G60rob

Can anyone tell me the Pagid part number for MkIV rear pads? Are they T5075 (53 x 87 x 17.2 mm)? Would T5022 (53 x 87 x 15.2 mm) be OK, assuming the caliper piston would take up the missing 2 mm? I ask because I have a spare set of T5022 for the original Corrado rear calipers.

Different times. The oil warning has only happened twice, the speedo reading goes haywire quite often.

I take it you're referring to the speed sensor on the gearbox? I was going to try replacing that but then this oil warning came back and I started to wonder if there was a common electrical fault. It's still on the original clutch, it's only done 125 000 miles. It's intermittent so hard to know if it's phone interference. I'll have to drive without my mobile switched on and see if it still does it.

The speedometer occasionally goes bonkers and indicates all sorts of ridiculous speeds. I assumed this might be the sensor as it seems to be a common fault. But a couple of times the oil warning light and buzzer have come on briefly. It first happened two years ago, then again today. Is this more likely to be an instrument panel fault, or sensor faults? (Or, knowing the Corrado, both!)

There is a Corrado in the picture, honest (as well as a Mont Blanc). Just a bog standard G60, much used and enjoyed, and occasionally cused at.

I see your point, I'll try to trace it. But it's been working for over ten years with whatever wire they used so it can't be too bad? I just wish I could figure out why that red/black wire hasn't been re-connected. Does it normally go direct from the ignition switch to the solenoid, or does it go via another connection where the new wire from the ignition switch could be linked in? Maybe I'll try asking the electrician that removed the immobiliser, but I can't see him being very forthcoming. He wasn't keen to communicate, it seems to be a local trait.

I spoke too soon - it's at it again! I had to be recovered to home a couple of weeks ago, and after a good rummage in the wiring the AA man reckoned it was a loose earth to the immobiliser which was easily fixed. All was OK for a while, then it stopped whilst idling on the drive. At this point I'm embarrassed to admit my previous posts in this thread might have missed out crucial details that I didn't notice were important. Like the fact that when it died this time everything went off: no instrument panel lights, no horn, no indicators, nothing. All the messing about before with relays and so on would have been a waste of time if it was the same fault back then :oops: So it looked at least possible that it was the immobiliser (Clifford Virtual Key), but as I couldn't figure out what wire did what I got a mobile electrician to disconnect it. It seems to be OK now, but we've been here before, so watch this space! Incidentally, can someone enlighten me as to what the thick red/black wire to the ignition switch is for? It was cut off when the immobiliser was installed and one of the black (they're all black) Clifford wires was spliced into the switch. I expected it to be re-connected when the immobiliser was taken off, but the electrician had just taped it up.

I already have! That was the first thing I tried. So now I have a spare.

Replacing the Digifant/ECU control relay 32, now 30, seems to have cured it.

Thanks. 457D was also used on Mk3 Golf ABF engine, apparently. I'll try and pick up a second hand one sometime (stealer wants £354.90 :shock: ), but I don't think the ISV is my immediate problem. Any thoughts out there? I'm trying to put off replacing the distributor until I'm sure it's necessary. The next easiest and cheapest options seem to be BTS and ECU relay, if I'm just replacing parts more or less at random.

A bit more progress. Managed to cut away enough of the lambda plug to expose a stub of wire to solder onto, so that's fixed. Tried the engine again. Just as before, lumpy idle then sudden stop and wouldn't start again. I tried the heater fan and indicators, which worked, so does that mean the ignition switch is OK, or could it be supplying the ancillaries but not the ignition circuit? When I connected my timing strobe and turned the engine over there was no flash for several turns, then the engine fired and the strobe started flashing. So, the sudden cutting out and not starting is a lack of sparks, but where to look next? And is the lumpy idle related, or a separate fault? I wonder if it could be the Hall effect sensor in the distributor again - is there any way to test this?

I've just cleaned the ISV but no dirt came out. I lubricated it with WD40, refitted it, switched on the ignition, and I could feel it buzzing and ticking rhythmically. The engine started but idled a bit roughly then died suddenly as it warmed up. The ISV was no longer buzzing - should it switch off at a certain engine temperature like this? I got the engine started again and went back to wiggling wires and pipes, but it's impossible to know whether the engine falters because I'm wiggling a particular wire or whether it would have done it anyway. Certainly, when it stopped suddenly I wasn't touching anything. I thought I was onto something when I was checking the lambda connector, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately, wiggling has its downside, because the purple wire broke off the lambda multiplug :eek: just where it enters the plug so there's nothing for me to connect it back onto. :pale: Does anyone know how to get the contacts out of one of these multiplugs so I can solder it back on? Or can I get a new plug and reconnect all four wires? By the way, I don't know what this purple wire does, but losing it didn't affect the idling.

Update: just checked with the dealer and it's 037 906 457D. 457 E and F look the same but I presume they're not?

It's the ISV that's been on the car from new, part number 037 906 45?? (the rest has rubbed off). There's an 037 906 457D on ebay for a Mk3 16v Golf GTi ABF, or worldcarparts sell 037 906 457E and 037 906 457F. Any idea which of these it is, or are they all the same?

