AngusL

Hi Jonny - I'm in Worksop and have a set of 288 mm calipers with the carriers to fit and pad spring retainers. I have done this upgrade and am still running it. I can't remember why but I ended up with two sets. They are rusty as hell having been cleaned up once but left bare in the garage for about a year - The seals were all good and I'm fairly certain a good cleanup and possibly a service kit and they will be usable again. They were off someone on here via ebay and are Golf MK3 no clue what year from but I don't think it matters. Believe me they made a big difference to my braking but I did upgrade to Stainless braided pipes too.

Let me know if you are still looking and you can collect tomorrow if you are in a hurry. £40.00 The rust is free.

Get the discs on ebay. Not too expensive but don't buy too cheap.

Cheers

Angus

Try unplugging your ecu plug and the large round multiple in the engine bay.

May sound silly but give them a light dose of wd40. This will potentially resolve an oxidised contact and keep them

Lightly oiled in future. I also changed a crank sensor and have had consistency ever since doing these.

Certainly not an exhaustive list but a very good place to start crank sensor approx 70.00 from ecp don't buy too cheap on this. Read up in here about crank sensor.

Good luck

Guys given the symptoms long cranking before starting and intermittent cutting out. I've been there and seen this and it was driving me crazy as I couldn't figure it out but stuck with the research in here. Don't do anything else start with the crank sensor first. It's an easy to change part... And the issue is common to all modernish cars.

Like I said I changed mine in Nov 2015 and I have never suffered a bad start or a cut out and I'm doing some serious mileage in my car. There is no maybe about this it was the fix I needed. Hope it gives you guys the same grin I got once it's fixed and my power and reliability came back..

As far as I am aware there is one crank sensor it's located as you look at the car from the front of the car just below the front engine mount on the right hand side of the lower engine block near the gearbox. It has a thick wire attached to it that clips apart. Really easy to change once you lift the front of the car up. Google its image. There is a wealth of info in here on it and the symptoms experienced when it goes.... And believe me hard starting especially when hot is one of the giveaways. You get no spark to the plugs and no fuel when cranking when this gives up but it becomes erratic as it fails.

There is also a camshaft sensor which is elsewhere and I have had no problem with that so not replaced it.

Interestingly I read that as this fails you loose 20 bop as the car uses the camshaft sensor as a fallback fail-safe mode. So when fixed power is restored and reliability takes a leap forward in terms of starting consistently. It worked for me for some months now.

Hi Guys,

I have just seen this and i have not seen any mention of the crank sensor. My car was getting harder and harder to start and was a bit inconsistent and odd infrequent cutting out at tickover. I'v had a split air inlet hose and seen the surging revs that that caused...Cleaned the ISV and MAF.. I did some reading in here and concluded that a dodgy crank sensor was a prime candidate. I bought a FIM brand fron ECP 79.99 fitted in minutes once the car was jacked up and the car has never missed a beat since... hot cold it starts first time every time. Hence I have not been on here for a while. I have had this issue since I bough the car a year ago but since I fixed this in Nov 2015 its been a fantastic runner. Note when you remove the old crank sensor there is a collar and seal on it that will probably stay in the hole. Make sure you get this out otherwise the new sensor will not seal and will leak oil. My cars running has been totally transformed

I am not shy to beat it with spanners and sockets as I do all the work myself and have tackled some interesting jobs already. But out of left field crazy stuff can still creep up on us.... I was driving last night and it starts missing at motorway speeds... Oh hell here we go but no a quick stop in a service Stn and a little bit of the magic juice wd40 into the ecu plug and the big multi plug and it's off smooth again. Never a dull moment in a Corrado. I now have a borascope so I will take a look into the chain guide to see if there is any wear. Based on the way the car drivers I am guessing it was done but don't know for sure and Mark yours having broken sounds drastic. That will definitely stop the wd40 and duck tape from getting me home the day that happens.

Guys - Guess what ...! I stand corrected and I have to let you know.....

The centering plastic ring for between the wheel spacer and the wheel.. was buried in the glove box (WTF) not on the wheel in question where I had left it! The garage refitted one side only?? I refitted the centering ring at the first opportunity and the car was back to smooth again without the vibes and harshness. That will teach me for jumping to conclusions. I can confirm now that the R32 bushes are great and do have a more positive feel to cornering.

