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

[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?

[dome]

Put 300 miles on this today with no trouble at all

I know, I know, it's a modern so it should be able to do that no trouble. Still, it's always nerve wracking when something arrives at your door fucked and on a trailer.

Average was an indicated 50 mpg, that is until my good lady got a shot. She's now driven it faster than I have...

[Tepper]

On 9/7/2019 at 7:23 PM, Fraz said:

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

It's a cracked full version of VCDS and so far seems to be identical to the real thing, I've done some coding with it as well as just the normal diagnostic stuff and it worked OK. I think I have version 18.2, not sure how good any of the other cables/versions are but AliExpress are pretty good on refunds if it turns out to be shit.

[dome]

The Carista dongle arrived today so I had a quick play with it. There was a mass of fault codes related to the fucked battery so I cleared them and got these

Engine:
P0568 - Cruise Control Switch (E45), Implausible Signal
P1698 - Please Check DTC Memory of Steering Wheel Electronics

ABS:
00493 - ESP-Sensor Unit (G419)

Central electronics:
00924 - Relays for headlamp wash/wipe system (J39)

Steering wheel:
00895 - Cruise Control Switch (E45)

Heater & air conditioning:
00716 - Air recirculation Flap Positioning Motor (V113)
01274 - Air Flow Flap Positioning Motor (V71)

The app is good for reading all the modules on the car for codes where torque can just read the engine ECU.

I also set some things like opening all doors with the remote on the first press of the fob instead of just the drivers door. It'll do loads of nifty things like that.

What it won't do like vcds is code in new modules and the likes of that. Worth the £16 for the dongle though with a months software subscription. It's £40 for a years subscription after that.

The main one causing worry is the esp one as that'll fail the MOT. On some vag stuff it's a sensor under the seats but mine doesn't seem to have one there so it's part of the abs module.

Great. Remind me why I went modern again?

[Fraz]

9 minutes ago, dome said:

 

Great. Remind me why I went modern again?

Because I talked you into it....

[Fraz]

5 hours ago, Tepper said:

It's a cracked full version of VCDS and so far seems to be identical to the real thing, I've done some coding with it as well as just the normal diagnostic stuff and it worked OK. I think I have version 18.2, not sure how good any of the other cables/versions are but AliExpress are pretty good on refunds if it turns out to be shit.

Smashing - Ill try that for £21ish 

[dome]

Right, time for an update I suppose. 

MR2 

I've done a little bit to this-a new steering UJ was required as we discovered on the first corner of the first lap of the last track day! Mildly frightening...This has been fitted with a bit of faffing but I failed to get the steering wheel straight. The easiest way to do this is to undo the UJs and relocate it, this will save me removing the airbag and steering wheel.

When we fitted the engine it was running a very weak mix of antifreeze-basically what was left in the system after hauling the engine out. I wanted to get fresh antifreeze in before winter.
These things are notoriously difficult to bleed apparently however when I fitted the engine it bled up no bother. There are 2 bleed valves under the front "bonnet"-1 at the bulkhead and one at the radiator. Toyota provide clear plastic pipe which you attach to these and then hang from the opened bonnet to bleed it up.

Here it is with the steering joint in the middle of getting replaced. You can see one bleeder with the clear pipe coming out of it, the other is at the top of the radiator.

 

 

 

And here it is with the bleed pipes dangling 

I drained it and filled with fresh coolant it a week or so ago but never got the time to run it up as I was away most of last week. So, on Sunday I thought "I'll just nip out and bleed it up, shouldn't take long."

5 hours later and the fucking thing still wouldn't bleed up. I jacked the front up as high as I could to help it bleed. Lyndsey went out to walk the dog. I kept trying to bleed it but no heat from the heater and the radiator wouldn't get warm. Lyndsey came back with the dog. I kept going, I added more fuel as it conked out through lack of it. I went a short drive to the garage to get fuel to find it shuts a 2 on a Sunday. It's after 2? FUCK!
Shortly after I gave up and sat in the huff.

