Volkswagen Corrado G60
Discussion
Spinakerr said:
Excellent! And you now know exactly how to get it back in place, 30 minutes tops, right?
At the absolute maximum...
After a long chat with JMR, I’ve been convinced to do what I should have done in the first place when fitting the oil cooler, and remove the factory one and bypass the cooling system as well.
I’m not sure if I’m going to do that this time around, I’ll see what the weather looks like and how much space I’ve got to take the front bumper off with the car parked where it is. That might be a job for next year....
@bolidemichael, I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take, but JMR were very good as keeping me informed, he had 5 chargers to rebuild in a week including mine, but he’s not inexperienced in doing them! It might be the sort of job I could do myself, but there are some things that are best left to the specialists....
Managed to play a spot of car Tetris and get the Corrado into the back yard under the car port so I could work on it. That does leave the Morris across the street under a cover which isn't ideal, but this will only take half an hour....right.....? Best get started then....
Before putting the charger back in though, after discussions with JMR, he advised removing the OE Oil 'cooler' and I got the bypass kit to do so. It will make the job take a little longer, but it seems like good advice for the overall health of the oil.
So out with this (and my coffee gasket - still not leaking btw):
and in with this:
Took a little jiggling and some bodging to avoid having to drain the entire cooling system, but we got there with minimal loss:
As you can see from the above though, this leaves you with a problem, you have a long externally threaded tube that used to allow the OE oil cooler and the aftermarket one to be fitted. This needs to be substantially shortened, which you can either do but cutting it down, or buying one to replace it. JMR were good enough to send me one, although it needed a little filing as it was flat at one end and wouldn't screw in in its original state:
As the whole affair is slightly shorter, you can't screw it in all of the way, so I took the precaution of making sure the whole affair doesn't unscrew when I first change the filter. I hope.
FIlter is a Wix 7370 (or Bosch equivalent) - same dimensions as the last one but with a welded nut on the end. Might make changing it a little easier given the location of the front subframe!
So having made access more difficult for myself, it's time to put the charger back in. It wan't too bad to manipulate back into place, and I've managed to get most of the holding bolts in place, although the belt isn't on (which will be tricky) and nothing is tightened up yet. However, by the time it started belting it down, it was back in place:
More work to do during the coming week, including priming the charger with oil and making sure the oil feed and drain are fully functioning.... Hopefully my lower back will have recovered by then!
Before putting the charger back in though, after discussions with JMR, he advised removing the OE Oil 'cooler' and I got the bypass kit to do so. It will make the job take a little longer, but it seems like good advice for the overall health of the oil.
So out with this (and my coffee gasket - still not leaking btw):
and in with this:
Took a little jiggling and some bodging to avoid having to drain the entire cooling system, but we got there with minimal loss:
As you can see from the above though, this leaves you with a problem, you have a long externally threaded tube that used to allow the OE oil cooler and the aftermarket one to be fitted. This needs to be substantially shortened, which you can either do but cutting it down, or buying one to replace it. JMR were good enough to send me one, although it needed a little filing as it was flat at one end and wouldn't screw in in its original state:
As the whole affair is slightly shorter, you can't screw it in all of the way, so I took the precaution of making sure the whole affair doesn't unscrew when I first change the filter. I hope.
FIlter is a Wix 7370 (or Bosch equivalent) - same dimensions as the last one but with a welded nut on the end. Might make changing it a little easier given the location of the front subframe!
So having made access more difficult for myself, it's time to put the charger back in. It wan't too bad to manipulate back into place, and I've managed to get most of the holding bolts in place, although the belt isn't on (which will be tricky) and nothing is tightened up yet. However, by the time it started belting it down, it was back in place:
More work to do during the coming week, including priming the charger with oil and making sure the oil feed and drain are fully functioning.... Hopefully my lower back will have recovered by then!
Exciting stuff. Did you get John to do a straight rebuild with just new seals or has your charger met with his die grinder and received the full port/polish plus trimming the fins back on the outlet from 6 to 3?
