What a **** day with the car yesterday

[tonytiger 0]

Spent most of Saturday's daylight hours working on the vr, expecting to finally have it back on the road. Put all (well most) of the dash and instruments back following the heater matrix replacement, then drained and replaced the coolant.

 

While taking the rad bottom hose off I found there a few wires dangerously close to the rad fan, so I've had to cable tie them back out of the way. That's only happened since the car went in to the garage to have the engine replaced - so I was quite annoyed they'd left the wires like that, but only a minor issue.

 

But, I'd had the car jacked up to get to the rad hose clip from underneath, and shortly after letting it down again there was an almighty bang from the drivers side - it looks the spring has broken. I think it's the very top part of the spring - and it's now fallen half way down into view.

 

Just when I thought I might finally get out for a drive something else stops me.

 

Then it gets even worse. Having finished sorting the coolant out I'd closed the bonnet but then realised I'd not put the wiper mechanism back (which I'd had to remove to get to one of the dash fixings). Pulled the bonnet handle but couldn't open the bonnet. Tried again - still couldn't. Tried again - obviously a bit too hard - either the cable's snapped or it's come away from it's fixing to the handle. Too be honest I was so sick of the car by this time I couldn't even be bother to look to find out. The really annoying thing about this, is that the cable and handle were replaced by the garage just a couple of weeks ago as they claimed they'd not been able to open the bonnet and had to cut the cable. :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

I was absolutely fuming by this point - my blood pressure was probably so high I'm surprised I didn't explode!

 

However, later on something reminded me how lucky I am that it's only a car that's causing me any problems - something I can walk away from completely if I wanted to (though with a good deal less money than before).

 

So, I've got things in perspective again (though I'm still annoyed with the garage - we'll be having words) and I should just view that latest problems as a learning experience. :)

[Bojmobile 0]

Bad luck mate - but as they say - things can only get better!

[Pickard1 0]

There is a nut that clamps the bonnet release cable at the far end near the passenger side headlight. This is the only bit where the cable can work loose. It is fixed at the handle end. Unfortunately to check this you need to open the bonnet, which is a complete pain in the arsse- I found out the hard way :roll:

 

There is a thread somewhere detailing a couple of techniques for opening the bonnet. :D

[GIXXERUK 0]

take a look here

 

http://www.the-corrado.net/wiki/index.p ... ening_tips

 

i think there are three threads atm with peeps having bonnet opening probs

[tonytiger 0]

Thanks for the tips about the bonnet guys. I've had a look at the wiki but haven't had chance to look at the car again yet.

 

I also need to work out whether or not I'm capable of fixing the suspension myself. Think there'll be a question or two in the drivetrain forum soon...

[GIXXERUK 0]

tonytiger, if its just the spring then its a straight forward job mate

[tonytiger 0]

Perhaps it's straight forward for somebody who's competent with a spanner - but that doesn't really include me. That's not to say I won't have a go - but I might just make things worse. Still, there's only one way to find out...

[GIXXERUK 0]

tonytiger, Plenty of help available on here ;-)

[TomB 0]

tonytiger, as long as you've got some decent spring compressors, you'll be ok. Front spring & shock removal isn't too bad, although have a mate on hand for assistance. A Haynes manual for a Golf might not be a bad idea as well!

Cheers,

Tom

[tonytiger 0]

Haven't got any spring compressors - I'm assuming I can just get these off the shelf from Halfords or GSF. I've got a mk2 Golf manual (been running one since July while the rado been off the road) and I've had a look. Compared the instructions with those for an Ibiza - they look very similar but the instructions are different - one basically just says to remove the strut, the other talks about removing other things first, caliper, etc. Does sound basically straight forward though.

 

Started a new thread in drivetrain forum, as I've got quite a few questions (I'm easily confused).