On Monday I had a brainfart. I went home, after getting some fresh antifreeze(Yes, I'd used all of the stuff I'd added trying to bleed it) I reversed the car up on a set of ramps, topped up the coolant and started it up.

Less than 5 minutes later and heat was coming out the vents.

At this point I stopped and went and had some wine.

Of course, the car was jacked up at the back when I started it up the first time, hence why it bled up no bother. You live and learn-the guide I found said to jack the front up. LIES.

Of course the main reason I had it at the house was to fix the blown exhaust-this had failed and it looks like it was because I had the mounts too rigid. I've welded it up and rejigged the mount setup. The joys of learning through experience...

Slightly better weld.

I drove it to work today and the heater was toasty and the gauge happy. I've not driven it properly since the track day so had forgot how much fun it is I checked it at lunchtime and the level is fine, managed to get a wee bit more air out of the bleed valves too. I also managed to get the steering wheel straight so that's a win. 
 

S4

Has been languishing at Duncans while the MR2 has been at home for fettling. I'll get it in for 4 wheel alignment to see if that helps the random noise (it'll definitely help the tyre wear...)and take it from there.

[dome]

 

And last, but very much least

Octavia

Main thing that happened here has been cleaning to get rid of the smell of fags from it. A vax has been applied and much grottiness removed. I also worked my way through the fault codes it had using the Carista app and dongle. It seems pretty decent at £16 for the dongle and 1 months subscription. I'll get a play with Frazs hooky VCDS at some point and may go down that route but it'll do for now.

I never saved the first set of fault codes-there were over 50 but most of these were due to the fucked battery.

Here's the state of play around 1 week ago

A new fuse fixed the headlamp washers
A new cruise stalk got the cruise control working again, the one I removed looks like an aftermarket one, these are a very common failure point but at £15 for a new stalk it's not the end of the world.

Some progress...

The code for the ventilation flaps Fraz on here sent me a calibration procedure which I tried. I've not checked the codes but as the ventilation seems to work OK I'm not too fussed.
I've ordered a LHS repeater to fix that code as well, that's an MOT fail too. 
That only leaves the ESP light which is now intermittent-it doesn't appear on the second screenshot but has been on and off. I'll likely need to order a new sensor but will also need proper software to code it in. I suspect it would be ambitious to stick it in for it's MOT at the end of November and hope the ESP light stays out... 

I also used Carista to do some customisation-things like opening all doors with the first press of the unlock button and a courtesy wipe a few seconds after you wash the screen.

I put it in to my local garage to get a rear puncture repaired and rear wheels balanced-typically the puncture was too close to the edge and they couldn't balance it properly as the other wheel was buckled. Arses

Interestingly I put some Shell V-Power diesel in it as I figured it was better than a fuel additive to clean it out.  Now it's possible that the 3/4 tank of fuel it came with had been in there a while but the car seems quicker on this magic diesel fuel. May have to try some scientific* tests to see if this is real or just in the mind.

[dome]

So, I had the S4 booked in for geometry as I knew it needed done. I was trying to get to the bottom of the noise from the rear which seemed to come from the passenger side and was getting worse.

I was sure (read couldn't believe) it wasn't the wheel bearing as I'd replaced this one less than 18 months ago. However Lo and Behold-with the aid of Fraz we confirmed it does indeed seem to be the wheel bearing that has failed. Arses. It was a Meyle one as well bought as I was under the impression they were good!?!

I've cancelled the alignment til I get the bearing changed for obvious reasons.

I've contacted the seller and they'll need the old one back for warranty purposes. It's £40 for a decent(well actually who knows?) bearing or £60 for one with the flange pressed in which saves some fucking about with the local garage and their press. Hopefully I'll get a refund for the old one but we'll see. 

MR2 seems fine, would be nice to get another track day in this year but finding the time is the biggest issue.