To sum up ... It IS a lot better all round now :dance:

Matt - additionally fit a manual fan override switch inside the car. wire to sensor no 8 in the second image you showed. No relays needed as they are in the FCU already and it doesn't upset the existing wiring. I did this to mine and it has saved me a few times. To test this just switch on the ignition and bridge the two wires to sensor 8 and you will see the fan cuts in on full power - On demand cooling. It is a really easy back up fix.

Hi Corrado owners

I've been very busy doing things to my car in the last few weeks. One thing lead to another.. A bit lengthy but enjoy...

I do a lot of miles with my VR6 and it is a daily driver. Engine is as sweet as a fresh daisy at 143k ! However I started to get the common suspension clunk every now and then so decided to do something about it. Also noticed that when carrying back seat passengers the tyre would rub on the wheel arch on one side when going around corners.. Ok do something about that too - I have 17 inch wheels and big 25mm spacers all round. It looks great but suspension height was a worry so went for std height springs and a set of Bilstein gas shocks on the rear.

First task the rear suspension - Took it apart and sure enough the broad stopper washer item that sits on the top of the shock shaft was not present. So nothing to stop the wheel traveling right up the shaft and tyre rubbing. I don't know if this was just wear - it should have still been on there but wasn't. So faulty assembly down to the previous owner/s i'm afraid. Ok so fixed that and now the flippin thing is too high and doesn't sit right. OK I have a set of nice Koni coilovers that I got with the car.. in a box.... Missing all of the top nuts cups and fitting bits and pieces. The Konis have a larger diameter shaft so none of the original stuff can be swapped over. Typical... Bilsteins fitted and usable but ugly height. Fix that when I can get the koni fitting stuff sorted.

Now that clunk - I did the research and everything pointed to the mounting bushes. I bought a set of ARB drop links, Track rod ends, Ball joints and I decided on the R32 uprated wishbones and set about fitting the lot. It was quite apparent on removal that the rear flat mount had about a 5mm gap between the bolt and the rubber bush collar - No insert - off course its going to clunk after a bit of use !!!! Previous owner special job springs to mind.. Ok so the new R32 wishbones fitted very snugly so no further clunking. I couldn't get the passenger side lower ball joint into place as much as I tried no way. Spring compressors helping out - still no good then I noticed that the drive shaft seem way over extended.... Feeling the bottom of the outer rubber boot sure enough there were metal bits floating around in there. It was the rubber boot holding it together. J&R to the rescue again having done the drivers side a few months back.

I had to abandon the car for the week to wait for the driveshaft - which arrived in 2 days. £29 inc postage.... Fantastic price for a complete passenger side drive shaft and it went straight in after greasing up the inner which was provided too. I bought a new set of 12 spline correct bolts - the old ones came straight out except for 2 - I had to cut off the two hex head drive shaft bolts that just would not shift.... Previous owner - thanks again for making what should have been an easy swap of bits turn into a week long PITA.

Anyway - All new bits on and yes one of the ball joints had play in it so very good to replace it after all.

Now I had the car tracked up and new front tyres fitted - all good and the car does feel much better and no clicks up front at all.

I do a fair bit of motorway driving and immediately I think my wheels are out of balance as there is a bit of vibration or harshness in the steering wheel.... then as I drive more I come to the conclusion that because I watched the guys balance the wheels they are good... then I got that sinking feeling - New tyres - Uprated front wishbones... Yep the harder R32 bushes have made their presence felt straight away on a motorway. To you guys that park their cars in a garage most of the time but swear by uprated bushes... Please give an indication when you claim how good they are when fitted as to how far you drive and on what sort of roads.

If you drive your car daily and have any type of motorway driving then take it from me - steer well clear of uprated suspension bushes - VW knew what they were doing when they designed those voided std bushes. God only knows what I would have been feeling through the steering wheel if I had gone down the powerflex or other uprated bush route. Probably cursing everytime I drove the VR6.

I do have a powerflex front engine mount and that's made a great difference to the solid feel of the engine without it moving around during driving.

Anyway the car is back in business but after all that work Its marginally better in some respects but worse in others...

Still love to drive my VR6 and folks stop giving your cars away. To the people buying cheap... Its cheap for a reason get your spanners ready.

