VR6_Pete

Thanks for all the messages every1. It is a real waste of a great car. :cry: Comments on the rear passenger space - it may look bad, but I think any rear passengers would have been fine too. The boot was the main crumple zone. I picked up the TVR yesterday and it great! I can't stop smiling! The looks, the noise and the whole experience of driving one of these cars is superb. I feel very lucky (especially when I also have a CBR and a single seater!). :D :D :D Cheers, Pete

Hi all, Sadly my Corrado was taken away from me in the second week of April after I was rear-ended on the M25 by 2.3 tonnes of Mercedes ML55 AMG. The car is a write-off but it did very well to keep me safe after a large impact with just a bruised hip and whiplash. Every panel was damaged apart from the drivers door. Even the drivers seat was bent and buckled after I had been flung sideways into the central reservation and then on into the car that was infront of me. I estimate the impact speed was about 50mph, with me aproaching a standstill and him doing ~60-70 mph. The chaos of the insurance paperwork etc. is slowly clearing up and I eventually got a decent settlement figure of £4500 for my 1995 100k VR6. Still haven't heard whether the other driver will be prosecuted yet. I have not replaced the Corrado yet, but it is looking to be a TVR Chimaera 4.0 Thanks to everyone on this forum over the last two years for all of the helpful information posted here. Amazingly since I have had my accident I have seen more C's on the road than ever - I've almost seen one a day, which I never used to see when I had mine! Cheers, Pete.

Thanks 4 replys. Car's been fine since last thursday now - which may be down to the weather OR the problem dissapearing. Time will tell. I had a poke around under the bonnet and checked the HT lead connections etc. but not done anything much further yet. I will do though because something obviously isn't quite how it should be, and like roger said: Cheers, Pete.

Thanks for all the responses guys, Car drove without missing a beat on the way back from work this evening (16 miles), although the ABS warning light stayed on for the whole journey-some thing which also happened for the first time a couple of days ago, but is also intermittant-switched off engine when I got home and restarted and ABS was happy again! I doubt it, but is it possible that the ABS and ignition problem are related? Is the ABS system controlled by the ECU or is it separate? I will have a proper poke around the engine bay at the weekend and check connectors, HT leads etc. But i'm guessing that it is a moisture related problem, as it seems to affect the car only when it is cold+damp in the morning and before it is warmed up. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning after a good run this evening! Roger - I replaced plugs with Bosch FLR8LDCU type-the only type listed in bosch catalogue. I read your thread on your HT leads and I will be checking mine if the problem persists. Although is it more likely to be a connection rather than a dead lead seeing as it's an intermittant problem and seems to be temperature/moisture sensitive? Also, do coil packs usually fail catastrophically or can they fail such that only one or more cylinders is affected? Cheers, Pete. p.s - Why is it that cars run fine for ages and then everything goes wrong in a short space of time!? Murphy's Law?

Last year I was driving down a lane on a wet day and was forced to drive through a pothole filled with water causing lots of water to be splashed up through the n/s/f wheel arch. Car immediately started running rough and not on all cylinders... stopped at side of road, switched off and popped bonnet to see what had happened. engine bay was soaked, even the sound deadening on the underside of the bonnet was dripping! Anyway - started her up again and she ran fine, and did ever since... until... last weekend. The same thing happened but at first start-up after car had been sitting (in the rain) for two days. Despite several attempts at switching off and restarting the problem did not go away. It would switch between running smoothly and cutting to not all 6 cylinders. From my previous experience I hoped that after a few minutes of running the engine bay temperatures would sort out any moisture that had got into the electrics. Exactly this happened but it took ~10 mins to clear. The engine would run rougher when you tried to accelerate, but would run fine if you kept the revs steady. I believe this is a tell-tell trait of an electrical problem? Since last weekend, the problem has reoccured intermittantly, just occasionally missing a beat, so something is still not quite right. The car's just had its 100k service and had the plugs changed. Has anyone else experienced such symptoms? Are there any tests I can do other than replacing the HT leads / Coil pack?? Cheers, Pete. p.s - sorry about the lengthy description this has turned into!

