Mystic Rado

Replaced. Fixed. Happy 'rado :)

Well, just taken the coilpack out and it's a mess, the plastic has cracked big time on one side, so I'm pretty confident that's the problem. I'm guessing it's the original as well, branded Telefunken, so hopefully a new one'll sort it out.

I wouldn't have thought that'd be an issue. HIDs use less wattage and run cooler than halogens, so logically it shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers guys, I'll take the coilpack off tomorrow and see how it looks up close and personal then take it from there :)

Cheers, that's kind of what I was thinking. I've not had time to have a proper look yet - only just got back from London - in situ it looks fine, but it had completely taken out one pair of cylinders, no surging or intermittent running, just on four all the time. I think I'll replace it anyway, at least then I know it's right. Chances are it's the original, so it's getting on a bit.

I think my coilpack died the other night - driving down to London in the pissing rain, starts running consistently on four cylinders and sounding like a sick Scooby of all things, copious WD40 made no difference, ended up calling the AA and as it was nine at night, they couldn't do anything so ended up getting trailered back home. AA man said coilpack as well, which was my first thought. I did some digging on the net and quite a few people stateside have dried out their coilpack - oven, hairdryer - then covered the cracks in the plastic case that apparently cause the problems, with high temperature epoxy. Just wondering if anyone here's tried this and whether it worked. I guess it's viable if the only issue is the casing, but do the coilpacks also break down internally and die with age? :? Should I just bite the bullet and buy a new coilpack - where from, there's some cheapos on eBay with a three-year guarantee, anyone used one? - or is there mileage in replacing it? I don't really want to 'fix' the problem then get stranded again a few weeks or months down the line. I guess what I might do is buy a new coilpack anyway then see if I can repair the existing one too. That way if it does go, I can simply stick the new one in at the side of the road. Any thoughts?

Gotta be my '88 Mark 2 8-valve GiT which I've still got - TSR ported head, cams, 4-2-1 stainless branch manifold, Jetex, chip. Goes like stink in a grumbly, raucous sort of way, but rust has got into the sills, the bodywork's looking a bit shabby after 176,000 miles and the suspension - Eibach/Koni has seen better days. Still handles in a go-kart sort of way though. Wiring's never been the same since the alter-recti-regulator died a couple of years back and fried parts of it :( Plan next year is to find a sound Mark 2 chassis and stick the engine and associated gubbinses into that. It's not as fast, smooth or just as nice as the Storm, but still makes me smile. Hates my girlfriend though, she only has to get in it and something fails. I loaned it to her for six months and first time she drove it, she managed to kill the clutch and the starter motor in a single go. Impressive...

Volvo V70 T5 maybe. Very quick, massive load space, a bit hard on front tyres - there are ex-police ones floating around that have been serviced every 5K or so and priced very competitively. They tend to be white, but hey, you can't have everything :-)

Oh well, mine doesn't seem to work like that and the way Corrado headlight I have here is wired, it couldn't work like that. Weird eh :) I'll post a pic of the internal wiring from the headlight if I get the time. Like I said, the high beam filament from the H4 and the H3 are connected by the same feed from the headlight plug so they have to come on together. Not that it matters, I'm just surprised that it could work any other way.

Oh, and btw, on the subject of good bulbs, Osram has just brought out its new high power alternative to the Philips X-treme +80 bulbs. They're called Night Breaker and are available in loads of sizes including H4 and H3 which is what the standard C headlight uses and H7 for In-Pros. They're claimed to give 90 per-cent more light on the road and be 10 per-cent whiter than standard headlight bulbs. Stick some of them in with an uprated loom and you'd be sorted, I reckon :-)

Are you sure about that? I have a Mark 2 as well and it definitely has all four lights on on main beam and, if you think about it, the two-light grille must have a main beam on the H4s or it wouldn't have a main beam at all :? If you look at the wiring inside the Corrado headlight - which I am doing right now - the high beam wire comes off the plug and into the H4 connector and then is also connected from there to the H3 connector for the inner driving lamp. It's on the same circuit, so both the H3 and the H4 filament will come on simultaneously. It's different with Angel Eyes which have separate H7s for low and main but unless I'm going nuts, the standard headlights surely use both the H4's filaments? Sorry, I'm just a bit confused here :(

Er, if your H4s aren't coming on with high beam then there's something wrong. On low beam you just get the low beam filament from the H4s, on high beam you get both the H3 main beams and the high beam filament of the H4. So, you actually have four bulbs operating on main beam. If you're only getting the two inner H3s coming on then there's something wrong with your lighting, I think. Standard 'rado lights without an uprated loom are notoriously rubbish btw, as you've probably either worked out for yourself or will quite soon :?

Yep H7s should be right for the In-Pros. I'll be interested to see what sort of results you get using them, they should work better in the projector set-up the In-Pros have, rather than the standard headlight's reflectors :-)

Might be worth calling Awesome GTi and seeing if they can recommend someone?

You can get them and the battery from your friendly, local VWAG dealer. I can't remember how much, but it's not a lot, I don't think.

