bmwcompact

When I got my 16v earlier this year I checked the working of all the sensors. When I found the potentiometer on the butterfly spindle I assumed it was a throttle position sensor (TPS) and couldn't understand why the output as the throttle opened didnt rise or fall in a progressive manner. I posted on here and the outcome was that all was well. For some reason VW decided that a potentiometer at £120 was better than 2 switches, one to say the throttle is opening, and one to say the throttle is wide open. Modern cars generally have a TPS, the 16v Corrado doesnt-I assume its cos the ECU on the Corrado is crude in comparison with modern ones.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]67921[/ATTACH]What you have circled is a temp sensor associated with the operation of the radiator fan after switch off. The throttle body switch is underneath the throttle body on the end of the butterfly valve spindle. This photo shows the throttle switch whose function is to indicate when the throttle opens and when it is fully open. It is not, I repeat not, a throttle position sensor as fitted to many modern cars!

Advert on Ebay for G60 with above title £3250-looks good!!

I'm a little puzzled. 358 721 388 should be the right part for my car, 94 16v, but this is the wrong part-its not what I have. Is this the correct part no for the part shown???

I may be wrong but I believe the VW originals will be made by Lemforder/Lemfoerder (theres an umlaut over the o!). I attempted to find these on the internet. The only UK supplier appears to be MrAuto. When I ordered these, they sent me Febi instead and said they had no Lemforder and didnt know when they would be in stock again. (they are still listing them on their site but have none). There are some European sites listing Lemforder but I dont know whether they will send to the UK. Normally I reckon Febi to be one of the better suppliers. There are posts on here suggesting their rear axle bushes are not as good as the originals. I would choose them over other aftermarket bushes if you dont want to pay for originals. Originals are about £90 a pair, Febi about £20 a pair.

Personally, though its great occassionally to get a bargain on Ebay cos no one else bids its also very frustrating to wait a week and be sniped at the last second. I like the forum- the price is set and its first come. If it doesnt sell the price is lowered. Its more civilised, less hassle, more certainty, more like mates dealing with mates. It feels like we are helping each other keep our cars on the road rather than trying to make money out of the lack of supply for Corrado parts.

Hi James, Its a good story!! Its beaten only by a friend of mine. He was staying in a Hotel on a work related visit. One morning after a particularly large bowel movement, he found he had a blocked loo. He found several chemical cleaners in the bathroom and liberally applied them to the toilet bowl. There followed an explosion which destroyed the bowl and redecorated the room. Id like to say that my friend found himself coated in a smelly brown substance but alas that wasnt what happened. The story however still causes me to laugh out loud. All I can say is that I am glad on this occasion you weren't instructing Oscar on the finer points of gardening. All the best Alan M

Quote from the review: '....it can feel jiggly and lumpy around town. The suspension doesn't cope too well with broken surfaces, less so with potholes, which it thumps over with little dignity.' That my experience of the Corrado. I'm pretty sure that my springs are original. With 15" wheels, the expresion involving 'tractor', often used of standard suspension, seems to apply!!

Its interesting to read this original review for a 1.8 16v KR. I had a Mk2 8V Golf GTI for 10yrs and loved the car. I always fancied a Corrado and its only recently that I was able to buy a 2L 16v 9A. To be honest I am disappointed with the ride. The ride was firm in the Golf but good. After replacing shockers, bump stops, top mounts, wishbones etc, even ditching 17 wheels in favour of 15 Westwoods, the ride in the Corrado is not what I would have expected. This article basically agrees with my experience-its not happy with potholes. Its true the car has some getup and go, it flies 4000-6000 rpm. It corners flat and precisely so it lives up to its billing as being a great handling fwd car. My 1990 BMW 318ti compact sport with 16 wheels (also 16v 140bhp but rwd) cant compare with performance especially at the top end, but the ride is so much better. It corners well and absorbs the potholes (87K and all original suspension) and is a joy to drive here in the Lake District (my daily drive). In case you are wondering, the Corrado has standard Sachs/Boge shockers on the front and Bilstein B4s on the rear. Ive read many threads on suspension and wonder what the ride is like for all these cars with coilovers/stiffened and shortened struts/larger wheels? Are there some Corrados out there that not only handle well but with a good ride quality?

I doubt theres a problem with the calipers if they are so recent and I would hope that when they were fitted someone checked the guide pins. Yes you put Copperease on the back of the pads, but its on the parts of pad, carrier and caliper that slide together that its most important. If you simply jack up the wheel and spin it, you will find whether theres a problem. Theres often a little noise /friction (its front wheel drive) but there should be no substantial resistance to rotation. If you were losing brake fluid, your resevior would show it and the pads would have been soaked in fluid I say again, if the car is pulling to one side, I would suspect a bj not a binding brake.