I want to get mine done to full blend spec as Jabba used to call it. Im also tempted to take mine to John as I understand he offers a longer warranty if he refits the charger.
What is the run in period going to be? will you be taking it easy on the charger for a few miles and going to a rolling road to confirm everything is running sweet?
I want to get mine done to full blend spec as Jabba used to call it. Im also tempted to take mine to John as I understand he offers a longer warranty if he refits the charger.
What is the run in period going to be? will you be taking it easy on the charger for a few miles and going to a rolling road to confirm everything is running sweet?
@aka_kerrly - yes, I'm glad it's coming back together slowly. Although in my haste over the weekend, I missed putting the spacer plate in on the right hand side of the charger so spent last night putting that (almost interference fit) piece back in!
John had a fettle of the internals last time he rebuilt it (about 5 1/2 years ago) so it's been gently breathed on already. That being the case, he did a straight rebuild with new seals this time round. The rebuild comes with a 6 month or limited mileage warranty, and he's been very good about talking through the oil priming procedure to make sure it's properly lubricated. I've been very happy with the service so far and I would recommend him, although I have heard good things about OCD as well (mostly from the Corrado Forum). When are you planning on getting yours done? Any other mods you're considering?
I'm planning on taking it relatively easy to start with just while I make sure that it's all bedded in OK, although I wasn't planning a rolling road session. I've had a pretty good feeling for how it's pulled in the past, which while absolutely not a scientific method, will do to start with. If there's ever a local rolling road club meet/PH meet though, I'd go along to see hat the output is (just out of curiosity). I have toyed with the idea of smaller pulley and a remap, but I rather like it (mostly) standard to be honest. I count the oil cooler as a necessity rather than an upgrade though.
I'm hoping to get another hour or so on it tonight so make a little more progress.
John had a fettle of the internals last time he rebuilt it (about 5 1/2 years ago) so it's been gently breathed on already. That being the case, he did a straight rebuild with new seals this time round. The rebuild comes with a 6 month or limited mileage warranty, and he's been very good about talking through the oil priming procedure to make sure it's properly lubricated. I've been very happy with the service so far and I would recommend him, although I have heard good things about OCD as well (mostly from the Corrado Forum). When are you planning on getting yours done? Any other mods you're considering?
I'm planning on taking it relatively easy to start with just while I make sure that it's all bedded in OK, although I wasn't planning a rolling road session. I've had a pretty good feeling for how it's pulled in the past, which while absolutely not a scientific method, will do to start with. If there's ever a local rolling road club meet/PH meet though, I'd go along to see hat the output is (just out of curiosity). I have toyed with the idea of smaller pulley and a remap, but I rather like it (mostly) standard to be honest. I count the oil cooler as a necessity rather than an upgrade though.
I'm hoping to get another hour or so on it tonight so make a little more progress.
Well, that took longer than expected....
I managed to get the charger bolted back up ok, realised I'd got cocky as I got into the swing of things and left out the spacer plate at the right hand end. There followed half an hour of gentle persuasion and removing some of the powder coat finish at the end of the charger....
Having got it back in though and all bolts and belts in the right place (glad I drew a diagram of the serpentine arrangement around the tensioners) it was time to follow JMR's instructions about checking for oil feed and return. With the connections for the banjo bolts loosened and the coil lead removed from the distributor, I could chrank it over to check.
There was oil, just in the wrong place. It was leaking out from between the feed from the block and the mocal sandwich plate.
Blast.
Difficult to see exactly where it was coming from, as that part of the engine bay was now quite full. However, back off with the now full oil filter, nip up the 1" nut holding the sandwich plate on, put the filter back on, prime it.... and it's still leaking. Repeat, but this time taking the sandwich plate off again and checking the gasket and interface. All clean, still rubbery, no real issue there then.
Reassemble, prime.... nope. Still weeping.
