Project Domes shonky autos - Grand Cherokee departs, Kangoo titivation and 911 dug out.

[Split_Pin]

A bit of a roller-coaster update! Glad the MR2 is working well for you in the main though.

[dome]

Oh and not forgetting the Exploder.

It got some attention last month. Sump dropped again and the leaking instant gasket replaced with a real gasket. That'll teach me. Worryingly only 3 litres came out of the sump however when I chucked 5l in towards the 6l capacity it's now well above the maximum on the dipstick. Go figure...

It also had started to use a bit of water which I noticed on a routine fluids check luckily-the gauge had been fine and the heater worked well. After a bit of detective work I traced this to the thermostat area. The thermostat housings on these are a common failure and sure enough this one had a hairline crack in it. Fine with the engine off but a steady stream of fluid was visible with the engine running. 

Handily* I'd been in here before when doing the timing tensioner so it wasn't too bad to get off. I managed it without removing the inlet manifold which was tight but doable.

Here it is in place prior to removal

And the crack

 

A new one arrived from Rockauto fairly quickly.

I took the opportunity to replace the pain in the ass sprung clamps with jubilee clips and got it back together.

And how did it reward me? The LPG system has failed. A valve on the tank needs replaced. It's only £20 for the valve but it involves unscrewing it from the tank, releasing the gas. Fuck that!

So, if anyone wants a mildly shonky but endearing 4x4 with all the common issues fixed(but plenty more to fix)  then an advert will be going up shortly. My local LPG station has shut which isn't a big issue for the S4 as it does bigger distances. The Exploder which stays local is harder to justify.

Also our office is due to move and my commute will be getting longer. A diesel bike carrier will be happening soon most likely. Mk 2 V70s and Octavia Scouts are on the list. Broken, naturally...

 

[dome]

OK, so as you may have seen from the News 24 thread a new purchase has occurred.
 
The Exploder sold quickly to a Shiter who will announce himself in due course. 

I'd been looking for a suitable replacement for a daily-estate, diesel, cheap. Broken was optional. At the end of the market I dabble in everything needs work, hence I prefer to buy something I know is fucked. There's (usually) less disappointment that way...

V70s were on my radar as were Mk2 Skoda Octavia Scouts. I went to look at one local to me needing some work but it had had a hard life-possibly an ex paramedics car or the like. I'd spotted a suitable one but it was near Bishop Auckland. And broken. I stuck it in my watch list and fruitlessly pursued some local V70s that were either sold or too expensive. 

I was off last week and the good lady and I decided to go away for a couple of days. She found, all by herself, a nice little AirBnB not far from Bishop Auckland. Ooh, wait a minute... 

Back to my watch list and I found the advert. 2008 Octavia Scout with 140k and apparently a blown turbo. I googled the symptoms as described and it seemed they were correct. It also seemed that with the 4wd system the Scouts ran that it could be an arse of a job to change it-allegedly the transfer box needs dropping out to change the turbo. A viewing was arranged anyway...

My good lady allowed me to go and view it on the first morning of our day away so i turned up at a small shonky garage with a mass of 1990s Civics in various states of disrepair-they specialised in them but had taken on this Octavia when it arrived with a hole in the rocker cover and oil all over the engine bay. A new rocker cover was fitted abut then it wouldn't start. They did discover though that with the oil filler cap removed it would run.

They diagnosed a failed turbo, stuck it up on their ramp and had a look, then decided "Fuck that" and stuck it up for sale. 

Enter me, stage left.

The battery was flat but eventually we managed to jump start it (with the oil cap off) and here's what I was greeted with. 

The rest of the car wasn't too bad condition wise, although it stank of (cigarette) smoke inside. 

I expressed my interest depending on getting transport and left for a day at Beamish.
 

[dome]

I'd already had a quote running on Shiply but I found on here someone (Cavcraft?) recmmending a Facebook group for recovery drivers out of position and looking for paying jobs to get back to where they were going. I'd stuck up a post on there too and a chap contacted me with a quote much lower than everyone else. WCPGW?

Speaking to him he seemed to know what he was talking about and had an outfit rated to take the Octavia, not some 3.5 tonner dragging it's arse along the ground. A deal was agreed and I turned up again at the garage on the morning we were due to depart. The recovery guy turned up in an Autoshite worthy steed...

 

He was local and heading to Falkirk to pick up a classic Range Rover to take to Brighton for restoration. Perfect for me! He rates Disco IIs incidentally, buying them cheap, sticking 30k miles on them in a few months and then selling them/scrapping them when they've earned their keep. He also approved of the Explorer.

I left him to it and went back to pick up the good lady and the mutt so we could enjoy a wet day out in Kielder Forest on the way home. 

