dr_mat

Sadly, that was the company line. And that was probably true from a dealer pov; people stopped taking Corrado to dealers before the timing chains needed to be done.. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Seems likely you may have a dodgy ignition switch or fuse or, as you comment on wiring, wiring issues. The abs is supposed to come on with the ignition. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Dodgy leads would absolutely cause those kinds of problems yes. A new set is about fifty quid from GSF. If that's the case seems likely a good service with new plugs, leads, filters, oil and so on would be a good idea.

Pointer number one is don't let a dealer touch it... Suggest it probably needs a good run is all, give it a couple of hundred miles and some fresh fuel and I imagine it'll run a lot better.

The protocol is obd1 but the later cars had an OBD2 socket..

The ECU will tell you if there is a fault, yes. That's always worth doing. Yours is a 93 with the OBD2 socket? A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

The ECU will likely have lost adaptation to your engine if it has lost power from the battery. Now usually, in my experience, this results in the car running smoother for a while as it will tend towards overfuelling until it adapts again but you may find issues if it's not had a clean power loss and re-apply so I would suggest doing the ECU reset process in a controlled way. That just means disconnect the battery fully for 30 seconds before reconnection. And of course you want the battery fully charged when you do this. Car power supply is very messy, the ECU should tolerate voltage drops as low as 8v during cranking, but if you have a flat that can't start the car at all it's possible this can cause issues for the ECU too. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

You need a great deal of patience! I might suggest fitting an electric one! Surely that's got to be a thing by now... I can't believe someone went to the trouble to remove a heater matrix and didn't fit a replacement, it's such a ball ache to get in there. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Errrrr. Yes, that wouldn't help...! A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

There's rumours the subframe can shift but it seems unlikely to me. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

CV joints? Wheel bearings? Wishbone joints? Do you also have steering unpredictability? Does the car weave on uneven roads when braking or accelerating? A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

In general the standard air box is one of the best for maintaining cool air intake and avoiding heat soak. It draws air from behind the bumper rather than inside the engine bay. That said, a big engine in a small engine bay tends to heat everything very quickly anyway, not much you can do about that and once all the ancillaries are steaming hot too there is no relief until you start doing some speed and forcing outside air through the system. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

I find it quite annoying that a part that's so safety critical is so hard to come by. Dear VW.... A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

The engine isn't though. It will always make less power in hotter air. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Did it happen in the last two days? If so, it's entirely down to 30 degree air. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Some collector will buy it stick it in a garage and wait for it to appreciate.. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

This is what dealers do, replace one at a time.. Snap the car up, get a matching set of leads and put a grand on the price! A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Cheaper than the mk2 golf GTi on the same site...! A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Could be a combo of things tbh. I wouldn't expect the voltage drop to cause engine judder unless you have a problem with weak spark in the first place. Have a good check of the leads, plugs and coil pack before assuming the alternator is at fault. (Though you can check the voltages pretty easily on that.) A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Yes, I don't doubt it. Check the linkages first, then the gear lever at the base for play. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Have a look around the forum for checking the gear selector linkages. This is the most likely problem. Failing that you may just have a badly worn 1st gear synchromesh. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

Bear in mind that if you unplug the MAF the car goes into "default" fuelling mode and the car will run differently .. the MAF may not be the fault. Get a used one to compare... A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

In my experience, any multi point fuel injected car that can't fire up cleanly inside a couple of cranks has a problem, so you do need to get to the bottom of the warm start issue. The rest, I would say, sounds pretty normal though.. Regarding rough idle.. most of these cars are lightly used. I would guarantee that if you do 20 miles a day at steady motorway speeds that rough idle will disappear in a week... and come back again after a few days of short journeys.. just how it is on old engines. You'd be looking at valve stem seal repairs and the like to resolve this permanently I would think. Regarding cold start revs. I would say this varies with the extremes of winter temperatures. It's been pretty cold of late... bear that in mind in what you consider is normal. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

I had a similar experience with the VR.. nothing wrong with the original clutch it was working fine but heavy. When it got replaced anyway with the timing chains it was much lighter. When the friction plates are worn it seems to require more effort to disengage (it has to physically move further, makes sense). I'm not aware of any significant differences between brands in this respect, they all aim to match the OE clamping force and torque capacity, apart from the aftermarket tuners who would generally aim to exceed oe torque rating and would likely be heavier. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.

There are people making decent aftermarket looms with genuine connectors on so they are plug and play, but I agree in general. It's unfortunate the standard loom leaves the lights so under powered. I bought a wiring loom kit about ten years ago and never fitted it due to concerns about reliability in the end. Think I'd be happy to sell it to you as it will have all the bits you need. I'll try to dig it out..! Re buying bits. There was never anything wrong with Maplin stock quality, but obviously they are closing down so best hurry. Otherwise there's CPC and the other Farnell brands. A Corrado is for life, not just for the MOT.