To anyone else having to do this, the key part is making sure the thermostatic part of the mocal plate doesn't touch a protrusion from the block oil feed. If it does, it will tighten up beautifully, compressing the gasket and leaving an impression in it, so that by inspection, there's nothing wrong with it.
In reality however, it will not quite be flush and will leak....
This took me some time to discover, but was overcome by rotating the oil feed pipes to the cooler by about 5 degrees. Access is not the easiest as the front subframe is in the way (and the radiator, charger, fan housing etc.)
However, I managed to get it all back together, running with no leaks, and took it for a test drive. All seems good so far in the 6 gentle miles, fingers crossed....
It's nice to have it back in service again, although the cover it was sat under has blistered some of the paintwork on the bonnet which is annoying. It's desperately in need of a wash and polish, the exhaust hangars haven't fixed themselves, the needles still flicker... but hellfire, it's nice to have it back again!
I managed to get the charger bolted back up ok, realised I'd got cocky as I got into the swing of things and left out the spacer plate at the right hand end. There followed half an hour of gentle persuasion and removing some of the powder coat finish at the end of the charger....
Having got it back in though and all bolts and belts in the right place (glad I drew a diagram of the serpentine arrangement around the tensioners) it was time to follow JMR's instructions about checking for oil feed and return. With the connections for the banjo bolts loosened and the coil lead removed from the distributor, I could chrank it over to check.
There was oil, just in the wrong place. It was leaking out from between the feed from the block and the mocal sandwich plate.
Blast.
Difficult to see exactly where it was coming from, as that part of the engine bay was now quite full. However, back off with the now full oil filter, nip up the 1" nut holding the sandwich plate on, put the filter back on, prime it.... and it's still leaking. Repeat, but this time taking the sandwich plate off again and checking the gasket and interface. All clean, still rubbery, no real issue there then.
Reassemble, prime.... nope. Still weeping.
To anyone else having to do this, the key part is making sure the thermostatic part of the mocal plate doesn't touch a protrusion from the block oil feed. If it does, it will tighten up beautifully, compressing the gasket and leaving an impression in it, so that by inspection, there's nothing wrong with it.
In reality however, it will not quite be flush and will leak....
This took me some time to discover, but was overcome by rotating the oil feed pipes to the cooler by about 5 degrees. Access is not the easiest as the front subframe is in the way (and the radiator, charger, fan housing etc.)
However, I managed to get it all back together, running with no leaks, and took it for a test drive. All seems good so far in the 6 gentle miles, fingers crossed....
It's nice to have it back in service again, although the cover it was sat under has blistered some of the paintwork on the bonnet which is annoying. It's desperately in need of a wash and polish, the exhaust hangars haven't fixed themselves, the needles still flicker... but hellfire, it's nice to have it back again!
"No leaks" yes I did say that in my last post didn't I.... foolish boy.
Top of the charger covered in oil, along with other bits. A little more investigation shows that it's the oil return line back to the sump that is the culprit. It leaks onto the belt which flings it over that side of the engine bay.
I'll have a braided line for it shortly (which I should have done in the first place).
Top of the charger covered in oil, along with other bits. A little more investigation shows that it's the oil return line back to the sump that is the culprit. It leaks onto the belt which flings it over that side of the engine bay.
I'll have a braided line for it shortly (which I should have done in the first place).
@okenemem thanks! There were various points last week when I felt like crushing it/setting fire to it so it's nice to have a compliment! 
The oil return line.... should have done it in the first place.... Not only true for the purpose of completeness, but also for the utter, nightmare that putting it in afterwards was!
If any G60 owners are looking to replace their oil return line from the charger back to the sump, do it with the charger out. No? Didn't do that? Well let me enlighten you as to the least painful way to do it with the charger in situ.
This is the view of where the oil line is:
Yup.
So, O/S headlight out, grill out. So far so standard. If your oil cooler is mounted in the same place as mine next to the radiator, unbolt it so you can move it about for access. You may also need to move one of the horns.