Do you mean car pulls to the left as you are driving or when braking?? Does the disc get hot simply by driving rather than braking cos the brake is partially seized? I think if the car pulls to one side its more likely that you have a worn ball joint somewhere (which alignment wont correct). If a brake was binding the effect would be noticeable on braking in that the defective brake would be less effective. In this case the car would pull to the side with the good brake. Brake overhaul: If you are uncertain about the brake the following may help! The photo in the previous post is a guide pin! The 'nuts' as descibed here are part of the guide pins. In order to remove or reinstall the calipers it is necessary to hold these stationary whilst the bolts attaching caliper to pins are losened/tightened. There is no adjustment/alignment here or anywhere-the brake is so to speak self adjusting. If you took off the caliper and removed the pads, then you must have held them tight otherwise you couldnt have removed the bolts and caliper. If on reinstallation you didnt hold the pins tight then you wont have secured the caliper properly and they will work loose!!! (how could you torque them as per the instruction if the 'nut' was turning???) Any binding of the brake would be caused either by the pads not being free to slide on the caliper or carrier, or if one or both of the guide pins was tight/seized. ( I am discounting the piston being seized). I am assuming that you cleaned up the caliper and carrier and used a copper based grease like Copperease on the parts in contact on reassembly. Did you ensure that the 2 guide pins slid freely (the fact that they turn doesnt mean they are free to slide). If not they should be cleaned up and greased (not with Copperease). Its a white grease that doesnt damage the rubber boots. The guide pins are like a piston in a cylinder with a rubber concertina boot to keep out the dirt. If the boots get torn dirt/water can enter and the pins can no longer slide. You should detach the pins from the carrier to clean them. VAG supply a kit for each caliper at the exhorbitant price of about £12-it contains 2 rubber boots, 2 new bolts to attach the caliper and a sachet of the aforementioned grease for the guide pins. If you are not sure about anything, especially something as important as brakes, its always a good idea to find a mate who is competent to do it with you the first time, then you are certain youve done it correctly.

Rear dust shield for my 16v, bought from VW dealer in Feb this year cost £16.04 plus VAT. part no 191615612B - may be different for other models!!!

Just to clarify: Eurocarparts dont quote manufacturers part nos, the part no listed above is Eurocarparts no. The picture on their website looks like the correct part. The Meyle site does not show a pump for the VR6-maybe its no longer made by them??? The 2 parts you quote from the Meyle site are clearly listed for other Corrado models not for the VR6 (also picture is wrong for VR6 pump). Vagcat ( a good source of all VW info) suggests part is obsolete from VAG but may be old stock somewhere.

To name but one source: Eurocarparts, Meyle oil pump part no 323440400 @ £133.20 inc vat and delivery. If you order today and quote code LASTCHANCE30 (offer ends today) you should get 30% off this price. Dont know whether this is a good brand or price-its just a starting point for replies. Dont have a V6 so cant help otherwise; try googling 'corrado oil pump'. It should bring up some info/suppliers.

I think my first question would be : wheres the water gone?? Do you have a head gasket problem? Hopefully a few more people contribute some thoughts! If you post your problem in the engine forum it may be seen by more people.

Agree with everything you say. The bolt should be renewed. When I replaced my timing belt, I was unable to separate the alternator/waterpump pulley and the crankshaft toothed wheel in situ. I undid the bolt in order to dismantle, then managed to separate them. Obviously the bolt has to be removed to replace the seal. I am surprised no-one has come up with a locking tool using the principle I've outlined.

I thought this photo and a few words might give you all some ideas: this problem seeems to pop up from time to time. I have a 10" Black and Decker angle grinder and used one of its spanners and a G clamp to hold the crankshaft whilst tightening the bolt. I torqued it up in stages to get confidence that the spanner would hold OK. But if you dont have the B&D spanner, a similar approach would be to simply drill a couple of holes in 1 or 2 pieces of flat bar, use a couple of bolts to attach them to the splined wheel, and then to clamp the bar(s) to the bracket as shown here. I used this technique when I relaced my timing belt and then again to dismantle everything to change the crackshaft oil seal. Usual disclaimer: follow my ideas at your own risk!!! [ATTACH=CONFIG]62357[/ATTACH]