We got home and I had a dead Octavia deposited in the car park by my house. The Exploder was roped in to breathing some life into it to get it up my driveway.

And here it is, as of Thursday night. Awaiting its fate.

It was interesting driving it with the oil cap off and all of the exhaust gases coming out of the engine bay.

 

[dome]

First things first, I gave it a clean. It came up pretty well with a quick wash.

 

I then had a look at what I was up against under the bonnet.

 

 

This is the last generation of the old PD engine and my particular one is a 2.0 litre 8v with the inlet and exhaust on the same side, at the back of the engine.

Officially according to Skoda you do need to drop the subframe and transfer box to change the turbo but as it's right at the top of the engine I was confident* it could be done from the top. There was some more info for A3 quattros which are the same thing suggesting it was possible.

Let's see how far we can get shall we? I wasn't confident of getting very far at all as i didn't have a locking wheel key for it.

Intake pipework removed and here's a lovely throttle body. Don't you just love EGRs?

 

Some more pipework removed and I could see the beast. She's tight though...

 

[cort16]

You’re a glutton for punishment . Is the thought the turbo has jammed solid and the exhaust can’t exhaust ? That must be some blow by it’s doing through the oil filler cap .

[dome]

A tip from a mate was employed-the lower dog bone mount that holds the engine in was undone along with the drivers side one. With the engine supported by a jack I could use a ratchet strap to pull it forward allowing better access. 

Eventually, after a fair bit of swearing, this was achieved.

 

On splitting the turbo apart I was relieved to find the cause of the issue

The turbo shaft has broken, this meant that when the engine ran it was forced up against the outlet and blocked it, causing all the exhaust gases to go into the crankcase via the breather. A common thing on these engines apparently. 

Part of the housing had also broken, although this may have been when i split the housing apart. It's impossible to tell, although I was being careful, i promise!

The cost of this part meant that instead of buying a new core and rebuilding it myself it made more sense to order a recon turbo(£200 from an apparently reputable seller on ebay). More than I wanted to spend but it gets the job done.

The pics might make it look easy but it wasn't, especially as I'm new to this engine and was making it up as I go along. The next one will come out much quicker though... It was done over 3 days in between real life, maybe 7 hours in total.

I've ordered the turbo today along with a gasket kit, when it arrives I can then get it back together with new oil and filter. I'll need to check the PCV too in case it's been damaged but other than that I'll not be spending money til I see how it runs...

 

 

[cort16]

Impressive work .that could have so easily kaboomed the engine.

[dome]

37 minutes ago, cort16 said:

Impressive work .that could have so easily kaboomed the engine.

Aye, there was no way I was buying it without hearing it running. It's a gamble, as always. All of the parts of the turbo seem to still be roughly where they should be which is reassuring

[cort16]

What’s a bit of turbo vane stuck  in a piston among friends?

[bigfella2]

Shouldn't there be some kind of nut on the end of that shaft that holds the compressor wheel or whatever it's called.

[dome]

1 minute ago, bigfella2 said:

Shouldn't there be some kind of nut on the end of that shaft that holds the compressor wheel or whatever it's called.

 

You had me worried for a second...

Here's a link to the turbo core on ebay I was going to buy, they look the same thankfully!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-VW-GOLF-PASSAT-2-0-TDi-TURBOCHARGER-TURBO-CORE-CARTRIDGE-GT1646V-765261/252617081434?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[HMC]

Great work on the Skoda, that could so easily have been game over for the engine. You certainly know your way around those units!

[dome]

5 hours ago, HMC said:

Great work on the Skoda, that could so easily have been game over for the engine. You certainly know your way around those units!

I'd never heard of these engines til last week! Call it a crash course in expanding my knowledge...

[dome]

Parcelforce brought me something shiny today

[dome]

And she's alive! 

I'm broken though, today was a long day. Full update to follow

[cort16]

Well done , was it a reet bastard ?

[dome]

I've almost recovered from this so can talk about it now. to be fair it wan't that bad, the complicated bits came at the end though when I was knackered/stressed out just to make things exciting...

Installing the turbo itself wasn't too bad after learning the hard way from taking it apart. I had the turbo on and connected up by early afternoon and then stopped for lunch.

After lunch the next mission was a sump drop to make sure there was no crap leftover from the turbo destroying itself. Good job I did as there was some nastiness in there. I cleaned it out and refitted it-23 fecking bolts or something ridiculous hold the sump on. You need to use sealant too instead of a gasket so can't hang about getting it back together. Great fun* 

Shiny sump

I removed the pickup too to be on the safe side.

I also cleaned all the carbon out of the throttle body which was lovely. My garage/driveway is a fucking mess from this car and my oily fingerprints are everywhere. My GF is not amused currently. Some cleaning is required. Of me and the car.