Guys I have a 1995 VR6 and it talks nicely to the vag com via a USB PC lead and gave me the definitive error code that said bps sensor failure. The info is in here somewhere as I am sure I posted some pics of the innards of the brake position sensor that gave me the same grief with ABS lights and non functioning ABS. You can take out the BPS and fix it yourself if you can wield a soldering iron. It's basically a no cost fix there are a few solder joints that break inside the BPS and break and that's it game over ABS. There is a circlip that's fiddly to remove. Hint use a phone and video the underneath then look at the footage to see how the clip sits in a thin Channel holding the bps in place. A thin screwdriver in the right place gets it off. If this is your problem it's easier to fix than you think. Mines been working happily for just under a year now. Good luck

Hi guys I'm only posting this to remind you all that crap creeps up on us...

I work on my car most weekends ths week was a replacement drivers seat and the audio ISO switch for the ignition live and permanent live from the battery. Read about the radio losing saved stations and sure enough mine was showing them the wrong way round with a volt meter check.

Anyway all jobs done come Monday the car won't start...cranking nothing doing... Then it started and was missing and backfiring. OK seen this one before. I drive to the petrol stn not far away feels like its going into limp home mode. No power at all. A quick unplug of the ecu and reseat of the ecu plug and it fires up first turn and it's back to its shouty self again. Good thing I have learned about this little fix.

These cars are made to test us.

Hi Chris, Good stuff on sorting this and sharing the info. My thoughts on the why the oil light didn't or wouldn't come on would be that the pump is still drawing oil so it's pressurized the oil pressure sensor is still getting a passable oil pressure to make it say all OK. The fact that there is a leak higher up in the engine just means that the leaky oil feed is not stopping the oil pressure switch from working so I can see how the oil light wouldn't come on in these circumstances.

Hi guys. I have been plagued by intermittent reversing lights. I have traced the problem to the connectors on the rear lights. I have cleaned them up however I find within a few miles they have given up again. I have been contemplating how to fix this without chopping the connectors off and recrimping new connectors on. How does this sound..... I am going to clean up the contact ends and rub a small bit of hot solder on the contact points like tinning copper wire. This will then allow a new contact area that is good and conductive. Will probably work on other connections as well...... I have found that most of the electrical issues on these cars are oxidized contacts so here's hoping.....

Guys that bolt is a PITA to get the right size - so far I have tried 3 different dealer supplied bolts and I have had to resort to Halfords and get a M12*80 bolt and cut the damned thing down to size. I have seen a parts diagram that refers to M12*58mm got the Halfords bolt cut it down to 58mm and it still wont wind in far enough...Got to cut a bit more off it to get it to fit - PITA. It does not show up on the front engine mount diagrams but it appears to be on the gearbox bolts diagram. Look for the diagram of the oil sump / flywheel shield and its on there.

I can see its a M12 but length is a bit of a mystery - its obviously less than the 58mm long threaded part suggested in the diagrams I have seen.

If mine were only so straightforward guys..? I had to buy a boroscope to look into the hole to see what was going on as I could not get any bolt far enough into the hole. Boroscope showed a broken bolt bit left in there.... After 4 weeks .... well 2 weeks headscratching and 2 weeks holiday not knowing how to get the broken bit out I gave up and gave it to a garage. Broken bolt confirmed in there. Gearbox off job. I managed to get a crank seal replaced whilst they were at it but at least the threads were good in the broken off part. All done now and threadlocked in. Just a lighter wallet! Car Motd and back in business with the new brake setup working a treat now.

Many thanks to Chris (Lilfuzzer) for getting some pics of original bolt so at least I had a starting point.

Hi Westie...Mansfield eh I'm in Worksop. I chose the grooved and drilled discs because they were a good price and quickly delivered from ebay seller mtec100 for 89.99. Nothing more. I could go into the bs about lighter discs and better air cooling through drilling but that really wasnt a concern. I have only done 300 miles in 2 trips so far but this upgrade is the best money I have spent on the car so far. Perhaps my original brakes were so bad that anything would have been better. Time will tell as to how they last.

Hey I forgot to mention I bought one of the Gunsons ezi bleed kits and its a git to get the fluid cap to stay on Straps help.. But if you increase the pressure too much using in my case a spare tyre then you can also blow the seals. I think the ABS has seals in it that can be damaged by too much bleeding pressure so take care with those pressure kits.