I recently bought a 16v with 135K on the clock. I immediately changed the timing belt partly because of its age (over 4 years) despite less than 20K miles and partly cos of some oil contamination. You dont mention your mileage-it turned out on mine that I had leaking oil seals. I eventually changed all 3, camshaft, intermediate shaft and crankshaft (they are all the same part). I mention this cos most people would think about replacing the tensioner, but the seals might also need attention. To change the timing belt its necessary to remove both the alternator/water pump belt and the power steering belt. What you may not realise is that to get to the thermostat you also have to remove the power steering pump. I thought my thermostat was duff cos the engine took a long time to warm up-is this why you think yours is defective? In fact the thermostat checked out fine, but since I had bought a new one and O ring, I changed it anyway. It still warms up slowly, finally reaching 90C. Why do you think you have air locks? I never changed the water pump as I have paperwork suggesting it may have been changed when a new heater matrix, head skim, head gasket etc was done at the time of the previous belt change. Thats also why I asked about the mileage -if its high I would certainly consider changing the pump. I dont think it would be difficult to do.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]62053[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]62057[/ATTACH] Its not clear what has gone wrong but I am assuming your boot is holed and needs replacement. It cant have become detached at the gearbox side though I suppose its possible the metal clip has come off the small end of the boot letting out the grease. Assuming the boot is split it will need to be replaced. The noise may mean the joint is damaged/worn too through ingress of dirt! I have a 16v not a VR6 so it might be slightly different for your car! In my experience its necessary to remove the whole driveshaft to replace any cv joint or boot. On the inboard end that requires a splined tool to remove the 6 cv joint bolts: these 6 bolts attach the inboard boot (the boot has an integral metal flange) and cv joint to the gearbox output shaft. At the wheel end you need a large socket to remove the wheel nut. On the drivers side (RH) theres more room but you may have to disconnect the antiroll bar link to remove the driveshaft. On the passenger side on my car it was necessary to disconnect the McPherson strut from the wheel hub in order to extract the shaft. Assuming you are replacing either the inner cvj or boot or both, then its necessary to remove the joint once the shaft is removed from the car. This simply gets knocked off the end of the shaft after the circlip is removed and the boot flange separated from the cvj, but be careful that the cv joint stays together and that you dont knock out all the balls. There is a dished washer too on the shaft. The boot can then be removed: its fastened to the shaft with a metal clip . Reassembly is the reverse procedure. Pull on new boot, dished washer, knock on the joint (again possibility of the balls dropping out) and fix the new circlip.(there may be a gasket between cvj and gearbox output shaft). Fill up with grease, pushing it into the joint. Then put drivshaft back on car, insert bolts etc etc. If you've disconnected the Mc Pherson strut you have probably changed the camber on that wheel. You can only retorque the driveshaft wheel nut once the car is back together and the weight on the wheel/car in gear. Its a job I've done on lots of vws over the years (I did all 4 cv joint on my Corrado 2 weeks ago). If you dont have the splined tool, its not possible. If you have no experience, patience, confidence, I'd not recommend you attempt the job. If you decide to do it, think whether you simply replace a boot or also replace the cvj whilst you are at it. Parts are available from VW (not cheap cvj £100 plus, boot alone may be £15/20) -I bought mine from Ebay (cvj with boot £20/50) but then my car is a toy (3K miles per year) so I cant justify the cost of new VW parts!!! Photos show inner cvj and boot: inner in pieces-dont let the balls fall out. Haynes manual always says if you take one apart, balls must go back in same place!!

I have used this outfit for all my Febi parts: wishbones, topmounts, engine mounts, bumpstops, timing belt, rocker cover gasket etc. As above identify the part on the linked Febi site, put the Febi part no into their site and its all priced up with vat and delivery added. Delivery was also quick on each occasion and the prices were better than others selling Febi parts. I definitely recommend them.

Glad to hear you are sorted! Its good to have the full story and the recommendation of a service well done.

Glad to hear all is sorted. I have been reading your tale of horror-its enough to stop a guy picking up a spanner/screwdriver! Since my last post Ive lifted the drivers door with a washer in the top hinge and fitted 2 new door lock pins. The car doesnt rattle as much now over potholes. Ive sorted out my aerial so now have radio. My camshaft oil seal replacement didnt fix my oil leak so all was dismantled once more and crankshaft and intermediate shaft oil seals were replaced-it looks like this has sorted the problem. All in all I'm getting there-the car is now a flying machine since I replaced the timing belt and at last I can understand why the Corrado has such a following. I have a hairline crack in my exhaust manifold. Ive found a replacement and have all the gaskets and copperised nuts to do the job. I intend using a dremel type tool to remove the nuts (if necessary) and avoid broken studs: I dont want to have to remove the head to extract broken studs!!! Good to see the V6 is also progressing well.

There were several people selling these on Ebay when I looked the other day. I went for the temporary fix with a U shaped washer on the top bolt as suggested by many on this forum. No-one mentioned that if you are not careful this can result in the door front edge between the hinges catching the front wing and removing paint!! In my case the shim was less than 2mm. I finally ended up with a 1mm shim. eg Ebay seller Chubnutt9999 selling genuine VW pair pins @ £6-99 plus £2 postage

[ATTACH=CONFIG]59457[/ATTACH] Sorry to be a pain: not sure that what I have is standard! Couldnt pm cos I couldnt seem to add an attachment. This is what I have now. A banjo fitting to the base. At the other end of 2m of cable this cylindrical fitting screwed to the end of the coax cable from the radio. Is this standard or aftermarket? I was told the base contained a pcb- mine has a spring. I expected a tail on the base with normal male/female coax connectors. So are you able to tell me if your base is the same as this. If it is whats the price inc postage-is the gasket still OK or about to disintegrate?

Do you still have the aerial base and gasket?