oneohtwo

What's the pipe with the blue clip on? I don't recognise it. If you're looking for the crank sensor you're best off going from the underside of the car. As Dox says it is by the oil cooler, and just above the sump. I changed mine not too long ago and this was really the only access. There is a small socket head cap bolt that secures the sensor. Cam sensor is, I think, in the chain cover housing towards the rear.

Cheers! It's nice to get to a point where I don't really have to worry about the engine (well... maybe just a bit less than before!) I drove it up to Stealth on the hottest day of the year, right slap bang in the middle of the 40 degree-er and it ran OK. Water temps were definitely higher than normal, but generally seemed fine. Only 1 nervy moment when I stopped at some lights and turned the engine off as per normal, and it didn't start on the first attempt. And an odd moment coming off the motorway slipway when the revs briefly started dropping. But changing down stopped that. Certainly gives me confidence that it'll be fine in most conditions, and maybe if I ever wanted to take it abroad. Although with the lack of aircon maybe not... I think I was in worse condition than the car by the end! Yeah the cams were a nice little treat! You've got a Schrick though haven't you? That's the ultimate VR6 shiny toy to cause maximum envy!

Just got back from Stealth where the Corrado has had the ABS pump rebuilt (fortunately still under warranty with BBA), a quick service and a re-map. With the 263 cams it's now showing a quite healthy 215 hp@5810 and 201 ftlb@4194: Forgot to ask if that was high/low/in the middle of the expected range, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Nice to get a small increase in torque lower down the rev range as well. Hard to say, but I definitely thought it felt a bit more responsive on the way home. Surprised it was already just over 201 before the remap as well. Together with the recent work around the throttle area, replacing of the PCV, ISV and Dashpot it's running really nicely. Probably the best it ever has since I have owned it. Had to use one of the Thermtec gaskets on the throttle body when I refitted it, they are surprisingly thick. For reference: They do ones for the manifolds as well, but at that thickness I wonder if it throws out the alignment when putting all the parts back together? I only mention it because there don't seem to be many other options available at the moment.

Just got back from Stealth Racing, and chatting to Vince he suggested avoiding Shell V-Power for the time being as there's reports circulating it's quite low quality at the moment. They've found instances of cars running poorly when they've only been filled up with V-Power. I think he mentioned someone tested a sample recently and it was only around 92Ron. Potentially something to do with them pulling out of Russia and having to find alternative sources. Thought I'd pass the info on anyway.

VW now do the latest coolant ready mixed. Naturally it's an opportunity to charge far more, but it does at least avoid the demineralised/de-ionised/distilled water conundrum, and you can top up as necessary without having to use tap water!

Ah sorry I assumed you had aircon on your own car. I'd sort of got the same impression that the Diavia system wasn't a brilliant install as well, and can see from where the new airbox meets the fan it's ... not very neat! Maybe I will try to source a Passat airbox as I have read that is a fairly direct fit, and maybe the OE LHD compressor, drier etc...I figure it's in the same place on the engine so should fit. Either way the distance is a bit prohibitive for this one so will leave it.

I am interested in this as I've been keen on getting air con for a while, but unfortunately I am nowhere near Crewe. Which isn't much help, so not sure if this is a goer! My slight concern with air con is dumping extra heat into the engine bay. It already feels excessively hot under there (not the engine temps which are fine, it's the excess heat in the bay) and the aircon is going to be in use on hot days, so it's a triple effect of hot air temp hot bay and heat dumped from the cabin. Have you ever noticed any adverse effects?

Looks great! Nice to treat yourself now and then to a shiny part.

Will the clay bar get the white marks out? I think you're right on this, and I will go down this route. Might do some paint myself, I have attempted this before and the results weren't too bad. Will get the car looking smart again in the short term.

No problem. Wasn't much detective work involved... I can't remember how I stumbled upon it but think I was just googling "VW dashpot" and that popped up looking almost identical so I took a punt! Seems to have worked for me so hopefully it might help others out as well.

I think you've got the o-ring in the right place. I always thought it was an odd place to seal as it doesn't get really clamped by the bolts. What Rad have you got? If I recall you got one of the last available aftermarket brand ones? I had a GSF radiator at one point and it was a very poor seal... The plastic housing was slightly too big so the elbow wasn't a tight fit. When I replaced with a Hella version a couple of years ago the difference was instantly noticeable, so it could be the rad rather than the seal. In the end all I could do was smear gasket sealant around where the two faces met.