Hi, Has any one had any experience (good or bad) of Kuhmo KU31 tyres, in standard 205/50/15 form? Needing some new rubber for my C, and my first two choices appear to be unavailable – Goodyear Eagle F1’s and Bridgestone RE720’s. I’ve had the Kuhmo’s recommended to me and they’re reasonably cheap, so was wondering if anyone had any experiences of them? I’m running Goodyear NCT5’s at the moment, and haven’t had anything else to compare them to on the car, but I’m hoping that a more performance-orientated tyre will put a bigger grin on my face! Cheers, Pete.

Hi Guys, I've just changed discs and pads all round with Greenstuff pads. So far I've been pleased, I think the initial bite and feel is better than the VAG ones previously on the car, and feel like there is more power to be had. It feels like the tyres will always let go before the brakes fade or anything. A bit dissapointed after reading this thread, maybe i'll try the pagids next time! The amount of brake dust seems greater than my last pads too! Interesting what someone said about the EBC turbo groove discs - my mate put them on his 325 beemer, and yes they stink and run really hot, with no improvement over the BMW OEM setup. Cheers, Pete.

Hi Dennis, Thank you very much for your words of wisdom and very useful info. I thought I would have to take the housing assembly off. Thank you also for your very useful tips on how not to break things! It sounds like you may have learnt the hard way!? I don't suppose you have the torque settings for those allen bolts, in case i cant find them? I guess they don't need to be very tight. Are you suggesting that buying a new thermostat housing would be a good idea? sounds expensive, can you give me an indication of how much this would cost? GBP or Canadian dollars... Does anyone over here make a pattern of the part? Many thanks, Pete.

Thanks for the link VR6, but its a bit different on the VR6 engine... Any info from anyone who's done the job on a VR6? I am just interested to know whether the job can be done withour removing the thermostat housing block... Cheers, Pete.

Hi all, Can somebody please recommend the best way to change the thermostat on a VR6... Is it best to remove the entire thermostat housing? It looks like this is necessary to get reasonable access to the underside of the unit to get to the thermostat. Can it be done with the housing left in place? Was going to change mine this afternoon, but didn't realise how tricky it was going to be until I tried to find the damn thing! I also need to get my self some of those special pliers to undo the 'spring-style' jubilee clips. Also what's the general consensus on using the VAG G12+ coolent additive or just using ‘normal’ antifreeze? I went with the G12+, just wondering if its worth the extra bucks? Couldn't find any real info on what's in it, other than anti-corrosion formula... Cheers, Pete.

Looks like a new stat is probably the way to go then, maybe after a bit more testing with my head under the bonnet.... Cheers lads :thumbleft: Pete.

Hummm - My fueling and fuel economy must be suffering then :( So it likely only to be the sender or the stat that's the problem? I can't think what else would cause these low water temps.... Cheers, Pete.

Hi Kevhaywire, Must be a different pete with the Golf VR6, mine's defininately a Corrado! :D You say if the stat was stuck open (i.e radiator circuit+block circuit) the heater would produce hot air sooner? I've never played with heater matrix's before or even taken note of their position in the plumbing route, but I assumed they were out of the radiator circuit, cause otherwise your in-car heating would be all over the place? Cheers, Pete.

Hi Henny, Thanks for the reply. I thought the thermostat might be the problem originally, but the heater produces hot air within a few minutes of starting, so I guessed the stat was working right, cause otherwise it would take ages right? So why the hot air temp does not match the water temp? It is a water powered heater matrix isn't it? Cheers, Pete.

Hi, Over these last few cold months I have been aware of my water temperature gauge reading very low readings. It seems than unless I am stuck in stationary traffic the water temp needle will stay in the solid white region at the bottom of the gauge (indicating cold The oil temp seems to take an age to get to 80 degC (which I understand is the 'normal' running temp). For instance, I note that it usually takes 7-10mins for the oil temp to get to 50 degC (first number to appear after dashed display on MFA), and then up to 30mins to get to 80 (even at 80MPH on dual carrigeway). I would have thought that the VR6 engine should heat up quicker than this as it is compact in design. It seems as if the water temp sensor could be in the radiator circuit from the readings I am seeing!?!? I would appreciate any comments you have on this? Is there something wrong with my VR6, or is this normal at this time of year? Cheers, Pete.