Jim

Hm.. 23MPG doesn't sound stellar. I'd be hoping for high 20's at least even from an auto. Might be worth asking around if there's any South Wales VW clubs / forums who could help you out? I think this may be one, but not sure... http://www.so-wal.co.uk

Hmm... around town, with an auto... honestly it wouldn't surprise me... they're not known for their economy! But it's quite possible you've got a duff sensor, perhaps over fuelling the car a little (like one of the coolant temperature sensors for the ECU). Might be worth getting it checked with VAG-COM as a starter for ten. What's it like on a run? What sort of range do you get from a full tank? Remapping would only exacerbate the situation - it wouldn't fix the root cause.

Is this around town, or on a run? And is this calculated manually by recording the amount of fuel put in / miles covered, or off the trip computer?

Fan worked OK on all speeds - besides, it's like a 5 minute job to get it out of the car if it decides to go in the future :) Pleased to say it's all back together, heater matrix connected up and working, and all electronics working correctly. Talk about a relief :) Finished off the install with the prototype pair of replica speedo binnacle covers, and also replaced the gasket on the air intake cover above the fan motor as I was convinced that was letting water in - gave that a good vacuum and clean around there prior to installing the new gasket. So she's all ship shape and even surprisingly rattle free even though a lot of the foam wrapped around the cabling behind the dash crumbled, or made a bid for freedom when it was all being taken apart and I've probably routed the cabling in all the wrong places! Ignore the ABS light poking out of place slightly - for some reason it's always been a bit duff and never sat in the dash properly. I'll replace it one day. Probably :) Extremely pleased. Extremely relieved. I'm off to reward myself with a couple of beers. Cheers!

Latest update. Lots more of the interior trim back in though took a lot of work - another 3+ hours on it this evening and still not all back together. Ran into an interesting problem after reassembling my heater controls, with the fan not working. Hm. Checked I'd plugged it in, etc and had connected the electrical connector behind the heater - all OK. Disconnected the fan and dropped it back out of the housing and connected up random set of heater controls I have (not Corrado - not sure what off - but same pin-out) and the fan came to life. I figured I'd damaged my controls somehow but reconnected them and they worked now. Put the fan back, stopped working again. I found depending on what angle I turned it, the fan worked. Just on a hunch I popped out the resistor pack and could see the cabling that connects it to the fan motor had somehow chafed and corroded and must have been shorting or something.. wrapped it up with some electrical tape to cover the exposed little bit of cable and now it seems to be working consistently as it should :) Ideally will have to replace the fan at some point as it seems a bit clapped. Otherwise it's gone back together OK - wiring is horrendous and I'll say now there's no chance it's all gone back in the original places but everything is connected up, etc. Another session tomorrow and it'll be back together. The only thing I haven't done yet which, in hindsight is a bit stupid having put everything back together, is connect up the heater matrix and run it up to temperature, etc. I should probably have done that PRIOR to putting everything back in the car but.. ho hum :) It'll be fine I'm sure.

Genuine VR6 ones are obsolete now. Thanks VW.

I ordered this one: http://www.radiatorshop.net/products/volkswagen-corrado-29-i--vr6? It was a Hella unit - which I was fairly happy with, and it seems to be running fine with good temperatures.

As usual a reassuring answer from davidwort - much appreciated mate :)

Glad you asked that as I was wondering myself. I was considering getting a turkey baster and filling the matrix with a coolant / water pre-mix prior to reconnecting the pipes, rather than just potentially letting a huge airlock into the system. I might ring 2cc later and ask his opinion on that.

It really is worth considering starting it, given that the nights are getting darker and autumn will be on us soon. I only managed to get about 3 hours working on the car after work before it became too dark to continue. Or as Goldie says, do it next year.. ;)

Well some reasonable progress this evening I guess though it's taking far longer to put it back together than take it did to take it apart! :) Gave the replacement heater box a wipe down and got all the crud out from inside of it, replaced a couple of the bowden cables and attached them back to the heater controls. They're not perfect and to be honest outside of a new heater box, new cables and new heater controls it aint going to be so I can live with it being a bit stiff (!!). Also installed the new heater matrix of course. Gave the carpets a good vac to get rid of the tonne of foam dust, got the heater box reinstalled successfully including all the upper and lower ducting and then got the dashboard reinstalled. It feels much more like a car with that in there, despite there still being a lot to go. The one thing I highly recommend based on my experience so far... get a load of yoghurt pots and label ALL the bolts you remove. Mine all got mixed up and now I'm having to guess my way around which belong where - I think I'm going to have a few left over! Anyway - here is a quick grainy picture before the light completely faded. Will be carrying on with this again tomorrow after work. Also worth mentioning so far I've been able to do this by myself but I think a second pair of hands would have been helpful!

Great work - enjoy reading these kinds of updates. Keep us updated on that all important first crank of the engine once it's rebuilt!

Mortified too that it's a Nugget Yellow too - there really aren't that many of them left :(

Oh my god :( That's absolutely terrible to watch :( I'm so sorry to see that mate.

Taking the dash out didn't seem to be much more of a stretch once you had everything else out you needed to remove anyway. It's only held in with about 5 or so bolts more. Everything comes out quite logically - just make sure you have a good assortment of screwdrivers and as I found a set of ratchet spanners with screwdriver bits were invaluable for accessing some screws, and various bolts. Once you get started, it's surprising how quickly you get into it and actually it's not quite the horror show you think it'll be. Get spraying the three bolts in the engine bay now (two that hold the heater box, and the third that holds the ducting that runs along to the heater motor) with penetrating spray as they were the showstoppers for me! I just got a heater box through the post today (thanks so much to lilfuzzer) and a few gaskets and bolts I ordered have come in at my local Audi dealership so I should be starting reassembly tonight... gulp..

Hi - can't seem to see a price?

My guess is that'll be the glowplug light, as it's a TDI conversion.. Certainly an interesting motor - and you're not alone with your TDI conversion. There's a couple of other ones on here :)

I believe this could also be a symptom of your thermostat being stuck open possibly? The reservoir sensor is indeed just a level sensor.

Yep - definitely not 288's.

Interesting tip on the MK3 heater controls - will have to look into that :) And yes, I have to hand approve your first few posts. Once you've hit a couple more they should just go onto the forum as normal :)

Always fantastic to get more international members on here :) Welcome aboard!

Sounds like a plan, Kev :)

Really think next year I'm going to get some sort of BMW. The E38 7 Series I got from Hofmeister was a real eye opener - it was an exceptional steer. Surprisingly quick given it's weight, extremely comfortable, and just the styling of that model was perfect - the lines, the proportions, the way it sits on the road. I loved everything about it. There are some fantastic bargains to be had on bigger engined older BM's now as no one wants the terrible fuel economy!

Amen!

Enthusiasm from the parts counter guy doesn't entirely make up for the fact that some of the bits I wanted to order were on back order, most likely totally unavailable! :) VW as a company need to take their classics / enthusiasts a bit more seriously in my humble opinion.. it's not like they can't afford it.