I have been looking for a replacement for the dashpot on the throttle body recently as mine is knackered, and I am sure no longer properly doing it's job and contributing to poor running. I imagine this is the case for a lot of people given how old they are, but unfortunately the VR6 version is NLA. However, by chance I stumbled upon a likely replacement from a Passat B3 and T4 that is still available: Dashpot for VW T4 (volkswagen-classic-parts.com) Part number is: 037 129 103 So I took a punt on it. It is not 100% identical, so not a direct fit, but the actual dashpot body appears to be identical to the Corrado version: Corrado on the left and Passat on the right. as you can see the central section i.e. the actual dashpot appears to be identical. Same shape, diameter and length. The differences as I can see are twofold: 1) The plastic cam at the tip is a different size and shape. It is slightly longer which is OK as you can just wind it back a bit to get the correct contact. The end also is narrower and not flat so the contact patch isn't quite as good, but it still seems to be fine. I didn't risk trying to swap the caps over, but someone might want to try this! 2) The thread is different. The thread pitch on the Corrado version is much finer, not sure what it is exactly, whilst the thread on the Passat is 1.25mm. This is where you will need to alter the bracket on the throttle body. This is fairly straightforward however, and all it requires is the old thread drilling out and Helicoil/V-coil inserts instead. It's about a 1.5hr job all in all. The inserts needed are: M8 x 1.25 x 1D (e.g. M8 x 1.25 x 1D V Coil - Fits Helicoil - Wire Thread Repair Inserts (QTY 10) 4022835072119 | eBay) The 1D refers to the length of the insert, i.e. 1x diameter. The bracket is quite thin so the regular inserts in the Helicoil kits will be too long, but you will need the rest of the kit with the right size drill bit and tap, plus the handy installation tools. Caveat emptor: Once you start this process there's no going back... Once the thread has been cut for the Helicoil insert the old dashpot is done and you can't put it back. Make sure you get this bit right. Once this is done though, hey presto: Brand new dashpot! I took a video of how the new compares to the old in terms of operation, but it hasn't uploaded. I will try and post that when I can but namely the spring back is almost instantaneous on the new so that it pretty well stays in contact with the roller constantly, where as the old was slow to respond. The damping is also stiffer. It has had an almost transformational effect on driving the car at slow speeds, making it a lot smoother, particularly in first and second When you come off the pedal there's no longer the sudden jerk of deceleration. Gear changes are also smoother. I say almost transformational, because whilst the stalling when coming to a stop seems to be fixed I did still get the odd occasion where the revs drop to almost stalling. I think this may be because I haven't reset the ECU so it hasn't got used to this, so I will do this and hopefully will all be good.

I've been doing likewise the last couple of weeks and I've stumbled on a possible replacement that might interest you as well. I'll do a separate thread as it's good info, but it uses a dashpot from a T4/B3 Passat: Dashpot for VW T4 (volkswagen-classic-parts.com)

Did you ever have any luck finding a replacement?

I found it to be ok - I used it to remove the sticky stuff from the black bump strips along the side of the car and the paint was fine after. I think as long as you wash it off pretty quickly it should be OK, but as ever - I'd try a small area first and see, always a risk it might do something odd.

Oof tough job, and one I have been putting off as well. I would suggest that, from my experience, white spirit isn't really up to the job of cleaning adhesives. I have tended to find that cellulose paint thinners do a pretty decent job at removing sticky gunk. Not found anything that does it better. Obviously it's not pleasant stuff so use in well ventilated area, wear gloves... etc... but it's always the nastiest stuff that works the best! Bit of a soak in that should dissolve it nicely to scrape off. Will still require a fair bit of work, but might be easier than the with the white spirit.

Oh you're absolutely right. Felt good to sort the throttle cable, felt so much better I am quite excited to drive it again. Recommend everyone doing this, it's such an easy 5 min job to fairly transform the car.

If anyone is still following this saga it may have resolved itself... All a bit odd. Will keep monitoring it. I did find the throttle cable was a bit slack, and I have always thought the pedal was a bit unresponsive, so I tightened that up. Surprisingly easy job, there's just a clip that holds the cable in place, don't even need any tools. That's improved things markedly and made low speed running a lot better, just picks up straight away now. So that could have been part of the issue. I also think the rest of the odd running at low speed is down to the dashpot being knackered. At low throttle it hardly offers any damping and is slow to react, so the throttle is just snapping shut.