The bit I really struggled with was plumbing in all the vacuum lines.  The trouble was the garage that had tried to fix it had started taking it apart before they sacked the job off and removed a load of vacuum hoses from the wastegate and electrical gubbins on the bulkhead.

Getting the oil feed line back onto the turbo was also an arse as it was tight and i was fighting with those fucking sprung hose clamps. They were duly sacked off and replaced with jubilee clips. I also replaced quite a few torx bolts with normal bolts as I went along to make life easier

To be honest i was pretty knackered by this point so should have sacked it off for the next day but I persevered.

Try as i might I couldn't get a decent picture of the routing and the exploded diagrams I could find didn't help either.  

Eventually i got it sussed and it fired up and ran sweet. That felt good! 

I left it idling for a while to let oil circulate then took it for a gentle drive. All seemed well, no EML on but a fair old smell of burning oil. There was no coolant gauge though, although my bluetooth reader confirmed the coolant temp was sitting in the high 80s 

The brakes were making a horrendous noise from it sitting but this has got better. On return I noticed oil around the feed union so tightened it up. 

Sunday morning I took it a run to pick up a part worn tyre locally-one of them was really bad. It still smelt of oil and had dropped a fair bit on the driveway which my girlfriend will love! I had a proper look at the union and cranked it up a bit tighter. Another test run followed including it's first motorway run taking it up to 40 odd miles. The smell of oil seems to have gone away.

 
On Sunday morning though the ECU light came on as soon as I started it- I got a code for exhaust gas pressure too high. Possibly something to do with the DPF, or lack of... I also had no temperature gauge on the car and an intermittent no fuel gauge. To top it off the traction control light came  on. Sigh.

There's a lot of oil underneath it from the turbo letting go so it's hard to tell if it's still leaking or if it's just residual oil succumbing to gravity. I might treat it to a drive through wah with a chassis wash to try and get the oil off it an not onto my driveway...

I also stripped down the cruise control switch as it doesn't work but it didn't cure it. I'll check the brake and clutch switches, not sure if there's much else I can do without diagnostics.

A little bit of google fu showed how much of an arse moderns can be. It was suggested that a knackered MAF can cause the traction control light to come on. I also did no more than check the connection on the coolant sensor and the gauge started to work.

 This morning I checked the connection on the MAF and when i set off the traction control light went off! We'll see if it stays off or was just a coincidence. The EMl light also stayed off after I reset it when i started the car up again. I 'm sure I'll see that again soon enough though...

The garage at work has just fitted my part worn giving me 4 legal tyres, I'll keep sticking some miles on it and will try to work thorough the niggles. The parking sensors don't work, I'll try the listening for a click thing to find the knackered one. Again, diagnostics would make this easier.

I get the feeling that getting VCDS(VAG diagnostic software) will be almost essential to sorting a lot of this car out. I have an older version and cable but it won't work on this (CANBUSsed) car. I'll keep my eyes open, I'm cautious of the knockoffs on ebay. If anyone has any tips to getting a decent copy of VCDS I'm all ears!

 

[bigfella2]

You can still get the free software from ross-tech I believe, or you could last time I checked, and your lead may still work that should guide you where to start looking. I am also wanting the full version of vcds but like but don't want to spend a fortune on a new one but don't want to get ripped off on a fake on eBay.

Well done with fixing that, the engine is a weird one, only comes in a caddy or a 4x4 octy, but it's a 8v 2.0 TDI, whereas all others are 16v.

Also there are two octy 4x4's only the scout had the dpf. 

[dome]

2 hours ago, bigfella2 said:

You can still get the free software from ross-tech I believe, or you could last time I checked, and your lead may still work that should guide you where to start looking. I am also wanting the full version of vcds but like but don't want to spend a fortune on a new one but don't want to get ripped off on a fake on eBay.

Well done with fixing that, the engine is a weird one, only comes in a caddy or a 4x4 octy, but it's a 8v 2.0 TDI, whereas all others are 16v.

Also there are two octy 4x4's only the scout had the dpf.

You can indeed get free software from Rosstech but it won't work with this thing because it's canbus sadly. My cable is very old so I'd be surprised if it worked

[bigfella2]

Well I have downloaded the free one from ross-tech and it talks to my MK3 08 caddy so must be canbus compatible. I can't see the cable being that sophisticated, I think the alfaboys use the vag cable to connect to Alfa's.

In fact thinking about it, I am using the same ancient eBay Chinese knock off cable that I used to use to read the codes off my MK2 caddy and that deffo wasn't canbus.