Octavia is, er, still an Octavia. The oil leak is back, as it decided to tell me 10 miles into a 200 mile journey at the weekend when the whiff of burning oil came into the cabin. Fine on the move, only noticeable when you slow down

There's also a dash issue somewhere as the warning lights are playing up-at the moment the battery light is syncd to the seatbelt light, the cruise control light to the TPS light(which this car doesn't have) and the  headlight to the fog light. The ESP light has also been more permanent of late. Tempted to get it through it's MOT and get it to fuck and buy something with less warning lights but we'll see. 

Meanwhile, it met a friend, Fraz D Roosevelt of this parish

 

[hairnet]

On 9/9/2019 at 9:49 PM, dome said:

On 9/9/2019 at 10:00 PM, Fraz said:

Because I talked you into it....

Great. Remind me why I went modern again?

no because a saab kept showing its arse on yir holidays

[dome]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

no because a saab kept showing its arse on yir holidays

A team is only as fast as its slowest member, if you let them go in front you don't have to keep stopping to wait for them ?

[hairnet]

yeah but looking at your photos you werent holding them up while at the back

[dome]

OK, Mojo of late has been low, mainly with the dark nights creeping in and life getting in the way at weekends.

If I put down on here what I want/need to achieve with the fleet then it's visible for all to see and you can all shame me when it doesn't happen.

Octavia.

Fraz won't be taking this off me as he found out it was a Cat D in 2011.
My fault, i never checked as it was so cheap it didn't matter. There's nothing visible to my untrained eye that gives me any cause for concern, although it may explain the lack of badges on the tailgate? 
It might make it a bit trickier to sell as I'll need to declare it but values are strong and it'll still be the cheapest Scout with a fresh MOT, new turbo and timing belt. I've not done anything to the cosmetics of it yet but it'll clean up pretty well I'm sure.
I got a new set of alloys locally due to the knackered one. They came with better tyres than were on it so win win. I'll weigh in the old ones to get some cash back.

So, plan is:

Replace ESP sensor(on the way)

Chuck in for MOT

Get it through an MOT

Timing belt (if the MOT is an easy win)

Haldex fluid (needs done every 40K, cheap to do and will help mine stand out in amongst all of the other ones for sale)

Make it pretty

Sell

S4

I've been in negotiations with a boy localish to me who has brand new wheel bearings with flanges pressed in to them for sale. This saves me having to get my flange pressed out/in so is a lot less hassle. I'll hopefully get them this week and get it fitted, then I can start driving it again. I miss it.

Bearing first, then once something else is on fleet I'll deal with the other things it needs-lpg service + oil check valves in the head.

Driving the Octavia I'm constantly watching my average fuel economy as I tell myself it needs to be economical. 
Driving the S4 I don't care about the costs because LPG so I leave it on instantaneous MPG, just for a laugh

MR2 

Duncans been using it this last week or so so I'll give it a final coolant bleed then get the front end back together. I'll also refit the trim in the cabin to bring the noise levels down a bit. It doesn't weigh that much so won't make much difference on track, it'll make it a lot more pleasant to drive on longer journeys though.

[dome]

And of course once the Octavias gone I can set about finding a Clio 172 and a Kangoo and making my winter smoker

[bigfella2]

28 minutes ago, dome said:

And of course once the Octavias gone I can set about finding a Clio 172 and a Kangoo and making my winter smoker

They look like great fun, waiting for someone to do one with a newer style kangoo as there getting cheap and hybrid it with a 197 or a 225 Mégane.

[gm]

what about the locost - do you still have that stashed away somewhere ?

[dome]

10 minutes ago, gm said:

what about the locost - do you still have that stashed away somewhere ?

I do indeed, i had a minor bump with it a year ago and it's been sitting in my lockup waiting for me to fix it ? I've got a full front suspension setup to fit but some fettling will be needed so it needs dragged back from my lockup  to the garage where tools/power is which isn't easy when the front end is off?

It'll get done over the winter and sold come the spring to fund a Manta