Jim

Pop into VW dealership :) Looking on the parts catalogue it appears the VW part number is 357 919 062 - that's listed as bulb with blue cap.

PM lilfuzzer - he may have those parts available.

They had a dealer overhauled E39 M5 on there a month or so back. It'd been basically completely refurbished by a BMW master tech at a dealers in Birmingham, and the bill was something like 20k, and it was only up for sale at like 13k. God I was so tempted. It was stunning.

I warn any enthusiast of German cars to stay well away from their website - they list so many unbelievably awesome cars! :) I've lusted after a lot of stuff they've had up for sale. (their website is here if you want a drool: http://www.4starclassics.com/cars/)

Wow - the engine cover is the air intake. That's a new one on me! Out of curiosity Kev, whilst it's clearly made to more of a budget than say the venerable VR6, are you finding the motor easier / quicker to work on or is the VR better in that respect too?

Lambda can fail though it seems to be very uncommon - but what does seem to be more common is the wiring for it becoming brittle and breaking. So check that out :)

2 MILLION MILES? That has to be a world record, Wendy! ;)

These updates are great :) I'll try find some time to catch up on some of your vids this evening!

That's where I was headed :)

Hm. Could be something to do with the throttle body perhaps? I have heard they can occasionally be problematic. Is it a 2.0 16v? I'll also be interested to hear if the car runs OK for the first few minutes from cold and then starts to get lumpy and troublesome as it warms up. Keep us posted.

Can't believe I missed the chocolate! Damnit! :) And sorry to hear about your breakdown, Hairyarse - as someone who's car broke down on Saturday and who had an 8 hour slog to get it back home again on Saturday, I now know what a grim experience it really is. 130 miles from home, on the hard shoulder of the M27/M3 junction near Southampton. I'm still extremely thankful it at least got me to a section WITH hard shoulder as there were plenty of bits along there without... don't even want to think about how dreadful that would have been!

A guy I used up in Nuneaton (so, not really need London unfortunately) reckoned he could do a decent job on 'most of the car' for that sort of budget (he works to £100/panel) and indeed he did some reasonable work on my car. I guess it's achievable but not sure I'd do it personally.

Very nice - a very late G60 indeed - not many about on a K plate :)

Think we're on the same page there. The road trips are always fun. The Vietnam one and Bolivian ones were really good!

It is a daily, in so much as it's my only car.. but I don't have to use it every day as I can walk to work. But I'd just gotten so used to the shagged suspension to be honest and was just living with it but always thinking "God this suspension is abysmal..." :)

Exactly! It's those pieces I love. You get a little of their humor and rapport, mixed in to something interesting. Those sorts of segments I could watch over and over again. Their piece they did at the motor museum when they tried to establish when the first 'conventional' car layout of the three pedals, steering wheel came about was also great for the same reasons.

Expect to see that hoovered up by a speculator, who'll immediately list it for a five figure sum! :|

Indeed. Well, I was looking at some of the Bilstein kits available. Not in a position to consider anything yet and will just have to manage with shagged suspension for a while but either the B12 kit, or maybe one of their coilover kits would be my most likely acquisition later on down the line.

What would cause that kind of damage to the cams / head? Oil starvation?

Moved to 'Wanted' section..

Are / were they SP263's, Rog?

I like it when Chris Harris does a serious or enthusiast type piece on a car. His little video on the Audi Quattro and Ford RS200 as a sort of 'meet the heroes' type exercise I really enjoyed, but like the 'road tests' in Top Gear where they're just sideways on every corner, it does nothing for me. I want to learn a bit about the cars, the history, the engineering & technical information, etc - not just see how many times they can go sideways. He's back in the Ferrari good books again anyway - he owned an FF up until very recently, and also owns a 512TR.

So ever since I got new Bilstein B4's fitted to my Corrado about three years ago, I've always thought they never felt right. I put this down to a mismatch of dampers and springs (KW). I found the ride had become progressively more crashy but also dangerously bouncy.. like if I go over some sections of uneven road too fast, it literally bounces the car like some kind of low rider! It's always been on my list of things to sort, but always on the back burner because it's yet another significant expense. I was chatting to a friend of mine this weekend over from Germany and I told him about the suspension symptoms and what I've got and he immediately knew the problem. He's a serious regular at the Nurburgring and follows lots of forums with folks discussing suspension setups and so forth (and indeed owning something like 7 cars, I trust his judgement on this sort of stuff!). The issue specifically is that the B4 is explicitly designed for STANDARD ride height with standard springs. Apparently the box / documentation even warns that they will not work with lowering springs properly and indeed apparently destroy the valves inside the dampers within a matter of months. So that'll explain why my suspension is awful as the dampers are not working properly. So a useful warning I hope for folks debating fitting worn shocks with Bilstein B4's like I did. Don't. Apparently you need the B6's as a minimum or ideally want to go for a complete kit like the B12. Which I guess I'll have to think about soon.

Hm. Well I think it'd be worth doing a good service like you're thinking, and go from there. Wondering if perhaps you've got a boost leak or something. The only way you'll really know for sure is to get it rolling roaded so you can see what sort of performance the engine is putting out and where the flatspots in the power band are. Report back after the service is done and can go from there :)

Which engine does your Corrado have?