Jump to content

Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite - Volvo gets a clean sheet MOT, now on to wheel trims, thermostat and brakes revisited


Shirley Knott

Recommended Posts

On 3/26/2021 at 6:24 AM, Shirley Knott said:

.......Next up was dealing with the drivers seat with the torn bolster. The one on the car was badly torn and really bringing the interior down. As an aside,  these are weird- Some of these seats seem to last for hundreds of thousands of miles and keep the bolster in tact, whilst others are shot on low mileage cars. I suppose it's really down to the way previous owners got in and out of the car....

...Old vs new...

100_0456

...

Seat bolsters and fabrics get damaged if the driver wears clothes with loads of external buttons and/or rivet studs. Jeans are probably the worst of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Jesus!😳 Thats rather a lot of disassembly! 

I remember years ago doing a cam belt on something VW, might have been an old Passat?, but that was the same story. Pretty much everything on the front of the car had to come off. 

It's what VAG call the "service position "

🙄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aye, the radiator wasn't fun. A long drawn out process, but at least logical and fairly straight forward.

Meanwhile, I've assemble a list for my own records really of the parts the Roffle Golf has so far required to get to a stage that it's useable and a safe prospect...

The list so far

Timing belt and waterpump - Gates kit- No history of a change (£190- Job farmed out)

Thermostat- Not reaching correct operating temperature (£10 Calorstat part)

Coolant sensor- Coolant temp gauge inoperative (£12 Intermotor part)

Discs and pads all round- Advised for all on last MOT, rusty/old (£72 Comline parts)

Brake pedal sensor- No brake lights/EPS dash warning (£12 Intermotor part)

Fresh coolant- Obvious reasons (£15 ECP)

Radiator- Leaking badly (£19 Nissens part)

Crank position sensor- Occasional reluctance to start (£23 Bosch part)

Replacement 'sport' style seat- Torn bolster (£40 breakers yard)

Replacement armrest- Broken (£10 Ebay part)

Replacement airbox- Broken (£10 breakers yard)

Air filter- Service (£8 Bosch part)

Oil change - Service (£14)

Total-    £435

So not cheap, but lots of money saved by doing everything bar the timing belt in house. All pretty much standard old car stuff and not unexpected after a long time sitting around doing nothing as this one had!

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Golf Gti total spend so far- Yikes!
  • 4 weeks later...

Minor update here

Basically everything seems to be going swimmingly. 

After much work initially on the V70 and Roffle Golf Gti, both seem to now be doing the do and covering 30 miles a day each without any issues, both are actual useable and fairly presentable cars now. The Golf SDi plods on as usual, completely rock steady too.

The only excitement has been a  new expansion tank for the SDi as the old one had become a bit grubby. 

 

100_0573

 

At £14 delivered from Mr Meyle, it's a job worth doing. Old Vs New...

 

100_0578

 

Half way there....

 

100_0574

 

And done. Much nicer...

 

100_0581

 

And finally, a 'mod' of types. @warninglight  proved himself to be a shiter of wonderful colours by obliging a request on my part and using 3D printing wizardry to zap up some rear ashtray deletes, thus getting rid of the perennially broken parts (TADTS) at the arse end of both of our Golfs.

Enough words. Before....

 

100_0565

 

A lovely new part lovingly crafted by one of our own....

 

100_0561

 

And better....

 

100_0570

 

Anyone with a Mk4 should probably consider one of these (Unless they regularly have rear passengers that smoke, then probably not) 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Golf Gti gets modified (Shock!)
29 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

Minor update here

Basically everything seems to be going swimmingly. 

After much work initially on the V70 and Roffle Golf Gti, both seem to now be doing the do and covering 30 miles a day each without any issues, both are actual useable and fairly presentable cars now. The Golf SDi plods on as usual, completely rock steady too.

The only excitement has been a  new expansion tank for the SDi as the old one had become a bit grubby. 

 

100_0573

 

At £14 delivered from Mr Meyle, it's a job worth doing. Old Vs New...

 

100_0578

 

Half way there....

 

100_0574

 

And done. Much nicer...

 

100_0581

 

And finally, a 'mod' of types. @warninglight  proved himself to be an shiter of true colours by obliging a request on my part and using 3D printing wizardry to zap up some rear ashtray deletes, thus getting rid of the perennially broken parts (TADTS) at the arse end of both of our Golfs.

Enough words. Before....

 

100_0565

 

A lovely new part lovingly crafted by one of our own....

 

100_0561

 

And better....

 

100_0570

 

Anyone with a Mk4 should probably consider one of these (Unless they regularly have rear passengers that smoke, then probably not) 

 

Mines bolloxed as well. But in terms of the rest of the car it's the least of its worries 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Three month update here- Essentially because there's been zero action for 3 months until today

First of all, @Sh'Eds made his way oop North from Coventry to check my brake lights. Good job as a bulb was indeed blown. Thanks Eds. The infamous Tahoe was observed from a distance- Tis huge.

Also, the SDi Golf had been making a horrific grinding noise from the offside front wheel when turning hard left. I'd assumed wheel bearing/binding CV/dragging brakes etc, but when all was said and done it actually turned out to be a disintegrating brake disc backing shield...

 

100_0621

 

Closer Clarice...

 

100_0622

 

I'll have to replace that. For now though the car is silent again, and that's golden.

On to the Volvo for a 'small service'. By this I mean it's less than 5000 miles since the fuel filter/plugs/air filter were changed, so the *service basically comprised of a brake clean up, handbrake adjust, a check over of boots/bushes etc and an oil and filter change.... 

 

100_0619

 

Whilst cracking on with this lot, I got to thinking about the cars on fleet at present, and it struck me that I've arguably somehow managed to end up with literally the least desirable models of each respective marque across the piste? 

*V70- Mines the lowly 140 ps petrol manual (Should have bought the T5/D5/170PS M9)

*Mk4 Golf SDi (Should have bought a TDi mate, SDi's are woeful. A PD 130 or 150 would be better, even an ALH 90ps ?)

*Mk4 Golf GTi 2.0 (Not a proper GTi M9, you need the 1.8T)

Irrespective of all this, I'm loving life with three turbo-less wonders at present and it would take something seriously special to turn my head at this stage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Broadsword said:

One question about the 1.9 SDI engine. Does it rattle one’s bones in the same manner as the 1.7 SDI in the Lupo? 

Funnily enough no.

The Golf is a much bigger car with better soundproofing and thicker panels. They honestly feel no different to drive from a sound vibration perspective to the TDi's. Get out of the car and you can hear the difference, otherwise not so much. Honestly they're worlds apart from the Lupo SDi experience which at best is vibration rich and agricultural, and at worst is like piloting a mobile pneumatic drill.

A 1.7 NA diesel engine was perhaps not the best thing to house in a car the size of a shoe- Results are predictable.

The string to the Lupo SDi's bow  is it's quicker, and also even more frugal... If memory serves me correctly the Lupo's achieve 0-60  in circa 14.5 seconds whilst the Golf SDi takes an unbelievable 16.8 seconds to get there (When they were new!)

Back in the Club Lupo days, lots of the SDi guys were mapping idle speed up to 900rpm from the standard 750rpm themselves via VCDS. This apparently helps immensely and would have been my next move with the one I sold you a couple of years back.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another mundane update here- Mostly for my own benefit/records really.

Today I cleared the mud out of the 'new to us' Mk4 Roffle Gti's arches.

As expected- Grim. All Mk4's (And lots of other VW's) do this. For anyone who has one, pulling back the arch liners and cleaning out the crud should be a yearly job  if avoiding rust is your thing...

 

100_0629

 

All this from one arch...

 

100_0637

 

Rusty T25 arch liner screws replaced with shiny new ones for re-assembly...

 

100_0626

 

After this the V70 received a quick wash. I've had this for pretty much 2 years to the date IIRC and it's become a firm fleet favourite. Scrubs up well for a 20 year old motor I recon....

 

100_0650

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Arch Enemy Tackled
  • 4 months later...

Wow- 3 months without an update here eh?

Well the reality is that no news is good news on the car front. Things have been hectic with a house move and luckily the cars seem to have mostly behaved themselves!

Golf SDi - Seems to be enjoying the longer commute after the move (As diesels do). An MOT pass with a single advisory for a CV boot in December so all good there

Golf Gti - Again, all seems well. It's had a new cabin filter to aid with screen de-misting but aside from that nothing... Hopefully the intense re-commissioning after this came to us in March has been worthwhile. A clean MOT pass was achieved in November, so that's cool. 

V70 - Doing Volvo things as you'd expect. MANY tip runs and OMGMUCHFURNITUREMOVING. An odd knock from the front end is now apparent and the MOT is due in a fortnight's time- Investigation required

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- No news is good news
  • 2 months later...

The dust is now starting to settle after our recent move and desperate attempts to proceed in renovating our now house, and as such I'm starting to regain my mojo for car stuff!

Yesterday, attention was turned to Mrs Knott's Golf GTi.

One of the big plusses of the new house is the garage/workshop space. Although it doesn't look it in the pics, it's around seven meters long and a big section of it towards the bottom end is 4 meters wide- I've actually managed to have the V70 in with the door shut, a treat after my old carport shenanigans....

 

100_0862

 

Also, it means I can see whatever car I'm working on from the kitchen, which is nice...

 

100_0861

 

First up- Air pump. This has been hanging off for a year, since we got the car (Shame on me for not doing something about it)...

 

100_0842

 

A kit to repair this was procured from Ebay for literally £1.89p...

 

100_0843

 

And within 15 minutes things were back to how they should be...

 

100_0847

 

After this- spark plugs. Even on the 'normal' VAG 2.0 engines the spark plugs are a bit of a fiddle with lots of folk opting to remove the intake manifold... This however is on of the (Fairly rare) later 'AZJ' engine coded models with the plastic intake, which are the worst of the bunch.

As you can see, space is limited with no gaps in the manifold and a fuel rail in the way if you fancy going at it from the side...

 

100_0852

 

100_0855

 

Somehow, after setting myself up with a convoluted selection of bendy extensions, 3/8, 1/4 and 1/2 step ups and downs and UJ's I managed to get the old plugs out and new ones in....

 

100_0858

 

Here's a picture of three of the old plugs...

 

100_0849

 

Photography and fun stopped at this point as cylinder two turned out to be a proper swine, but in the end the good guys won and the Golf proudly reversed out of the garage with new plugs and a secondary air pump that's actually attached to something. A good result I recon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Golf GTi gets pumped and plugged.

Firstly - those plugs look like a swine, all VAG R shite m9 etc. 

Secondly - what does the air pump do? Is it for emissions?

Thirdly - by 'cheating' on the cambelt and paying A Professional, you've made me wonder whether my plan to do the Puma at Easter is worthwhile. Well, it's worthwhile of course, but can I be arsed with it? Probably weather dependent, I think. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, grogee said:

Firstly - those plugs look like a swine, all VAG R shite m9 etc. 

Secondly - what does the air pump do? Is it for emissions?

Thirdly - by 'cheating' on the cambelt and paying A Professional, you've made me wonder whether my plan to do the Puma at Easter is worthwhile. Well, it's worthwhile of course, but can I be arsed with it? Probably weather dependent, I think. 

Really they are- It's a daft design. I've fitted the appropriate 'long life' platinum plugs so won't be doing this one again.

The secondary air pump is an emissions thing as far as I'm aware. They're a pain in the arse too!

RE timing belts, I've often done them in the past (Look back in the thread you'll spot me doing one on our V70 and our 940 before that) IIRC correctly it was under £200 for the Golf and TBH I'd done so much with it by that stage I felt like I deserved a bit of a treat and farmed it out. I'm guilty of this regularly, and I have to work hard to get out of the mindset that I have to do everything myself and anything else is somehow 'cheating'.... That way madness lies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Shirley Knott said:

Really they are- It's a daft design. I've fitted the appropriate 'long life' platinum plugs so won't be doing this one again.

The secondary air pump is an emissions thing as far as I'm aware. They're a pain in the arse too!

RE timing belts, I've often done them in the past (Look back in the thread you'll spot me doing one on our V70 and our 940 before that) IIRC correctly it was under £200 for the Golf and TBH I'd done so much with it by that stage I felt like I deserved a bit of a treat and farmed it out. I'm guilty of this to, but you really have to get out of the mindset that you have to do everything yourself and anything else is somehow 'cheating'.... That way madness lies.

Agreed, but at the same time I like the challenge and don't really trust anyone else. It'll all come down to Easter plans and weather I think. Like you I have another car so if it's off the road for a few days then no big deal. The other thing is I've already bought the parts and tools.

FWIW I'm with you on the pattern v OEM parts. Some of the OEM parts marketing has obviously been very effective. I come up against the same unquestioning faith in the Ford forums for Puma bits. In some cases (rocker cover gasket) it's justified, in most other cases it isn't. I've had a lot of success with Meyle and Blueprint stuff on loads of different cars. 

There is some garbage out there, usually no-name Chinese bits, but in general these are obvious and can be easily avoided. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Boring update warning- Place marking for my own records really.

Golf SDI service completed 26/04 at 168,817 miles (The car is racking up the miles quickly these days as our commute has changed).

She's an old girl now but seems to be soaking up circa 1500 miles a month without drama or fuss, and achieving a consistent 55 MPG + across tanks... All in all well worth looking after/preserving I recon. Also this one's been with me for over five years now, it's longest time I've ever owned a car and it holds some sentimental value on that basis.

 

100_0881

 

Oil and oil filter changed, air and fuel filters were done last year and as such can wait until next time.

Issues Found

Rear discs and pads in need of replacement soon, a small amount of side-side play in passenger side front wheel (TRE?), Passenger side rear calliper still dragging slightly despite a recent strip down and clean up, passenger CV boot weeping slightly.

Frustratingly the front wings have filled with mud again (Like they all do) despite them being cleaned out a couple of years ago. The T25 fittings were removed/replaced and the worst of it scraped out- But I will need to come back to this with a jet wash and some treatment as rust can now clearly be seen kicking in to the lower wings

 

100_0884

 

So some work to do in the coming months!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Golf SDI service.

A week on from the last time- It's Mk4 Golf service groundhog day, only this time with the roffle win GTI

 

100_0888

 

Service completed on the 03/05 at 129,821 miles. Oil and filter only as other filters were changed during last service- Switched this time from 5W40 to 5W30 as that's what was handy

Boots/bushes/bearings/levels checked and brakes cleaned up - Found to be in need of two new front tyres ASAP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Golf GTI service.
  • 2 weeks later...

The trusty Golf SDI has spent the weekend in the garage for some minor rust treatment -Nothing serious, just the usual blebs starting at the bottom of the wings and along the sill flanges

Position assumed...

 

100_0913

 

Products assembled....

 

100_0940

 

Any areas of rust were rubbed back and treated with Hydrate 80 (I love watching this stuff turn black whilst it reacts....

 

100_0901

 

Then 24 hours later a couple of coats of red oxide primer...

 

100_0903 (2)

 

100_0905

 

100_0908

 

And then 12 hours later several coats of final colour. I've learned through bitter experience that VW 'Refelx Silver' LA7W is a difficult shade to replicate. Many of the professionally colour matched cans are nowhere near, but strangely Upol's wheel silver is actually a near perfect match...

 

100_0916

 

100_0918

 

100_0921

 

Job jobbed, after which the car was pulled out of the garage for a quick hoover in readiness for being pushed into service again next week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- We are the Golf preservation society.
  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/27/2022 at 2:07 PM, Shirley Knott said:

 Passenger side rear calliper still dragging slightly despite a recent strip down and clean up

^ This came back to bite me in the arse big time.

A month of ignoring the (Only very slightly) squeaky/draggy NSR wheel culminated in me stripping it down on Wednesday to find the calliper totally seized and the pads worn down to nothing... Fine I thought, I've got some pads and a good used calliper in stock...

I set about the job and mid way through felt a sickening crunch as the hard brake line over the rear beam broke in two. Not good.

Behold- Seized calliper and ruined brake line...

 

100_0958

 

Luckily ECP saved my bacon! For all of their sins, we've got a branch just around the corner and they had the exact section of brake line in stock (Including flexy) for £22.50

New line fitted and covered in a healthy dose of Dynax UB...

 

100_0950

 

Followed by a calliper I bought as part of a pair for £10 around five years ago. I knew they'd come in handy one day!

For whatever reason a previous owner had painted my old calliper (Also second hand) red. There was clearly a stage, mid noughties, where the VAG lads decided painting brake callipers was the thing to do. This one was yellow...

 

100_0947

 

I joined in with the painting fad, this time opting for a coat of silver Hammerite. Much better...

 

100_0952

 

After this the system was pressure bled using my Sealey VS820 and normal service was resumed.

Financial cost including brake line- Under £40. Emotional cost HUGE. I'm getting too old for this shit and thoughts are genuinely turning to a new car, maybe even on finance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- VAG brake mishaps
  • 4 months later...

Oil change completed on the trusty V70 14/10/22 at 98,237. 

It's only covered circa 3k since it's last change, but that was just over a year ago so technically due. Am I crackers? Probably.

Comline filter and quantum synta z fully synthetic oil used!

Meanwhile, front brake pads were changed for Blue Print branded items. Annoyingly one side was fine, the other side was badly worn due to a dragging brake caliper (Since resolved).

Must sort out a way of uploading pictures again, new phone brings new problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Up with the larks this morning to put another years MOT on our Golf SDI.

After a cursory clean up of the engine bay we were off...

 

100_1007

 

100_1022

 

This one's covered just over 16 K in a year, a fair amount for a car that's now clocked up 177,000 miles and is nearly 20 years old.

Off the top of my head, the parts that it's taken to get it there have been a new (Used) calliper, new rear pads, new rear coil springs, drop links, track rod ends (Inner and outer)and a full exhaust (Cat included). I've fitted all of the above aside from the exhaust and track rods, and thankfully parts are tuppence ha'penny so it hasn't costed much.

A pass was achieved with a single advisory for "suspension component mounting repair covered in underseal"...Odd as there's been no such repair! I am however fairly judicious with my application of Bilt Hamber UB/Comma Wax Seal so maybe suspicious were aroused?

Meh, either way, a pass is a pass.

After getting back I gave this sexy bastard a wash to celebrate....

 

100_1014

 

The wheels I refurbished at home now, 2 years on have developed scabies unfortunately and are letting an otherwise smart looking car down....

 

100_1015

 

So off to the powder coaters they'll go next week.

I've tactically waited until such a time as tyres are required so I can kill two birds with one stone and avoid fitting fees by ordering new ones online, and having the powder coat lads fit them back to the freshly coated wheels once they're done- ~Man maths tells me this makes perfect sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite- Ropey Golf achieves MOT, meanwhile Volvo wheels develop scabies.

Oil, oil filter, fuel filter and air filter all changed on the ropey Golf SDI this morning at 177,768 miles. 

Eurocarparts really seem to be taking the piss with their pricing these days, so I'm making a note of part numbers here for safe keeping ( WK853/3X, HU726/2X, and C37153)

100_1025

 

This jobs a joy to do on the Golf, I've got it down to less than 30 minutes these days.... With the Pela it can all be completed 'topside'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite

The V70 wheels returned from the powder coaters this afternoon looking grand, I've gone for factory silver because I'm dull like that. 

Nice wheels always lift an old car's appearance a bit I recon.

 

100_1033

 

Couldn't resist some Ebay special replacement centre caps to finish the job. For £8.50 it would be rude not to really!

 

100_1028

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After a couple of months of putting up with continuous knocking from the drivers side of the V70 I decided yesterday afternoon would be the time to replace the OSF drop link as I had the parts in hand.

How hard could it be, right?

New drop links assembled (Meyle 'HD', popular in Volvo circles and supposedly better than OE with a 4 year guarantee). 

To be fair they ARE fairly beefy looking items compared with the originals...

 

100_1044

 

100_1037

 

This is where the fun stopped and what ensued was a 4 hour (Not kidding) fiasco that had me seriously questioning why I even bother doing stuff like this myself. The drop links looked to be as old as the car (20 years young) and immediately I knew it wan't going to be a lot of fun

I'll work on a system of bullet points to break down the steps of this depressing process...

Step 1- Realise that the torx counter holds that live within the threads are completely stripped

Step 2 - Destroy boot on the top side of the link and counter hold with constantly slipping vice grips for around 60 minutes working the nut slowly backwards and forwards to remove it

Step 3 - Move to the bottom joint and realize that the nut looks like a blob of ginger biscuit

Step 4 - Realise that even with the back of the joint clamped mole grip stylee as with the upper one, the nut has rounded

Step 5- Apply an 'easy out' nut remover only to learn that even my 650NM gun cant shift it 

Step 6- Attempt to cut from the joint side with a Dremmel and cutting disc to find out after 30 minutes that too much of the old ball joint remains and it won't pop through the hole in the anti roll bar

Step 7 - Drive to the (Now close to closing) local Screwfix and buy metal blades for the reciprocating saw to attempt a cut off from the other side of the lower joint

Step 8 - Spend the next 30 minutes slid underneath 2 tons of Volvo lifted a foot from the ground using a noisy vibration-tastic electronic hacksaw to remove the other side of the now completely destroyed bottom link, rust constantly raining down and light failing 

Step 9 - Learn that even after cutting from the other side, a small disc of the stud/bolt remain, and thus still the remainder of the link STILL won't go through the ARB

Step 10 - Throw things around the garage in a rage, and then use brute force pulling on the remainder of the now completely ruined bottom joint to find that it eventually pops through, but not without my hands flying back to hit myself in the mouth full force.

Step 11 - Fit new drop link and decide to pay someone else in future.

 

MUCH later and now very dark, all done...

 

100_1039

 

And the aftermath this morning...

 

100_1043

 

100_1035

 

Frankly, it baffles me that I can complete a full timing belt change on this car in an hour and a half, but a single drop link takes me FOUR FUCKING HOURS!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Shirley Knott changed the title to Shirley Knott's Evil Web Of Shite - Four hours to change a SINGLE drop link, am I loosing my edge?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...