Oh and they needed your old one in exchange!)

Doing a front suspension replacment at the moment, and the paper rust splash shield got knocked when undoing the balljoint and tore off. Are they going to be dealer only or can they be bought elsewhere? ECP,GSF & AVS don't sell them. Also has anyone found that shields off other VW's fit VR6's , e.g Mk4 Golfs, Passat etc? I Don't mind if they are a slightly bigger diameter than my 280's :)

Cheers, I decided to go for pulling it all off the car and doing everything in one go - expensive but should save me money in the long run I hope. Where can you get new hub carriers with the bearing already fitted? shame I've ordered a new bearing assembly from VW, might be an option for the other side though, spent ages drilling out rusty bolts where the paper thin rust 'splash shield' used to be :| Progress has been stopped by some weird Strut bolts/nuts - Bottom one is 18mm which is fair enough (need new socket) but top one has a 19mm nut but 18.5mm bolt head?? not caused by rust either! it's gonna round off with a 19mm socket so guess I'll have to file it down to 18mm!

Had a go this weekend, the balljoint split easily enough and with the right tool for the Inner CV bolts (M8 Spline bit) I got the driveshaft off. thing is now i've found that the wheel bearing is rough as a bears arse (strange it never made any noise when driving) so it seems pointless to put it all back together again. So the dilemma is, Do I remove the hub carrier myself and take it to a garage for new wheel bearing, then refit and then take car to garage for alignment? Or, do I go the whole hog and replace everything suspension/bearing/steering wise on both sides, then take for alignment, in the hope that neither will need doing for years to come?

Got a set of Spline bits today from GSF - not bad at £8 when most places were asking £20! It was an M8 Spine bit I needed for the Inner CV bolts, worked great on the untouched ones but rounded off on the one I'd tried the Torx bit in, even when hammered in. Ended up having to hacksaw the bolt head off, not fun, but at least the bolt wound out easily afterwards. Cheers

i paid £17 for a complete cv joint kit from GSF inc new boot, grease, clips, bolts,circlip and nuts. ditched the clips for the boot - why are they so hard to fit ?? - and stuck a couple of cable ties on. took an hour or so to do on the drive. Have Never found the boot clips hard to fit-I think they sell special pliers for them though, have always managed ok by hand. Not sure about cable ties mate - if they break or loosen you are screwed

A garage should do it by splitting the susp balljoint from the hub carrier, doesn't cause any alignment issues that way. A decent VW specialist that I use charges about £45/hour labour, most garages should be able to give you a price over the phone.

I'd avoid the type that wrap around then clip together or glue together, they are gonna rip apart after a few days/weeks and wreck your CV joints. get it done right and it will last another 10 years. I'd guess at about an hours labour for doing a CV boot.

Thanks, yeah a 6mm hex key didn't look far off so they must be 6mm. I didn't know such a thing existed, is it the internal equivalent to bi-hex nuts? thanks again

I'm changing the CV's on my VR, looks like Everything under the car is original! The CV bolts looked like Torx to me so I grabbed the largest bit I had which was a T40 and it seemed a decent fit in the oily caphead, but it was bloody tight and it rounded off! Anyone know what they are? Could they be the next Torx size up or a different type altogether? has anyone ended up cutting the bolt heads off, if so did the rest of the bolt come out easily? Cheers

I've just priced up VR6 Outer CV boot kit from the Dealers, £19.40 each in stock, not too bad I think as they'll probably last the life of the car, pattern ones I've had before have split after a year or so. AVS do Febi ones for £9 each, anyone recommend? I would probably order from AVS if I didn't need it by saturday. AVS do 'Meyle' CV joints for £30, I know they're German but is there quality good?

I need to change the outer CV, & check the Inner CV on the nearside, can it be done without splitting the balljoint/undoing the trackrod end for clearance? I read somewhere on here that it can be done, but don't want to start it then find its impossible! I did manage it on a mk2 polo years ago, turning the steering onto full lock just gives enough room to get the shaft out of the hub, but it's a completely different setup to the VR. I don't want to affect the wheel alignment in any way, had it 4 wheel aligned not so long ago. Cheers

Yeah it will be fine, most cars have differences between the front & rear track width, look at the new scirocco the rear track is huge!

A similar thing happened to me, all of the threaded part was left in the head, luckily my VW specialist sorted it without taking the head off. They drilled out the remaining piece, re-drilled & re-tapped a larger hole & installed a helicoil, and had a special vac to remove all the drillings from the cylinder bore. They did a superb job and I did several spark plug changes afterwards without any problems. I'd have a chat with some decent garages in your area to see if they have the same equipment to help you out.

Actually at the moment the oil temp wire on my relay panel is loose so i dont have the temp on the MFA. But in the summer it didnt go over about 100C. Water goes up to about 100 in traffic at the moment I thought that the thermostat would open and close as the water temp varied? Also, wasnt the black temp sensor for the third fan speed? I've wired in two spals into the connector so speed 3 is irrelevant in my car. Open to suggestions anyway. Yeah you're right about black sensor I meant yellow sensor. I've just noticed this weekend that I don't have oil temp display on the MFA anymore, gutted! how did you find out yours was wiring at the relay panel, is it a common fault for MFA's?

Surely once the hot running VR engine warms up the stat should be permenently open anyway except in extreme low temperatures, so it shouldn't affect normal running, only the length of the warm up period. I'd bet on the [EDIT] yellow temp sensor going faulty or a bad connection. How does your water temp compare with oil temp on the MFA? when warming up and motorway driving my oil temp tends to be about 10-15 deg higher than water. When sat in slow traffic the water temp rises to the same or slightly higher than oil temp.