From the underside, take off the oil filter (trust me, you will waste hours trying to do it with the filter still there), and also remove the supercharger bracer to the engine block (13mm at the charger, 17mm at the block).
(When you put that back later when you're rushing, you can have the joy of thinking you've cross theaded the 13mm bolt if you're lucky...)
Then, you can lie on your back trying to get a 14mm spanner up from the underside between the front subframe and the cooling pipes!
If you've been watching All Creatures Great And Small, you can go 'full Herriot' with a deep 14mm socket, sinking your right arm deep into the headlight aperture but this will only get the double male stud into the block. You'll still need to get underneath to get the actual oil line on. The crow's feet spanner attachments along with a flexible extension will get you part of the way, but won't be enough to nip it up properly.
Still, once that's on and the return line is connected to the charger, you can play about with reassembly in your own time, wondering how there now seems to be even less access. Careful with the cross-threading (it wasn't fortunately).
Having done all that, in my case the rain held off, so I took the opportunity to finally do the exhaust hangers for the front of the back box. The Powerflex ones were unfortunately just completely wrong and left it hanging too low. Where it goes over the rear beam, it was rubbing and vibrating terribly. Some large screwdrivers for leverage and a jack for support and success! New polyurethane bushes in:
Unfortunately, I need another one to replace the Powerflex one right at the back. This is melting and dribbling over the exhaust. I'm not impressed.
All done, time for a shakedown! All thoughts of fire and crushing swiftly banished round the C roads outside of York. It pulls very well with a rebuilt charger, the way it handles around twisty bits is sublime and most importantly, the exhaust isn't banging! Maybe I have negative memories of my old VR6 from that track day, maybe the suspension fitted to it needed refreshing, however, it NEVER handled as well as this does (it also didn't spin the tyres in 2nd....)
However, when I stopped to fill up with petrol... there's still a bloody oil leak! Dammit!
It's much reduced, but the top hose into the Mocal cooler is clearly dripping. Glad I have the day off tomorrow as there's more work to be done...
The oil return line.... should have done it in the first place.... Not only true for the purpose of completeness, but also for the utter, nightmare that putting it in afterwards was!
If any G60 owners are looking to replace their oil return line from the charger back to the sump, do it with the charger out. No? Didn't do that? Well let me enlighten you as to the least painful way to do it with the charger in situ.
This is the view of where the oil line is:
Yup.
So, O/S headlight out, grill out. So far so standard. If your oil cooler is mounted in the same place as mine next to the radiator, unbolt it so you can move it about for access. You may also need to move one of the horns.
From the underside, take off the oil filter (trust me, you will waste hours trying to do it with the filter still there), and also remove the supercharger bracer to the engine block (13mm at the charger, 17mm at the block).
(When you put that back later when you're rushing, you can have the joy of thinking you've cross theaded the 13mm bolt if you're lucky...)
Then, you can lie on your back trying to get a 14mm spanner up from the underside between the front subframe and the cooling pipes!
If you've been watching All Creatures Great And Small, you can go 'full Herriot' with a deep 14mm socket, sinking your right arm deep into the headlight aperture but this will only get the double male stud into the block. You'll still need to get underneath to get the actual oil line on. The crow's feet spanner attachments along with a flexible extension will get you part of the way, but won't be enough to nip it up properly.
Still, once that's on and the return line is connected to the charger, you can play about with reassembly in your own time, wondering how there now seems to be even less access. Careful with the cross-threading (it wasn't fortunately).
Having done all that, in my case the rain held off, so I took the opportunity to finally do the exhaust hangers for the front of the back box. The Powerflex ones were unfortunately just completely wrong and left it hanging too low. Where it goes over the rear beam, it was rubbing and vibrating terribly. Some large screwdrivers for leverage and a jack for support and success! New polyurethane bushes in:
Unfortunately, I need another one to replace the Powerflex one right at the back. This is melting and dribbling over the exhaust. I'm not impressed.