I don't think it's an LED at all, just a small, conventional bulb - or at least that's what mine turned out to be. Maybe you could get an HID upgrade ;-)

Bummer. The trouble is that a lot of people don't give a stuff about their or anyone else's car. My best mate and his family were up staying with us a month or two back and we parked next to each other in a public car park in the Peak District. Next thing I know, his wife's opened her door straight into mine, honest to god, she didn't even notice, apologise or realise she'd done anything at all. Fortunately we were in my ratty Mark 2, but if she'd done that the the 'rado I think I'd have lost it, best mate's wife or not :? I'm thinking about getting a full respray on my Corrado next year because the current paint job's a bit iffy, but the thought of getting it scratched by some git really puts me off. Fortunately the Golf gets used mostly day to day, but I hate the idea of getting the Corrado spot on then having some muppet dent or scratch it.

Yeah, I saw your post - I'm about to send my calipers and carriers off to Biggred, just as soon as I can find the time to wrap the things up and stick them in a box :-)

Yeah, I guess so, but not having access to a lathe and precision engineering skills, I don't really fancy my chances of doing it myself. And if you think car upgrade bits are expensive, you should try mountain bikes - you can easily pay the same amount for a single, weeny, rear shock unit for a bike as you would for a set of four coilovers for a car :( As far as there being a downside, well, I guess that there's more chance of seizure when you have a metal to metal interface, but not much beyond that. I guess you could ask whether there's not a good reason why VW designed sunroof mechs made of melted-down Kit Kat wrappers or headlight wiring that runs the current miles around the houses then straight through the headlight switch itself causing eventual failure. Sometimes it's just that it's cheaper or easier to manufacture things a certain way. I'm not an engineer though, just cynical or maybe realistic... I guess if there is a good reason to use rubber bits, I'll find out the hard way and let you know :?

Yep, I will be up for that... I'll combine the installation instructions with the build instructions & post it here. Cheers, Andy.[/quote:3s46tzxv] That's be good. Like said, let me know if there's anything I can do to help Cheers Jon

OK, my bits just turned up via Parcelforce. No duty to pay as they were declared as a 'gift' on the customes declaration. Seem very nicely machined and come with a little sachet of synthetic brake caliper grease.

Andy, I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but what I think would be brilliant, if you have the time to do it, would be an illustrated, detailed 'how to' on making your own loom following your design with links to suppliers for individual components and basic best practice construction advice. That way anyone who wants to make their own loom can have a crack at it with good basic instructions to follow and it should reduce some of the demand on you. Most of the info on the web relates to Golfs etc which use basic H4 connectors, so I think a 'how to' for the Corrado would fill a gap. As you know, it's more complicated because of the headlight plug arrangement. I'd do it myself, but I'm not really an electrical engineer and I wouldn't want to mislead anyone. But if you wanted to cooperate on it, I'm a journo and quite good at making other people's information accessible. Anyhow, the offer's there, if you're interested, drop me a PM some time :)

I've ordered a set of these to stick on while I'm upgrading to 288mm discs and calipers. They make theoretical sense, I think, and they're back in stock, or at least they were a couple of weeks back. If you drop them an e-mail, they'll give you a shipping price to the UK, plus you can pay by PayPal, which circumvents the vagaries of the online shop. Will report back once they arrive. Unfortunately because I don't know how the 288mm brakes feel as stock and I'm going to stick them on as one job, I won't have any idea if there's a detectable difference after fitting, sorry about that> I suppose I could do a before and after, but I really only want to have the calipers off once :-)

It might just be the battery - I had a similar problem, but the battery seemed to be holding charge, car just wouldn't start if it wasn't used for a day or so, I put it down to the alarm draining the battery and bought one of those solar panel charger things. Anyway, to cut a long story short, car started, got from Manchester way down to Newport Pagnell then refused to start after I'd filled the tank up. Called the AA cos i was worried it was a charging problem, he did some tests, said the alternator etc were fine, but the battery, although it was holding charge and giving a reasonable reading, simply didn't have the ooomph to turn the motor over. Apparently they can do that, it's something like being able to run slowly round a track for 1500 metres, but not being able to do a sprint start, or that's how I interpreted it anyway... Bought a new battery from Halfords once I got down to London, stuck it in and it's been spot on ever since, I leave the solar trickle charger on as it's used mostly at weekends. So, if the battery's oldish and particularly if it's discharged completely a few times, it might be the problem, even though it might seem to be okay. If, after checking, you can't find anything else amiss, a new battery might be the answer.

To be honest, given the level of demand, I'm not surprised you simply haven't had time to keep it going. I'd agree that what would be brilliant would be a really thorough, step by step, idiot-friendly, illustrated guide to making your own loom with suggested components and sources and some notes on the best practice when it comes to construction, tools needed etc. I made up my own loom with splashproof fuse holders, OE plugs, uprated wiring and all soldered and heat-shrunk joints, so I know it's quite feasible. Alternatively, if you know a company that might be able to make looms up on a commercial basis, maybe that's worth looking at. It might be more expensive, but I suspect a lot of people would be prepared to shell out a little more for a really well-made loom.