[dome]

10 hours ago, bigfella2 said:

Well I have downloaded the free one from ross-tech and it talks to my MK3 08 caddy so must be canbus compatible. I can't see the cable being that sophisticated, I think the alfaboys use the vag cable to connect to Alfa's.

In fact thinking about it, I am using the same ancient eBay Chinese knock off cable that I used to use to read the codes off my MK2 caddy and that deffo wasn't canbus.

Interesting, only one way to find out I guess! My version from memory wouldn't connect to my girlfriends 2008 TT or my mates  2009 Transporter though, they weren't in the list of vehicles on the drop down. 

[bigfella2]

I downloaded mine maybe two or three years back, but my uncles Altea wasn't on that drop down list when I needed it lately. But didn't download a recent version. Maybe it gets updated every so often.

[big_al_granvia]

My driveway used to be spotless before flat4 moved in, now shell are trying to plant a drilling rig on it every time we go out.... Get her telt and bring her to meet the lads at scotoshite

[dome]

 

I used this stuff to good results.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/zep-commercial-driveway-concrete-masonry-cleaner-concentrate-5ltr/6837f

The other thing that works really well but takes time is a blowtorch straight onto the stains-it burns them right off.

It didn't seem to drop any oil last night which is a bonus. However,  due to me leaving the interior lights on it also wouldn't start this morning. I had to slum it in the S4 today. Which is getting really noisy from the back end. I need to give it a proper prod.

I suspect the Octavias battery is passed it's best, I'll get it tested. I ordered up a parking sensor for the rear after trying the trusted "listen for the tick" technique-one of them is dead. Good thing is with it being the Scout the sensor isn't colour coded. 

[dome]

1 hour ago, bigfella2 said:

I downloaded mine maybe two or three years back, but my uncles Altea wasn't on that drop down list when I needed it lately. But didn't download a recent version. Maybe it gets updated every so often.

Nah, it says on the download page for VCDS-lite that it's not compatible with CANBUS cars. 

[bigfella2]

Can't explain it then, unless mine is a dodgy download as I clear the engine management light off before every mot. As you were.

[dome]

Ah, good old mission creep. I decided to check out the non working cruise control last night, starting with the clutch and brake switches. So, off came some trim to get access. It was filthy. This happened.

I also removed the centre console to fix a couple of things, it wouldn't fit in the dishwasher though... The aux input had fell out of it's mount so I refitted this, I also fixed the little blind that slides up and down with the handbrake-it had broken. Little victories and all that.

Oh, the cruise control, I hear no-one ask? No switches on the brake or clutch lever in the cabin, these are on the master cylinders it appears. Arses

Oil leak wise there's still a drop coming from the RHS of the engine bay which I'll need to have a look at. I still get the occasional whiff of oil too when I come to a standstill. The oil feed on the turbo seems dry as does the return. More prodding required. 

The EML has been on when I stat it up with an error code for exhaust gas pressure. These sensors commonly fail but a check on the connector(one of the many I'd removed) and it clicked home. The light stayed out the next time I started it. We'll see if it stays out. The traction control light is now on all the time though, it failed it's MOT for this last year. Diagnostics required...

With regards to the diagnostics thing I've just invested £15 in a Carista app and bluetooth dongle which apparently can read fault codes from all the controllers, not just the engine like torque. Worth a punt. 

My £6 parking sensor arrived, I'll get that fired on too and hopefully that'll fix the sensors. All being well it should get a couple of hundred miles put onto it this weekend. 

Whew. I need a lie down!

[Tepper]

I use one like this from AliExpress, it wasn't too bad to set up and will happily talk to my CANBUS B6 Pisshat https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000149591559.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.36fb489cPiRWXd&algo_pvid=5c36e816-6187-4114-9f7d-3211db3b18d5&algo_expid=5c36e816-6187-4114-9f7d-3211db3b18d5-1&btsid=c75b8db9-a39e-491a-8595-c928cd087145&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3,searchweb201603_60

Obviously it'll be riddled with computer aids so use it on a throwaway laptop. You're welcome to borrow mine but I'm the wrong end of the country!

 

[Fraz]

1 hour ago, Tepper said:

I use one like this from AliExpress, it wasn't too bad to set up and will happily talk to my CANBUS B6 Pisshat https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000149591559.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.36fb489cPiRWXd&algo_pvid=5c36e816-6187-4114-9f7d-3211db3b18d5&algo_expid=5c36e816-6187-4114-9f7d-3211db3b18d5-1&btsid=c75b8db9-a39e-491a-8595-c928cd087145&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3,searchweb201603_60

Obviously it'll be riddled with computer aids so use it on a throwaway laptop. You're welcome to borrow mine but I'm the wrong end of the country!

 

What’s the chat with this software? Is it terrible or does it actually work?