tonytiger

I have that edition of Autocar too (bought at the time of issue) and wanted a Corrado VR6 since reading that article. IMO the Corrado is borderline classic at the moment - just needs a couple more years 'til all parts are obsolete - then it'll be a true classic :wink: As for the VR6 and G60 remaining the most sought after - I'm not too sure. The performance of classic cars becomes less of an issue - just look at how many fairly normal cars are nearly as quick as a VR compared to when it was launched - so the perhaps the 8v and 16v models will become just as desirable (especially the earliest models).

On the sender I used (and I expect they're all the same) one of the terminals is marked WK (german for warning contact) - connect the orignal wire to this. The other terminal is marked G (german for sensor). Looking at the Bentley manual again last night, I think it said the original 0.3bar switch has brown insulation and the other one has black insulation (as I was wondering how to tell if the wires were connected to the right switches in the first place).

HiAsAKite, it's the 0.3 bar one (which is the blue/black wire according to the Bentley manual) as the dual pole sender warning contact is rated at 0.5 bar.

MikeVR6, I didn't find the alternator position to be a problem - okay it may have been a little easier if it wasn't there, but I still found there was enough room to work by sticking my arm through hole where the headlight goes. Installing the sender shouldn't take long at all - under 30 minutes if all goes well. However, it took me hours from start to finish as a) I couldn't get the third, recessed screw out of the headlight - messed on for hours but in the end I gave in and ended up breaking half that fixing point off the headlight, and b) I messed on for a while trying to remove the old pressure switch with a spanner after soaking it with WD40, when I should have just gone straight to halfords for that deep 24mm socket (cost £6) It really was very straight forward.

Finally installed the gauge unit and sender this weekend. 8) To install the sender, I removed the driver side headlight to gain access to the top of the oil filter housing. I was unable to remove the old oil pressure switch with a spanner though, so ended up going to Halfords and buying a 24mm deep socket. Was then able to remove the switch easily with the socket and a reasonably long extension. Installing the new dual-pole sender was very easy (though I didn't realise it had a tapered self sealing thread so thought there was something wrong to start with), and just tightens in with a spanner. Once installed, I ran a new wire (2.5mm) from the sender round the passenger side of the engine bay and through the bulkhead (and also re-connected the original warning switch wire). I then managed to do all the interior electrics with only the ashtray and passenger side under-dash shelf removed. If you can't find (or can't be bothered, as in my case) a s/h connector to fit the back of the gauge unit then you can order the bits from the stealer. The connector itself (4 Pin Flat Connector) is part number 1J0 972 704, and you then need some wires to push into it. The wires come with the metal ends on so you just push them into the connector. Note, the wires have the connectors at both ends and as they are about a foot long you can just get 2 wires and cut them in half (though I didn't know that when I ordered them). I used 2.5mm wires which are part number 000 979 225, but 1mm may be okay (part number 000 979 133). Thanks to Henny and MikeVR6 for stating which pins are for what, the gauge worked okay first time. I'm assuming that the sender I've used is compatible as the pressure gauge readings are within the scale. However, I'm not sure what 'normal' values should be. :? From cold - it shows about 4 bar at idle, up to 8 bar under fairly gentle acceleration. Fully warmed up (during / after motorway journey) - 1.5 bar at idle, 4 bar at 60mph, 5 bar at 80mph, 5.5 to 6 bar under hard acceleration. Is this a litte low? Also, what is the other oil pressure switch for? What does/doesn't happen if the oil is above/below this pressure?

That's the right part number - cost me £12.69 after discount last April. Dealer probably won't believe that this is a valid part number and may try to fob you off with the plastic one but do NOT get the plastic one - there's only a quid or so difference in price.

Well, I ordered the sender from VAGParts (part number T11 919 081) and it turned up this morning. It does appear to be the right item. It's stamped with VDO (can't remember if it's got the VW stamp on it) and states 0.5+/- 0.15 bar for the warning contact, and 10bar for the pressure contact. Only thing I'm not sure of yet is if it's definitely the right size thread (though don't see why it won't be) - I'll have a better look when I get home again tonight. Anyway, it cost £22 delivered, so if you can actually get a local dealer to order it then it should be even cheaper - and that's less than half the price of anywhere else I found :!:

Finally got a set of speedlines refurbished. Bought a spare set of wheels over 6 months ago but never got round to getting them sorted until now. Took them to Romax in Stockton - cost £140 for the refurb and they've turned out very well. Cost another £20 at a local tyre fitters to get the tyres switched from the wheels that were on the car to this set. Car looks much better now without tatty wheels on it (just need to get it washed again). Also put the new centre caps on that I bought from toXXin. Just need to get a full set of caps for the bolts now, which I'll order this week.