Sorry if I am overstating the obvious here.

Hey Fendervg - If the Master/slave cylinder seals leak same also for the clutch cylinders .. you probably wont see any leaks because its all enclosed inside the cylinder in question.

If this were the case though the brake/clutch pedal would continue to press to the floor as the fluid leaks past the offending piston seal.

Hey Dox... Exactly the wider contact patch providing a wider arc of disc material to grab hence more stopping power. Mechanical Advantage is in play here. Like old skool levers :-)

I have a similar setup but its just the USB to OBD interface and once it has auto detected it works fine. For the sake of a fiver get a generic lead from ebay and dump the serial adapter. More than likely your port config though.

Hey guys I have recently upgraded to a new set of generic ebay grooved and drilled 288mm ATE IIRC front discs with goodrich braided hoses all round Mk 3 golf refurbd calipers on the front and new mk4 calipers std discs on the rear and what a difference it makes. The car feels so much better for the upgrade already. Far more positive and smooth braking. It is really noticeable how much better the brakes are already. No long pedal travel either. You guys sure your Master cylinder seals are up to scratch or you still have air in there somewhere or dodgy brake fluid? My brakes wern't brilliant befor thanks to god knows how many years old std sized tarox thin and rusty disks. When VW had the car a while back they refused to drive it with the nasty old tarox disk. All sorted now though and they feel a hell of a lot better no question about it. I did the pressure bleed and have been very plesantly surprised at how good it turned out.

Fast approaching 3 weeks later and still not usable. All done new brakes are a million times better than std I took it for a gentle test drive. My problem is the front engine mount lower bracket bolt that fell out before the drive shaft popped due to the stresses. When I saw it the bracket hole was about 4 cm away from the hole that it should have lined up with. That Translates to a big swing at the top of the engine hence the drive shaft giving up.

Anyway that bolt I have bought 4 different sizes based on what has been suggested here and on vwvortex. I have come to the conclusion that I must have a broken bolt left in the hole because I am not really biting threads when I wind in the new bolts. Obviously I can't see into the hole to see what's going on. I have bought a stud extractor just in case but I don't know where to start. I measure approx 45mm into the hole before I hit metal. Anyone got any suggestions so all my waffling it's the VR6 front engine lower bracket bolt what size should it be?

I got it on ebay 49.99 free quick delivery. It's cheaper to buy the whole drive shaft than the bits individually.

I bought a new drive shaft. I got 2 packets of grease with the new drive shaft and packed it all into the bearing carriers in the cv joints.. eyuch....but it's in.. After fitting the shaft I thought two packs of grease.... Oh **** is one supposed to be in the outer cv joint?..... Email to seller no quick response so I took the big sealing ring off and yes it did have grease in it. What a relief but it was a bugger to get that sealing ring back on.... Bend the three locking tabs straight up and use a long nose pliers and you can line it all back up and snick it into place. Then bend the three tabs back over so it's all nice and tight. Fiddly to put back.

Who said CV grease yummy !

A week later and I got to work on the car on Sat - I finally figured out separate the shocker to get enough movement in the hub to be able to swing it out and get the drive shaft into place. Took some doing though. I managed to get the driveshaft in - bolted up with the use of about 6 1/2 inch extension pieces so that I could wind them in from the front wheel thats off. Thats done now so the new drive shaft is on and in place - plenty of grease on the splines to keep it moving freeley for a long time to come.

Got around to fitting a new oil sump too and filter. I dont like the thin paper type gasket but it seems to have sealed itself ok. and the bolts were torqued up - not too much to deform the sump and lead to leaks we will see.

Now for the good bit ! The new disc is on 288mm and the MK3 caliper/carriers all painted red

I even managed to separate the brake pipe union and put the braided hose on but warning - the braided hose inner connector is wider and does not fit the same way as the old pipe... It has still gone back into the bracket but the 10mm pipe connector from the ABS pipe has all but dissappeared I hope its tight enough not to leak in future.

Left it at that and was left looking like I had been bathing in CV grease ! Passenger side to go but thats only a brakes off an new pads/caliper/carrier and braided brake line to go back on so much easier. Then the brake bleeding fun starts !

Two weeks off the road and missing it like hell !