Well, this is turning into the usual Corrado can of worms. Several faults at once, I think. I replaced the fuel pump relay (was 80, now 167). Car started first time from cold, but as the engine warmed up and the idle speed came down to normal it started fluctuating then died suddenly. Started it again then I went under the bonnet and started wiggling connectors and so on, and when I moved the vacuum tube from the TB to ECU the idle went crazy, all over the place. Must be a leak in the pipe, which was looking perished and dry, so replaced it with the correct 3.5mm bore, 2mm wall, 100cm long tubing from the stealer. Obvious improvement, but still very lumpy idle. Pulled the ISV connector and sprayed contact cleaner into the plug, re-fitted it, no better. Noticed the black plastic end of the ISV with the electrical plug on it is slightly loose in the alloy body, and twisting it seems to affect the idle. I got some contact cleaner on the joint and it blew a bubble at me! I don't know how the ISV is constructed, but should this end be airtight? I'll put a bead of silicone sealant round and see if that helps, after I've taken the ISV off and squirted carb cleaner into it. Is that all there is to cleaning it, by the way, or is there some dismantling to do? I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling this idling problem is a separate issue from the sudden cutting out.

I've done ignition switches (and locks) before. Got it down to a fine art. The recovery guy was confident it would be the ignition switch, because it's a common fault on Golfs, he said. The auto electrician was confident it was the ECU relay, because it's a common fault on VWs, he said. (But then he worked on the fuel pump after run relay, assuming it was the ECU relay.) I thought at first it might be the Hall effect sensor again, because apparently that's a common fault, and that's what it was last time. If I replaced every Corrado component that's commonly faulty I think I'd end up with a new car. I'll try checking the fuel pump relay, and the ECU connector, thanks for the advice.

The previous cutting out problem was a faulty Hall-effect sensor, as I said at the time, and replacing the distributor cured it.

A few weeks ago my G60 would occasionally miss a beat then be OK for a day or more. Then it would die suddenly whilst driving. Sometimes it would start again easily, sometimes it would take a while. Then it might run for a few seconds, a few minutes, hours - just random. I had it recovered to an auto electrical specialist who claimed that what he called the "engine management relay" had some dry joints. After he re-soldered these the car was fine for a few weeks, then today it was back to its old tricks. I spoke to the guy who fixed it last time and he suggested I replace this relay, though he said a new one wouldn't be as good quality as the original. He said the relay he was talking about was a long one at the top of the fuse panel. It looks to me as if he means relay 90, which I thought was the fuel pump after-run relay. Would this have caused these symptoms, or was he barking up the wrong tree? I would have thought relay 32 (Digifant control relay) would be more likely. The one that's in is the original, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to renew it?

Good advice, both. I got the genuine article from VW and all is now OK. Thanks. :salute:

One of the front ABS sensors went open circuit last week so I fitted a new one from GSF. Now the ABS operates just as the car is coming to a halt under normal braking. Anybody else had this? I can only assume the new sensor is faulty, as it never did this before. The resistance seems OK at about 1100 ohms, but the sensor tip doesn't seem to be quite as close to the ring as the original one was. The simplest thing would be to fit another, but I don't want to risk another from GSF if it's going to be just as bad. Are these known to be cheap and nasty? Perhaps I was lucky that the one I fitted to the other front wheel last year works OK. Maybe it's the same quality as their ignition switches, and therefore best avoided. I see ECP sell a Macht sensor for a similar price, so is possibly the same make, a Febi/Bilstein for nearly twice as much, and an ATE for a lot more. AVS sell Febi for about the GSF price. I don't know what the stealer price would be. Any recommendations?

It took me years to notice the wipers had a variable delay, in fact at first I thought it was just another Corrado intermittent electrical fault! And until today I didn't realize the delay is infinitely controllable, so thanks for the description vr6 phil.

Maybe somebody will find this useful. The C came back from the garage with black fingermarks all over the headlining round the sunroof (they'd had to take it out to respray it), and on the door cards and grey seats. I'm reluctant to use water on the headlining after seeing the tidemark left by a leak round the aerial, so I thought I'd try the dry spot cleaner that my wife uses for oily stains on carpets (seems I don't always wipe my feet carefully enough after I've been in the garage :roll: ) It worked a treat! The only drawback is it's very dusty, being a sort of talc block that you rub on and work in with a brush then hoover off. Also good on the carpets, of course. It's called Janie :shrug: Ours came from Lakeland, but they don't seem to sell it any more. Google came up with caraselledirect.com, so I'll be sending in an order for a block for the car.

Thanks for the offer, boost monkey. Could you PM me with an idea of cost? Were you thinking of sending both in case one is better than the other? I've let this topic lapse recently because I've been preoccupied with having a respray, and that's led to its own problems which are still to be sorted out. So I haven't got any further with pinning down the cause of the clonk. But if your spare UJ(s) aren't going to cost too much I might as well take up your offer in case it turns out I need one.

Sorry for the delay, I've been away. So it's still possible to get a new 36 spline UJ? BTW, I've been out for a fondle of the accessible bits of the steering column behind the footwell panel. The top UJ pinch bolt wasn't loose. I could imagine a bit of play in the top UJ or even the lower column bearing, but I'm not certain. One funny thing: the clonk isn't there when the engine isn't running. Something to do with different loading on the joints without PAS assistance, or a pointer to a PAS/rack fault? Could be coincidence, but this started after the radiator support member was replaced, which involved taking off and refitting PAS pipes.

Thanks, I think I've got it now - a bit slow on the uptake. :roll: Might have to change the rack input pinion from 36 to 22 spline - easy or not?