dr_mat

Maidenhead-ish.. Just don't see them around any more. The roads are chock full of silver German company cars around here. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

Mine has been churning up and down the M4 daily for the past month. Haven't seen a single other Corrado in 1200 miles.. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

If only a "small puff of smoke on startup" was the biggest issue on my Corrado repair list. I might choose to live with that until something serious happens!

Well, I was right, it was the hose, but snapped the union off the crack pipe whilst trying to remove it so had to swap that too.. which of course resulted in part of the thermostat housing cracking, so... A few new parts, some G13, and she's back ..

It's also noticeable that five degrees of extra coldness one morning will make the car sound completely different that day compared to the previous. I have noticed over the years that with the thinner oils you get less of that characteristic 90s VW cold start whine and more clatter instead. Which one protects the engine more I have no clue on, frankly, but the difference in sound is there. I suspect there's a lot of VRs with noisy oil pump drive that never gets resolved myself. Most of the rest of mine was replaced and yet there's still a strong clatter from the rear of the block.

In all honesty I don't think this noise will ever go away no matter what you do..

Yeah maybe you're right, I always have to look this up.. :)

Indeed, and 10w60 is very thin (once warm) for an old engine. Most people use fully synthetic 10w40s or thereabouts.

I would actually say choose an oil for its ability to protect the bottom end bearings on cold start, not its ability to stay in the tappets overnight. I would say a slightly thinner oil protects the engine sooner.

I've had a few sets of new tappets and they all, well, tap. The only consistent thing I've found is that if the oil is well up to temperature when you turn the engine off they are more likely to rain overnight and be noisy in the morning. If the oil was still fairly thick when the engine stopped it'll probably be quieter the next day.

Yes I think I remember reading the master cylinder is obsoleted by VW. Which is a major safety issue, frankly. There are third party parts available however. I like the idea of having them professionally refurbed though.

"inside pliers" might do it? You might be able to use some circlip pliers too.

Subtle, like it. Can't stand the bling on a lot of in-car gear.

Indeed, the original has lasted at least 21 years. I think it's fair to say it's adequate for the job on a normal car.

Hmm, I thought we could edit the thread title. Has that been turned off?

Absolutely. Just rather unwilling to have a go on my driveway. I think I know what's blown, now trick is to get replacements and get it in there. Days like this I really really wish I had a spare car...

Yeah just checked again and it's pretty clear the top end of the pipe is dry so it seems likely the thermostat housing and the joint to the pipe is not at fault. The plastics feel pretty solid in fact, not brittled. Seems likely it's the coolant hose that connects the oil cooler into the block that's leaking, at the block end. This sits directly above the oil filter housing and there's a clear drip right there in the photos. Pain to get to though.

It could be. Looking at it some more today and I can't see much, but if I top up the water level then water comes out steadily somewhere, and makes its way onto the oil filter housing, then drips off the bottom of this. This points to the oil cooler hoses, but tbh it could still be coming out of the plastic pipe or the junction further up and running down the pipe. Anyone else seen these symptoms? I'm thinking to get a set of spares together, AVS are looking into some parts of the thermostat housing which seem to be out of stock for me, and I'll get a pair of oil cooler hoses. Anyone ever seen the oil cooler itself rust through? Access is really, really bad in there isn't it .. How much was the set of gear from VW, Rado87?

Aggh, would rather not get the front end off..! Though to be fair, there's not that many components so how hard can it be .. ? Is there a write up on this in the Wiki? I doubt I'll be doing it myself, however. Yes, I was looking at AVS. I have no idea whatsoever how to buy a thermostat housing though.. AVS have no less than three different assemblies and sets of bolts to go with them. And how come the thermostat for a VR6 is twenty quid?! :)

Agree, it's very hard to tell... I couldn't remember if there were any outlets in the bottom of the crack pipe (um, surely this isn't the official name for it..). It fizzles out when the coolant system starts to pressurise. Was piddle out something chronic when it went the first time as the system was well up to temperature. And anyone know where is the best place to get these parts from? I have a full set of spare hoses in the shed (at least I think it's a full set..), but will need to buy new other items.

So the Corrado decided life was too good for the last little while and dumped all that nice new coolant on the ground for me today. Gee thanks.. Anyone prepared to hazard a guess as to which component has failed based on the following pics:

There's a company that can do a proper refurb on these units if you need it done, but generally yes they can fail. Foot to the floor issues generally points to the master cylinder..But you have already replaced it.. Yes the abs unit needs bleeding through, any decent mechanic will know how to get this right. The long and short answer is scan the ECU. It will tell you exactly which components are faulty in a few moments at no cost to yourself. Pick up an OBDeleven dongle, Google it. Good price and can confirm it works on late model VR6s just fine (with OBD2 port).

I wound up buying a used subframe in the end. Everyone I spoke to was doing the sucking of lips thing when I suggested they attempt to break off the bloody seized wishbone bolts.. Had to be done though, the car was bloody lethal under heavy braking on ruts or uneven roads in general... Plenty of brown trouser moments till those got sorted out. Of course,it kept passing the MOT...

I never went that way. Maybe I'm too old, maybe I just think I don't drive a track car, on a track. OE all the way for me.

Had these fitted a couple of years back. Hard to compare against original vr6 bushes because the originals were massively old and worn out, but the r32 bushes are great. Nice and precise.