Wullie

Wish I'd tried it before I posted but car's in getting the exhaust welded after losing a fight with a speed bump.

Has anyone ever tried this? Got it in an e-mail yonks ago and forgot about it till now. Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

Just heading off to do poetry readings at the local museum as part of Show Scotland weekend and hopefully sell some copies of my book. Don't hink that's as exiting as designing dams unless you get to blow them up.

I found one of these will loosen most things A nuclear weapon of the "Fat Man" type, the plutonium implosion type detonated over Nagasaki. 60 inches in diameter and 128 inches long, the weapon weighed about 10,000 pounds and had a yield approximating 21,000 tons of high explosives

The problem with the original wipers is not the blades but the arms. They just dont press the blade against the glass hard enough. See the thread references above

I was under the impression they were no longer available. I'll give them a call and see what they say, perhaps if I show my bus pass they'll give me a discount, worked when I got two tyres a while ago though not from VW.

You're giving me ideas mate! They might just notice though. Where can you get Sebring Centre caps from? Tried a search on here but no luck.

£100 on my pension? LOL. That'd be pushing things a bit futher than she who must be obeyed would allow, every time I fill it up it's a moan. Maybe have to pinch some like the *&%^$£)* who stole the centre caps off my Sebrings in Edinburgh last week.

I was given a tip a few years ago about a “surgical procedure” with the wipers that did the trick for mine. On the spindle side of the hinge on the wiper blade there are two sort of lobes on the top side that the outer hinge part (wiper blade side) sits on when it’s against the screen. If you have a close look at them they seem to bottom out as it were, preventing the blades from being pulled onto the screen any further by the spring. I took the blades off the car and cut these back using a Dremel, takng a couple of millimeters off each lobe. This allows the spring to pull the hinged part tighter against the screen and gives a much better wipe. It's a bit fiddly but worthwhile, just remember to paint over any scratches you make to prevent rust starting It radically improved the performance of the wipers on my 16v. I replaced the passenger side arm about a year ago and its poor performance was instantly noticeable. I must go and modify it this weekend, keep forgetting to do it.

Went down to the printers today to return some proofs. When I came out there were three young guys in a modded Nova with what looked like an oil drum for a tailpipe looking at the C. Got the usual how fast is it, what’s the 0 to 60 blah blah and asked to demonstrate the spoiler going up and down. Was just about to leave when one said to the others, “What’s that auld bas**ard doin wi a car like that, whit a waste of a motor.” Sad to say I spun the wheels out of the car park and onto the road. Don’t know if it was a chuftie or an insult.

Found the problem. The Diaphragm pressure valve bolted to the top rear of the airflow meter had moved and the wiring was coming into contact with the inner wing of the car and must have been shorting out at times. Don’t know enough about what this actually does to understand what was happening but since I moved it away and taped the wires up the snatching has disappeared and the car hasn’t cut out so far. Fingers etc crossed. Thanks for the suggestions and help guys, Did more to the car this weekend that I’ve done in the past year. Good thing is that most of the bits and pieces are working OK except the cold start valve. Is there an easy way to check this as I only have a test lamp.

Checked the rotor arm, It was OK but I dressed it gently with an oilstone while it was visible. Snatching problems still there, don't know about the cutting out as it didn't do it when I tested the car. Going out for a few real ales and consider this in more convivial surroundings.

The plastic housing on the side of the head is just a connector that goes to the heater. Mine cracked a few years ago. As veedubbed says, the thermostat is hidden below the water pump, trace the hoses back from the bottom of the radiator and you should find it.

Dizzy is a couple of years old and clean and dry inside, dizzy cap was changed in July/August along with the leads. Since joining the forum I broke my cardinal rule of "if it's working don't touch it" and cleaned out the throttle body and ISV. I've went over all the bits I touched but can't see anything obvious. I'll nip out and check how the rotor arm is, might have deteriorated since I last looked. Thanks

Help please. My 1990 1.8 16v has finally decided to throw a wobbly. Occasionally it will cut out when slowing down or stopping. Raising the clutch again with it still in gear will start it up again but it will repeat the performance every time you dip the clutch. If you switch off and restart again, I've done it with the car coasting, clutch dipped, it will idle nicely as if nothing were wrong. Then it will run for several days no problem then it will do the cutting out bit again, usually at the most awkward moment. In addition it has started to snatch on the overrun, especially in second and third. Feels like someone is tapping the throttle. I’ve checked for air leaks and the engine mounts are fine. Clutch was replaced about 18 months ago. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Try getting a gallon of paraffin , seal off one side of the manofold with duck tape or similar and fill it up with said paraffin. Let it sit a few minutes and then scrub out with the previously mentioned bottle brushes. Repeat if necessary from the other side then wash with hot water and detergent. If you feel up to it give it a good blast with a power washer to finish off. Old fashioned but effective. Wullie

Don't try using Caustic Soda. I destroyed a cast alloy exhaust from a Sunbeam motorcycle years ago trying to decoke it with the stuff. That was harder to replace than Corrado parts.

Got my kit this morning and had it fitted in no time. Having read some others have had problems with the screw in, pull out bit I made a cunning plan. What I did was to start the screw with a driver, then grip it with mole grips and push in and twist at the same time. Saves stabbing yourself with the screwdriver and it worked a treat. Terrible pun time, My Corrado's a-door-able again. Wullie

Had a close look, with my specs on. The grey one in the second pic 2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfIM000169.JPG[/attachment:30iqer3z] has a green T piece with a short leg to, Ithink its the overun cut off valve on the back of the air box. It then splits again at a Y shaped connector, the red bit in the picture with one leg going to the throttle body elbow and the other leg running behinf the heat shield at he back of the engine compartment where it meets with another T piece.IM000170.JPG[/attachment:30iqer3z] One leg connects to the metal covered hose that connects to the back of the upper inlet manifold, just visible at the bottom centre of the second pic. The other leg does a disappearing trick back along the bulkhead, I think to the multi function indicator according to the Golf and Jetta manual I have. Perhaps others could verify. It's now chucking it down so I've retreated indoors. Hope this helps.

Hmm, this pic didn't want to go on with the other one. It's at the rear of the airbox. I think I'm too old for this computy type thingy stuffIM000167.JPG[/attachment:384n59xm]

There is one connection, plain white, on the engine side of the airbox which goes to the front connection on the throttle body rubber elbow and one from a sensor just behind the airbox which appears to go to the rear connection on the elbow.IM000166.JPG[/attachment:oqxd5vfo]

Just a word of warning if you use caustic soda. It's nasty stuff and will clean the skin off your hands if you're not carfull. Rubber gloves and read the instructions type stuff