There's no point arguing with each other about all this over minor things - that doesn't achieve anything - this topic's about the CCGB and The Sprinter. I accept that some people don't bother with printed media (much) anymore - though I find it hard to believe that people never buy magazines and ONLY read articles on the web. It's all well and good having loads of information on a site like this but sometimes you can't find an article again that you know you've read, sometimes the site is down, occasionally my connection is down. Also, I work in IT and spend most of my working day looking at a monitor - then I spend another hour or two in front of the computer at home each day. For me, printed media will never be out of date and will always have a place. Personally, I enjoy receiving the Sprinter however much or little is in it. Obviously content is down to whatever articles people can be bothered to provide - I'd like to provide one myself, but I don't honestly feel there's anything interesting I could write. Not sure if this happens already, but perhaps there should be a fee paid for each printed article to make it worthwhile for people spending time writing them. I like the idea about high quality images of the cars, and then using a selection of these for a club calendar. I don't think it's realistic to expect the mag to be produced anything more than quarterly - this is produced in peoples spare time, not by full time editorial staff. However, a one or two page plain text newsletter in between each mag wouldn't go amiss - could give a preview of forthcoming articles, events, or any important news. As for donations to this forum, I believe that people like myself who don't post very much should be the ones that donate - people who post a lot (generally helpful and useful stuff) are the ones who shouldn't feel the need to donate, as without them the forum would be dead.

Very useful info there MikeVR6. I noticed it looks a bit tight for space for fitting the sender too - not that I need to worry at the moment seeing as I don't have a sender yet :( BTW, glad you got your lights sorted in the end.

I was wondering about a sensor problem - I'll check it out on vagcom over the weekend. Be interesting to see how it drives on the way home.

SS&P are out of stock of this sender at the moment (I wonder why) so I've been trying to find somewhere else to source one from. Found some information on the VDO (or Siemens) website about their sensors. V360023 isn't listed in that document (all the part numbers quoted are much longer), but I did find 360-081-030-009 C/K listed as "Pressure Sender with warning contact - common ground" with a 10bar measuring range and 0.5bar warning trigger point, thread M10x1. This sounds like the same part but with a different number to me. Looking further down in the documentation there is a list of OEM part numbers against VDO part numbers and there is an entry in the VAG section for this sender with VAG part number T11 919 081. Does that mean if I order this part number from VAG I'll get that VDO item, or is it just a substitute. ETKA shows this to be an Oil Pressure Sender for an L80, but doesn't give any other information - so I don't even know if the original VAG part has the warning contact. The dealers I spoke to couldn't help either. Anybody any ideas? Or is there somewhere else I can obtain this VDO sender from?

AFR meter showed changing high / low readings as usual during normal driving this morning but when throttle was wide open it didn't always show high only (as it would normally). Sometimes it would flicker very quickly between high / low, and other times it would just show very low constantly. Car definitely felt poorer on acceleration at full throttle (though it did still accelerate). Everything was okay yesterday and absolutely nothing has changed since then (no extra petrol, etc). I'm not sure whether the car was like that straight away this morning (I don't think it was as it felt okay initially), or whether it was just since it stalled coming up to a junction (about 10 miles into the journey). Any thoughts as to what's causing this?

Number for VAGParts is 01793 487700. Website address is http://www.vagparts.com/ I paid £84.33 delivered which seemed a bit too cheap, but I didn't argue :)

Ordered a set of RHD gauges from VAGParts last week, not really expecting anything to come of it - but they actually arrived today! :D Just the week before I'd tried my local dealer but he was adamant that they were discontinued about a year ago and wasn't interested in trying to order me one. And perhaps they were unavailable a year ago - as looking at the numbers stamped on the panel, some of them appear to be manufacturing dates (I think) and one of the them shows the year as 04 and the month as either 03 or 09 (as shown in pic below). Won't be fitting this just yet, as I need to sort a new sender out - probably go for a 2-in-1. Can anyone confirm the thread size I need?