All done, time for a shakedown! All thoughts of fire and crushing swiftly banished round the C roads outside of York. It pulls very well with a rebuilt charger, the way it handles around twisty bits is sublime and most importantly, the exhaust isn't banging! Maybe I have negative memories of my old VR6 from that track day, maybe the suspension fitted to it needed refreshing, however, it NEVER handled as well as this does (it also didn't spin the tyres in 2nd....)
However, when I stopped to fill up with petrol... there's still a bloody oil leak! Dammit!
It's much reduced, but the top hose into the Mocal cooler is clearly dripping. Glad I have the day off tomorrow as there's more work to be done...
Needed to use the Corrado yesterday, so despite the morning rain, it s told to (hopefully) fix the oil leak.
I'm getting good at taking out the headlight and grill for access...
In what must be a first, the access was pretty good to the top hose union, and I could get a 24mm spanner on it to undo it.
I cleaned up the thread, loosened the sticky nut, applied some ptfe tape to the threads and put it all back together (moving the position of the hoses slightly so they were less tangled).
40 miles later..? No leaks. Hurrah! Never been so pleased to have a dry engine bay.
The drive up the A1(M) in the heavy rain really did make me appreciate that the wipers need improving though.....
I'm getting good at taking out the headlight and grill for access...
In what must be a first, the access was pretty good to the top hose union, and I could get a 24mm spanner on it to undo it.
I cleaned up the thread, loosened the sticky nut, applied some ptfe tape to the threads and put it all back together (moving the position of the hoses slightly so they were less tangled).
40 miles later..? No leaks. Hurrah! Never been so pleased to have a dry engine bay.
The drive up the A1(M) in the heavy rain really did make me appreciate that the wipers need improving though.....
mercedeslimos said:
I think Lupo GTI ones are the go-to for the aero type IIRC
Yes, I remember that being discovered....unfortunately, so do the VW dealers and other sellers and that modification now falls into the Yorkshire warcry category of 'ow much!?'I've got some Denso hybrid wipers on order, and will dremel down the stops a little more if I need to.
The Denso wipers turned up last week, nice and easy to fit... but they're worse than the OE spec as the centre doesn't touch the screen in standard guise. Not entirely unexpected, so some modification required!
Wiper off and a couple more mm taken off the stops, so the spring now pulls the arm closer onto the screen... I hope.
Modified vs. Unmodified :
The real test will be travelling at any speed, as the wipers can lift slightly.
I also took the chance to replace the final powerflex exhaust hanger that was holding the backbox up. This will hopefully draw a line under what was a failed experiment. Lesson learned, sometimes, the cheap hangers that are the right dimension, are better than the official (expensive) ones.
The state of this!
Hopefully this one will last a little longer....
Need the car for work on Thursday and Friday, so if its raining and bumpy, we'll find out how successful the mods are
Wiper off and a couple more mm taken off the stops, so the spring now pulls the arm closer onto the screen... I hope.
Modified vs. Unmodified :
The real test will be travelling at any speed, as the wipers can lift slightly.
I also took the chance to replace the final powerflex exhaust hanger that was holding the backbox up. This will hopefully draw a line under what was a failed experiment. Lesson learned, sometimes, the cheap hangers that are the right dimension, are better than the official (expensive) ones.
The state of this!
Hopefully this one will last a little longer....
Need the car for work on Thursday and Friday, so if its raining and bumpy, we'll find out how successful the mods are
The good news? I was unexpectedly called to site on Wednesday (uncontrolled gravel barge...) and the wiper and exhaust hanger modifications work a treat. Maybe a couple of mm more to take off the driver's side arm, but I can see in the rain above 50mph again!
The bad news, I didn't even make the ring road yesterday while trying to get to site. Filmic levels of grey smoke from the exhaust and a misfire. There's oil dripping out of the exhaust too. Not good.
I have clearly learned nothing in my years of Corrado ownership. You fix something...something else breaks to balance it.