Do you get any vibration if you turn the steering wheel to the right when stationary? That would rule out power steering issues I'd have thought, if you didn't.

One thing I have just noticed is that the RPMs on the measured blocks on VCDS don't match the tach in the instrument panel. I don't imagine the tach in the instrument panel is that accurate, but they were significantly different: VCDS Tach 800 ~600 (idle) 1160 ~1000 1600 ~1500 2080 ~2000 Then came off the throttle and idled again and had the following: 720/680 ~500 VCDS was constantly flicking between 720/680. Could this mean there is a faulty sensor somewhere so the ecu is not getting an accurate engine speed, or would this be a normal tolerance? It does converge as the revs increase, which is where everything is smoother but I have noticed it sometimes will be quite jerky at low speeds low revs in 2st or 2nd gear. The revs issue also only occurs on the initial cold start where the idle is higher. Once the idle has settled down to ~600 it seems to run fine. I pulled away straight away and was basically bouncing down the road!

Think you might be right about the garage! I think I will see if I can get one of those mobile dent repairers to do the dents form now, or maybe a repair shop, and then try to fix the scrapes myself. At least then the package will look presentable and can then get a good respray further down the line.

Ah so the vapour evaporates as the engine heats up, escapes through the PVC and takes some oil with it? Anyway, more tails of woe to add to the ABS and odd running issue. Some lovely person did this the other day: Typically didn't leave a note with any details. Really hacked off. It's properly bashed the wheel arch in, including the crease line so that's not an easy repair. Also that finally rounds off every corner of the car having a scrape or dent, to add to the car park knocks along the side from various people. Haven't decided what to do with it yet. I have been building up to hopefully getting a respray to sort all these issues so I could just leave it for now and hope that comes together, although will add to the expense, but part of me thinks what if this happens 2 weeks after getting it resprayed?! You'd be devastated. But also I don't want to leave it as is, because it ruins the car. And the Corrado seems to attract them... the other cars on the street are all largely scrape/dent free. How do they manage to pick out mine?! It's smaller than most! All in all not a good few weeks for the Corrado.

And then some! Something still isn't quite right with the engine, and I am a bit stumped. Still idles OK but when, after first starting from cold, I move off the revs go nuts. I'll rev it a bit, bring the clutch in, and then the revs will drop suddenly, then come back up to where they were but then continue to bounce around, from basically 0-1000 rpm. If I come off the power they continue to do so and will either stall or eventually settle down. However, this only seems to happen on the first start. If I let it run a bit, or then turn off and on again everything seems fine. Scanned with VCDS and no fault codes, and as I had already started it from cold couldn't replicate the issue to try reading the MVBs. Throttle pot angle reading seems pretty solid and doesn't move when I hold it open, so not really sure what's going on. Bit frustrating.

Small update - I had the ABS pump refurbished last year through Stealth (BBA did the refurb) after I had some brake issues (details earlier in the thread). Now the ABS light has come back on and a scan turns up the same fault code as before, but a different valve. A bit frustrating as the pump was only refurbed a year ago. Vince is on holiday so waiting to hear back from Stealth about what the warranty arrangement with BBA was. Don't really want to shell out hundreds again so soon, and also if it has failed again so quickly what's the likelihood it will do so again? Not really sure what the alternatives are, but it does feel like this could be a weak point in general going forward. Also swapped the PCV for a new one, and noticed quite a lot of oil in the pipe, such that it was dripping out (and obviously leaking). Obviously this is what the thing is for so will always be some oil through there, but I sort of expected for a newly rebuilt engine it would be minimal. Anyone got any experience here?

Don't think they have been remade unfortunately, but found a guy in Germany selling a few on ebay: VW Golf 3 VR6 2.8/2.9 Corrado Sharan Crankcase Vent Valve 021129101A | eBay Must have got hold of the last old stock and is flogging them for outrageous prices. Looks like they've put them up again from when I bought them. It is frustrating as we need these parts and it's just profiteering, but what can you do? I checked the item against the one I had and it's a genuine AF part, got the AF stamp and part number matches, so it is at least a genuine part. I also adjusted the dashpot. I don't think it was out particularly, but I set it up as per the Bentley manual anyway. I think it gets stuck occasionally as when I first pulled the throttle cable, the cam didn't move - so that could be the cause of the stalling at overrun issue. Hopefully readjusting it and fiddling with it might cure it for a bit as it's another NLA part I understand. I wonder if you can take it off and recondition it?