Is this not for those cars with factory fitted alarms/immobilisers? Not too sure, but I'd assumed so - perhaps somebody else can confirm this. If they're still available you can probably fit them if you're prepared to run some wiring through the doors to them.

What's the deadline for this, or is it just the first ten? I'm very interested at that price, but not sure I can afford it right now :( Alternatively, would you be organising another gb a little later in the year Tempest, ?

Thoughts?! Thoughts!???? JUST BUY IT!!!! Unless you really don't want a VR6 (or don't want to sell it on for at least a grand profit) or can't get the cash somehow, then I don't understand your problem. Okay, so it needs a couple of things doing to it (and you could get really unlucky with the ABS costing a fortune) and it's in red rather than a nicer metallic - but that's got to be a bargain. I don't see how you can lose - just buy it! Now!!

I eventually found someone who can supply the RE720, but I have to wait until Monday to get them. I don't like having to order because I usually need the tyres there and then but fortunately I now have a spare set of wheels - 2 of which have useable tyres on. £72 per tyre all in didn't seem especially cheap, but don't feel I'm being ripped off either.

I need to replace a couple of tyres myself and have been phoning the local tyre places, in particular asking about the Bridgestone RE720 (in a 205/50 15 size) but keep getting told they've been replace by the RE040. Is that true? The Bridgestone website makes it look like they're just a different range rather than a replacement. Does anybody know if they're any good? Anybody tried the Toyo T1-R's? (I've read the somewhat conflicting opinion about the T1-S's). Also, does everybody else find they always have to order tyres in advance to get what they want, or are they usually available off the shelf?

I've read similar on of the Seat forums too, but not just about performance - there was alleged engine damage too I think. jedi-knight83, I'd spend a lot of time on the Seat forums if I were you before going for an upgrade.

Thanks for the info. Think I'll stick with VAG this time - but might try Pagid next time round.

Need some new front pads this week for my VR6 (hopefully don't need discs) and trying to keep the cost down - but don't want junk either. How do the ATE pads that Eurocarparts sell (part no 101440025) compare with genuine VAG pads? They're about half the price (which seems too cheap), but I've seen a few posts mention that ATE are OE suppliers to VAG. I also noticed that the parts club price on VAG pads is a third off making them £20 vs £15 - so could they be the same? Anybody tried them?

stevemac, I wasn't particularly trying to reduce sales for GSF (or ECP) but personally I prefer to buy genuine parts for my car when possible (never bothered with any cars prior to this though) - and naturally this is easiest if bought from a dealer. I've never had any dealings with GSF (as it would have to be mail order which puts the cost up), but certainly when getting genuine parts from ECP they're usually only slightly cheaper than the dealer, and after the usual 10% dealer discount ECP usually end up more expensive (and never have the parts in stock anyway). Even buying the same make as the original part doesn't guarantee it to be the same as far as I'm aware. Didn't mean to cause offence, and if you're not fussed what make the part is (just want to keep the car running at a low cost) then obviously GSF (and to some degree ECP) are great. 8) Yes I know - it took ages for me to convince myself the Corrado wasn't going to be too bad (I mean at least it doesn't have airbags in the UK) and part of the reason I decided it was okay was because of vagcom (and the support this forum provides). If I'd known how poor the ecu diagnostics were I may not have bought one. Still, at least it's better than my parents 5 year old Saxo VTS - have to take it to the garage everytime for the diagnostics and that doesn't always show everything.

That's what I hate about these cars (or rather the ecu). So many faults are not reported when I'm sure it should be easy for them to be. I realise the ecu can't always know exactly what's wrong, but using certain sensor values for example as a substitue to others should always be reported as a fault. Similarly, it should be possible to monitor the values from all sensors - especially the MAF. I just don't think the ecu was particularly well designed - I know it's over 10 years old, and there will have been cost considerations, but why allow some values to be monitored and not others. :mad: This is where I feel the CCGB should get involved - especially being as no dealer that I know will provide parts club prices. It's not as if it costs anything to join the parts club, as it's free to all in the trade, so I don't understand why VW won't let CCGB members have the discount. The CCGB should speak to VW UK again and try to renegotiate this - even if only for more common service parts (some of which have a 30% discount). This would actually get VW more money, as less people would go to ECP/GSF.