I managed to limp it home, no warning lights or overheating but at times it looked like the car was on fire the smoke was that thick. Apologies to anyone on that side of York yesterday.
I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it's going to be cheap.... I'll investigate at the weekend, starting with a compression test and inspection of plugs, oil and water levels, as I suspect head gasket failure.
If not that, it could be that the charger seals have failed, pushing more oil into the combustion chamber, but given the recent refurb, that's unlikely.
Not feeling the Corrado love at the moment.
The bad news, I didn't even make the ring road yesterday while trying to get to site. Filmic levels of grey smoke from the exhaust and a misfire. There's oil dripping out of the exhaust too. Not good.
I have clearly learned nothing in my years of Corrado ownership. You fix something...something else breaks to balance it.
I managed to limp it home, no warning lights or overheating but at times it looked like the car was on fire the smoke was that thick. Apologies to anyone on that side of York yesterday.
I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it's going to be cheap.... I'll investigate at the weekend, starting with a compression test and inspection of plugs, oil and water levels, as I suspect head gasket failure.
If not that, it could be that the charger seals have failed, pushing more oil into the combustion chamber, but given the recent refurb, that's unlikely.
Not feeling the Corrado love at the moment.
A nice afternoon, pefect for investigating what has gone wrong under the bonnet (after retrieving the AX for a return to service).
I decided to start with what I thought could be worst case - HGF.
A good start was that the header tank was still full with water up to the maximum mark. Not such good news on the oil level though...
Nothing on the dipstick at all, good job I got it home when I did.... Looks like the cloud was all oil smoke then. Time to take the plugs out then.
All of them were black with oil, but thinking about it, that's either going to be good, or very, very bad....
Let's see if its bad, time for a compression test.
Pretty good I'd say for a 28 year old block. The rest of the numbers were similar too, 175, 170 and 185, so that rules out HGF.
Good news on that front, but there's still oil getting into the combustion chambers (all of them), time to keep digging....
Yup, oil in the pipework between the intercooler and the intake manifold.
...and a LOT of it coming out of the charger.
Well we have the culprit, but I'm not sure of the cause. My theory is that either the oil return line is blocked allowing the charger to fill with oil, or something went amiss with the refurbishment and the seals aren't sealing.
I'll check the oil return line first, then if it's not that, I'll give JMR a call.
I hope the catalytic converter isn't completely destroyed, but I'm not holding out much hope!
I decided to start with what I thought could be worst case - HGF.
A good start was that the header tank was still full with water up to the maximum mark. Not such good news on the oil level though...
Nothing on the dipstick at all, good job I got it home when I did.... Looks like the cloud was all oil smoke then. Time to take the plugs out then.
All of them were black with oil, but thinking about it, that's either going to be good, or very, very bad....
Let's see if its bad, time for a compression test.
Pretty good I'd say for a 28 year old block. The rest of the numbers were similar too, 175, 170 and 185, so that rules out HGF.
Good news on that front, but there's still oil getting into the combustion chambers (all of them), time to keep digging....
Yup, oil in the pipework between the intercooler and the intake manifold.
...and a LOT of it coming out of the charger.
Well we have the culprit, but I'm not sure of the cause. My theory is that either the oil return line is blocked allowing the charger to fill with oil, or something went amiss with the refurbishment and the seals aren't sealing.
I'll check the oil return line first, then if it's not that, I'll give JMR a call.
I hope the catalytic converter isn't completely destroyed, but I'm not holding out much hope!
I've spoken with JMR and they think that the oil return line is unlikely to be the culprit and that I'll end up sending them the charger back again.
I'll investigate further at the weekend, but the prospect of removing the charger again doesn't fill me with joy...
As to the cat, I can get away without one, but I'd prefer to leave it fitted if possible.
Still, one thing at a time!
I'll investigate further at the weekend, but the prospect of removing the charger again doesn't fill me with joy...
As to the cat, I can get away without one, but I'd prefer to leave it fitted if possible.
Still, one thing at a time!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff