Rave's Passat 1.9TDI - 3/2/20 More alternator bodgery

[Rave]

Just starting this now as I'm off at the crack of dawn tomorrow and leaving the house on time is not one of my strengths. I'm going to collect a car which will take my total to 8. Torturous man maths were involved in justifying buying a car that's exactly the same size and form factor as one I already own; the idea is that it should do at least 15mpg and hopefully more like 20mpg more than the existing one, and so the low purchase price and £195 a year road tax can hopefully be made back on the several long trips I'll be doing by car this season now that my usual method of travelling to Palace away games - a minibus- has fallen through. I'm allowed 6 cars on my trade policy, and this is the 6th.

 

So, given that the financials are very marginal, I'm trying to make the collection as cheap as possible. It still won't be as cheap as my cycle ride up to Ipswich to collect the 106 last year, but even if I wasn't recovering from a broken arm there's no way I could cycle to tomorrow's destination in a day.

 

Hopefully, next update will be from my first bus at about 0630 tomorrow morning...

[spartacus]

I'm hooked, count me in...

[The Moog]

Intriguing ..

[Rave]

Caught my first bus more or less on time. Traffic in Catford is already busy!

 

 

Cost for this leg: £1.50.

[Rave]

Made it to lovely Victoria Coach Station with a good 25 mins to spare. One of the world's great transport hubs I feel, well up there with Grand Central or the Gare Du Nord. Annoyingly I was obliged to pay 30 pence to use the toilet. I didn't even particularly need to go, but I'll be on the bus for 6 1/2 hours and there's no way I'm going to risk spraying all over my trousers and shoes trying to use the onboard one while it's moving.

 

 

Woman in front of me has reclined her seat so my knees are touching it. I'm a modest 5'11.

 

Cost for this leg: £7.33 + £1 booking fee.

[davehedgehog31]

I got the Megabus overnight from Glasgow to London, got off, into a 25 year old Rover and drove straight back up the road. 

 

I was beyond tired, but the bus cost £11.

[Kiltox]

Unless I’ve completely missed the sarcasm in that post tell me how amazing Victoria is after commuting from it every week for a year

[taxi paul]

Proper adventure. Too many people in that London for me. Following with interest.

[davehedgehog31]

Proper adventure. Too many people in that London for me. Following with interest.

 

 

Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway.

[Rave]

Snapped wide awake at 9am after a 40-odd minute snooze to find we were on the M4.

 

I got the Megabus overnight from Glasgow to London, got off, into a 25 year old Rover and drove straight back up the road. 

 

I was beyond tired, but the bus cost £11.

 

 

Good man, got me beat there, today's only about 60% of the distance and I should be home before midnight if things go to plan.

 

 

Unless I’ve completely missed the sarcasm in that post tell me how amazing Victoria is after commuting from it every week for a year

It appears you have, it is indeed a third world craphole .

 

Proper adventure. Too many people in that London for me.

Apparently, most of them were trying to escape via Victoria Coach Station this morning.

[davehedgehog31]

That's still a mighty undertaking, the Megabus is pretty shite, looking forward to seeing the car.

[Rave]

We're now leaving Bristol. A seat kicker seems to have replaced the previous occupant of the seat behind me.

 

I've not eaten since about 5.30am so am a bit peckish. No wasting money on posh travel grub on this trip, so it's a sandwich made with Lidl bread, Lidl marge and Lidl peanut butter for me.

 

 

It's been quite thoroughly mashed in my bag. Lovely.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

….. it's a sandwich made with Lidl bread, Lidl marge and Lidl peanut butter for me.

 

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Every Lidl 'elps.

[Flat4]

I got the Megabus overnight from Glasgow to London, got off, into a 25 year old Rover and drove straight back up the road. 

 

I was beyond tired, but the bus cost £11.

 

Sounds very familiar!

[Rave]

I thought 2 1/2 hours to get from Brizzle to Exeter was a bit conservative, but I remembered why when we got here- the traffic in Exeter is mental.

 

The stop is apparently on Sidwell Street. I know people always go on about charity shops taking over the high street, but they've already pretty much taken over here...apart from a Cash Converters and a Money Shop, of course. I can't see a bookie, to be fair.

[Rave]

Had a pleasant enough stroll through Plymouth town centre. Used the bogs in McDonalds, which were remarkably clean, then compounded the insult by claiming a free coffee using one of the many "buy 6 get a 7th cup free" cards that I've completed by grubbing the stickers off cups discarded on the pavement.

 

Final stage of my journey now, not such splendid value as the last one but by no means unreasonable. It's more money into Mr Souter's pocket but he's given up on funding the fight against gay rights now AFAIK, so meh.

 

[Datsuncog]

Used the bogs in McDonalds, which were remarkably clean, then compounded the insult by claiming a free coffee using one of the many "buy 6 get a 7th cup free" cards that I've completed by grubbing the stickers off cups discarded on the pavement.

 

Genuinely glad to learn that it's not just me doing this, as a kind of wombling.

 

I don't believe I've paid actual cash monies for a McDonalds coffee since about 2006. I've usually three of four full cards in my wallet at any given time.

 

Still, I see it as a minor reward for picking up the litter and binning it properly.

 

Best of luck with the rest of the collection!

[Rave]

I feel bad now, I usually just chuck them back where I've found them unless there's a bin nearby. I'll resolve to do better. Just counted and I have 6 full cards left and 4 stickers on a 7th. I quite often let them expire at the end of the year, I enjoy the wombling more than the coffee if I'm honest. I do buy the odd cup as part of a breakfast meal, even I'm not mean enough to buy a McMuffin and hash brown seperately then hand over a coffee card to save 20p or whatever it is.

[Rave]

Obligatory pez shot:

 

 

I'm hoping to get home on 4 gallons of diesel but I put 5 in to be on the safe side. Car seems to drive absolutely fine.

 

Was great to meet the shite shifting legend himself, HMC. I'm going to consult google maps on the best way to get to Exeter from here, but I fancy a cruise over Dartmoor so may ignore it if it disagrees. Then the full length of the A303, I reckon.

[groovylee]

ive got one of those in blue flavour!  not a bad thing to drive really, and it's done 185k. i reckon i'll hit 200k before i replace it.

 

DMF went about 4 years ago, so had that replaced, then it coughed and spluttered a lot, so replaced the injector loom for about £70.  other than that, its been golden

[gadgetgricey]

I recognise that Morrisons pez station.

Been there three times now after collecting a car from the legend that is HMC.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I've got a few bits left off one of those I broke if you ever need any.

[Rave]

So I did as I said I would and headed out over Dartmoor. There were a few mardy looking ponies and cows standing about in the road, and some vandal seems to have graffitied all the sheep dayglo pink or green. I had planned to take the left at Two Bridges and head towards Exeter via Moretonhampstead but I missed the turn, partly because I had an enormous VW Crafter van up my tailpipe- not proper tailgating, but close enough to suggest that I could be making better progress. I figured I'd just press on as I'd meet the A38 as I got towards Newton Abbot or Torquay or wherever the road ends up. And I did, but not before I'd driven down a load of rather hair raising roads and had to duck into a lot of passing places to let oncoming traffic by. Accelerating up some of the steep bumpy bits in second or third had the nearside wheel hopping about something chronic, so I suspect HMC is right in his diagnosis that there's some slop in the suspension somewhere that could do with sorting out. Anyway, I was glad when the A38 appeared out of nowhere and I could get onto a more relaxing road. I pinged through the trip computer to see my average at that point, I was expecting it to be fairly low due to all the stopping and starting, steep inclines etc., but it reckoned over 49mpg at that point. I then set the cruise to an indicated 60, which the GPS on my phone reckoned to be a true 56-57, and settled in for a long, gentle pootle home.

 

The average readout was showing nearly 60 before I'd got to Exeter, and it only went up from there, despite the Blackdown hills being pretty steep. Cruising at that speed is annoying, as people come rinsing past on the dual carriageway sections of the 303, before slowing down to 50 in the single carriageway bits, so I was regularly having to knock the cruise off despite it being perfectly safe to do 60, stuck behind people who are clearly not in a hurry despite being at pains to overtake me before the single carriageway bits begin. Still, I made it onto the M3 with 65mpg showing on the trip computer.

 

Sadly not long after my dawdling bit me on the arse; a police car came shooting past, and then a few moments later I noticed a lot of brake lights 600 yards ahead, with completely clear road in front of them. So I quickly followed the lorry in front down the slip road thinking I'd just nip back up the other side, only to find there wasn't one. Ended up pootling round a load of A roads somewhere near Basingstoke and Hook before I found a garage to pull over into and try and persuade Google Maps to take me to the next junction of the M3, which it would only do by setting two additional waypoints. Another hair raising trip down a load of narrow country lanes later and I was back in business. When I got back on the M3 there was loads of traffic on it so I daresay it cleared a few moments after I pulled off. Anyway the rest of the trip passed with no bother, and I got home a mere 5 1/2 hours after setting off. Final scores on the doors:

 

 

So in the end, even 4 gallons was pessimistic, although I daresay the readout is a bit optimitic. There's clearly at least a gallon left of the 5 though. The absolute highest readout I've ever seen on the Mondeo is 41.4, and that was after another trip down the 303, from near Yeovil this time, if anything done at an even slower pace but with fewer holdups, and some long sections of 50 limit roadworks while they were 'upgrading' the M3. So I reckon my hopes for an extra 20mpg out of this are going to be justified!

 

I've got a few bits left off one of those I broke if you ever need any.

 

There's really not much wrong with this one, it really is in excellent nick for a car knocking on 240k, the engine especially feels superb. I guess if you've got a less rusty OSF wing I'd want that, and maybe the wheels if you've still got them? Since this takes sensibly sized and hence priced 15" tyres, and since the plan is to do a few long journeys over winter, I'm wondering about getting a set of winters for it. The fronts on it now are on their last legs in any case.

[Rave]

I've now put over 2000 miles on this car since picking it up. It's so far done successful football jaunts to Watford, Swansea, Huddersfield and West Brom; it claims about 58mpg when you set the cruise to a true 70 on the (standalone) satnav; the speedo claims 75-76mph so assuming the trip computer is similarly optimistic that's still got to be well over 50mpg. It only managed 53mpg on the way back from West Brom; it wasn't until I got home that I realised I'd left the air-con on 'auto' rather than 'econ' so I hope normal service will be resumed on the way down to Bournemouth tomorrow. A few observations- bearing in mind I gave HMC/Bjorn barely more than scrap value for this car they are in no way to be taken as complaints(!) - the reversing sensors worked for exactly one reverse and don't seem to have done anything since; the driver's seat gets a bit uncomfortable after 5 hours, having to open the boot with the key is a bit of a PITA. Slightly more seriously, the gearbox is keen to jump out of second gear if you put any pressure on it before the clutch is fully disengaged, and it seems to develop a bit of a vibration if you floor it in 5th at 60mph plus, once the turbo has spooled up a bit and it's developing proper torque- this can happen going up hills, or if you're accelerating to overtake someone without dawdling in the lane outside them for too long. I am thinking that the first thing to try should be bunging some fresh fully synth oil in the gearbox as I have no idea how old it is, and I wonder if the engine/gearbox mounts might be a bit tired. More likely though the gearbox is on its last legs, as you'd expect after 241,000 miles, so I daresay I will just have to baby it for as long as possible and bridge the car when it gives up the ghost, unless I can find a decent secondhand one super cheap and fit it myself, both of which strike me as being unlikely. On the plus side when it's not vibrating it's smooth and drives perfectly nicely, and the stereo is, not to put too fine a point on it, fucking epic. The Denso system in my Mondeo Ghia X is loud and pretty bassy, and the Jag clearly has decent speakers and sounds great now I've ditched the terrible Chinese deckless head unit it came with and bunged a proper Sony in it, but the Passat has them both beat I think. I just need to figure out how to get an aux-in to it, or stop being lazy and burn myself some CDs to put in the multichanger, as banging choonz on pirate radio are harder to find outside of London (where we're usually spoilt for choice).

 

Meanwhile the tyres that were in need of replacement when I got it are really in need of replacement now- I had hoped to nurse them through to a month before the MOT is due and then stick it in early to see what the score with it is, but one of the fronts is 1/2mm from the wear bars now, except on the edge where it's got no tread at all. It's still just about legal, but I would not enjoy a discussion with a traffic copper about it. So, I'm looking at spending a good chunk of the car's value on some fresh rubber. I nearly pulled the trigger on some Kumho Ecowings which would have set me back about £215 fitted for a set of four with a 10% flash discount code on Blackcircles, but ended up prevaricating. I am now thinking that I might as well get some all season tyres on it; it rarely snows badly here in London and I rarely need to be driving about when it does; but this car's main job is to deliver us to football matches and my friend is now on a consecutive run of 385 competitive games which he is very keen to continue, and we've still got plenty of places well up north to visit this winter. The Kumho all seasons on Blackcircles are the same price as the summer ones give or take, but I found an Auto Express review of them that reckoned they weren't much cop. That review reckoned that the Nexen N Blue All Seasons are actually pretty good, to my surprise- I had Nexen down as another supplier of Chinese death rings like HiFly and their ghastly ilk, but no, apparently they're Korean and properly designed and made. So back to Blackcircles, only to find that they don't sell them.

 

I can however get them delivered for £47 each or so from MyTyres. Anyone know what the going rate is for fitting and balancing a tyre and disposing of the old one? If I can find a place to do it for a tenner a wheel I'm still looking at a more or less similar cost to the Kumhos on BC. Anyone got any horror stories about Nexens and want to warn me off? Or are all season tyres not really worth it? I can get N Blue summer tyres for more like 43 quid each, and they apparently have lower rolling resistance. I just think that if we end up trying to get somewhere like Burnley in early March in a snowstorm the all seasons could be quite useful- and of course, if I buy and fit snow-capable tyres to one of my cars for the first time ever that pretty much guarantees a mild winter .

 

Thoughts and advice please .

[Dan_ZTT]

My local ATS Eurowotsit did me a tyre change for a tenner (I think) a few months back, worth a look.

[dome]

For the vibration get right under it and check the inner CV joints. My S4 (same vag platform) was doing the same and I eventually tracked it down to one of them

[abelw44]

If the stereo in that is similar to the one in my b5 Audi, which sounded similarly good, then with a bit of soldering and a twin pole switch it's quite easy to install an AUX cord that pinches the audio input from the CD changer. You have to have a CD in it, so it thinks it's playing, and then send the audio from the aux cord through the changer's input.

 

That probably makes little sense, so I'll find the link to the article that I got it from...

 

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[Rave]

For the vibration get right under it and check the inner CV joints. My S4 (same vag platform) was doing the same and I eventually tracked it down to one of them

 

Thanks, I will have a look at some point then- I was also idly thinking about doing all the front suspension arms having seen your write up on the job. You can buy a kit that contains all 8 of them and all new bolts etc. on ebay for a smidge over a ton, are they likely to be made of cheese? Any recommendations for where to get decent parts and which ones are most likely to be worn if so?

 

If the stereo in that is similar to the one in my b5 Audi, which sounded similarly good, then with a bit of soldering and a twin pole switch it's quite easy to install an AUX cord that pinches the audio input from the CD changer. You have to have a CD in it, so it thinks it's playing, and then send the audio from the aux cord through the changer's input.

 

That probably makes little sense, so I'll find the link to the article that I got it from...

 

No it makes perfect sense, just sounds like a bit of a faff!   Mine's a Blaupunkt integrated satnav system I think. Not an urgent job really, once I've finished moving house I'll burn a few CDs to tide me over, got loads of blank CDRs here.

[abelw44]

I can't find the article, but essentially the input to the head unit for audio from the CD changer gets connected to the central two pins of the switch. Then on either side, the audio input from the AUX lead and the input from the CD changer, meaning the switch decides which input the head unit listens to.

 

Shielded wire is best (I used bits of old USB lead) so that the ground for each bit can be linked together.

 

Hopefully that makes some sense?

 

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[abelw44]

Thanks, I will have a look at some point then- I was also idly thinking about doing all the front suspension arms having seen your write up on the job. You can buy a kit that contains all 8 of them and all new bolts etc. on ebay for a smidge over a ton, are they likely to be made of cheese? Any recommendations for where to get decent parts and which ones are most likely to be worn if so?

 

 

No it makes perfect sense, just sounds like a bit of a faff! Mine's a Blaupunkt integrated satnav system I think. Not an urgent job really, once I've finished moving house I'll burn a few CDs to tide me over, got loads of blank CDRs here.

Faff it certainly is, there's almost certainly an off the shelf way of doing it, I'm just a cheapskate!

 

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