Is the VR6 a hard engine to work on?

[Alexander 0]

Hi all,

 

Mechanic chum of mine (that's his job, he's not a robot or anything) winced when I told him I was looking for a Corrado VR6 because he says the engine is so tight in the engine bay a lot of simple tasks are "engine out jobs". Would any VR owners agree with this or not? Basically, are labour costs higher for a VR than a G60 when it comes to under the bonnet, generally speaking?

[nemesis360 0]

There fine to work on,the only time ive had to take a vr6 out is to replace the whole engine, you can do the chains etc with it in the car, the only things that can be a pain is the oil cooler, oil filter housing on the front of the engine, they can be a bit of a squeeze to get to. But the chances of them needing work is minimal.

 

The G60 would be easier to work on but theres not much in it

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Utter bollards! :lol:

 

Loads of people who either don't understand the engine or can't be arsed to work on it say things like that, but nearly ALL marques will have rumours of "Ooooh that's an engine out job to change the spark plug mate". Ignore them and get the facts, so well done for coming here to get them! ;-)

 

The only engine out job is for a rebuild. Show me a motor that doesn't need to be removed for a rebuild!

 

The chains and clutch only need the gearbox dropping, which is the same as most modern FWD cars.

 

The VR is a peice of lego to work on, dead easy, and I really can't understand why some people are so scared of it!! it may be tight in the bay, but it all comes apart easier than a lot of other engines I've worked on.

[Jim 1]

It surprised me to see how small a unit it actually is once you get the intake manifold and that sort of stuff off and out of the way. The actual block and head are incredibly compact.. makes you realise just what VW achieved with the VR6!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

makes you realise just what VW achieved with the VR6!

 

What, a thirsty, gutless peice of junk?! :lol:

[Alexander 0]

Interesting, thanks guys. I know how these kind of "urban myths" can spread with little basis in fact!

 

I actually didn't know the camchains could be done from underneath, I'm sure I read that was an "engine out" job...

 

Thanks for all your patience - I'm really researching hard into the C, the various engines, possible problems etc, so I know exactly what I'm looking for when I go viewing. It's great that you guys are here because as we all know these cars are getting fairly old. That said, VW knew how to build them back then, my Mk2 Golf GTI is on 176k and still pulls like a train!

 

I'll tell my mate he's talking nonsense. :)

[Jay2 0]

If he thinks the VR6 is a tight engine bay what will he make of a G60! :shock:

[Alexander 0]

Really? The G60 looks like a roomier engine bay with that lickle 8v GTI engine in it!

[andy 0]

It is... :?

[dinkus 10]

There's not a lot of room around the VR6 in the engine bay, so it is a little harder to get to some of the coolant pipes and/or sensors to change them than it is on say my Mk3 2.0 8v (which was amazingly easy to work on).

 

The G60's are a bit tight around the charger area, but never had to do any work on one.

 

As everyone else has said tho - they're not too bad to work on as long as you don't mind losing the skin on your knuckles every now and then :lol:

 

However, a lot of big stuff is actually easier to change on Corrados than it is on other cars as you can take the front bumper off. That gives you access to the entire front of the engine and radiator etc without needing to take the whole engine out.