Ask a Shiter

[The Moog]

It clunks over potholes. When I try the wheel wobble test it moves about 4 mm. Doesnt happen the other side. Looking at the rest of it I cant see anything else that would cause the problem. The bushes arent perfect but are still there. Fitted new dampers about 3 months ago so isnt them.

[garethj]

How much, roughly, should I expect to pay for a respray in the original colour of the car? It's got a vinyl roof if that makes any difference (although there are a few suspicious bumps, so heaven knows what could be going on underneath it).

 

Very grateful for any advice (and also any good recommendations for places to go in or near Herts)... Cheers!

Last time I had a car done it was £2000 which included a bit of welding for the rear valance and other easy areas. Hayden at Panel Kraft did a great job: http://www.panel-kraft.co.uk/

 

I've also had a few £300 resprays done, and to be honest I got a miles better finish with Rustoleum and doing it by hand.

[Pillock]

 

& tell me about colour coding on VW Variants,

I remember it was mentioned on here a yonk back that VW's

were colour coded according to how much you'd spent on them.

My 'GT' badges are in need of colouring in.

 

You mean the TDI badges?

 

All silver - 90bhp or 105bhp

Red "I" - 110bhp or 115bhp

Red DI - 130bhp

Red TDI - 150bhp

 

However now they've got 140bhp and 170bhp models and they seem to just use all silver sometimes.

[Cavcraft]

I don't think they ever made a VW Variant in TDi (or any diesel come to think of it) FLAVA. Weren't they all air cooled with Beetle engines?

[Pete-M]

You mean the TDI badges?

 

All silver - 90bhp or 105bhp

Red "I" - 110bhp or 115bhp

Red DI - 130bhp

Red TDI - 150bhp

 

However now they've got 140bhp and 170bhp models and they seem to just use all silver sometimes.

 

When I was flogging VWs for a living the whole badge thing was a lottery as the mechanics who PDi'd them just used to throw whatever was to hand on. SEAT seem to do the same thing, we've got eight or nine Alhambra 'Reference' 130 bhp jobs in work and they've all got random TDi badges. Some have all silver badges on the front wings but all red ones on the boot, one has a red i on one side, a red DI on the other and silver TDI on the boot..

 

That may just be our local SEAT branch though, they're useless at best.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Has anyone got any tips as to why the 'add to watch list' has disappeared when I am browsing ebay? It was working yesterday but today theres no sign of it. No other internet problems seem to be present.

[warren t claim]

It's working fine for me.

[garycox]

I think it's moved recently... it's under the 'place bid' button...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah i've found it now, cheers. WOW CHEERS EBAY THATS A MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT

[Cavcraft]

Anyone else having a twitchy back button facility on eBay? I only want to go back one item or whatever but when I press the back button it goes back about 14 sodding clicks and I keep seeing the same old chod.

[Pillock]

 

When I was flogging VWs for a living the whole badge thing was a lottery as the mechanics who PDi'd them just used to throw whatever was to hand on. SEAT seem to do the same thing, we've got eight or nine Alhambra 'Reference' 130 bhp jobs in work and they've all got random TDi badges. Some have all silver badges on the front wings but all red ones on the boot, one has a red i on one side, a red DI on the other and silver TDI on the boot..

 

Same with some of the actual models. VW never officially did a Golf Mk4 GTTDI but you can get a GTI with a TDI engine. So the PDI yobs got a bit creative, I've seen "GTITDI", "GTTDI" "GTDI", "GT TDI" and all sorts. With the same variation in red and silver letters.

 

I just find it a little sad that you need to advertise that you have 5, 10, 20bhp more etc.... even the Leons in my shape had a "130" badge if you got the higher power diesel. Mine is badgeless, I assume because the moron who owned it before wanted it to look like a Cupra.

 

 

That may just be our local SEAT branch though, they're useless at best.

 

Just like their cars.....

[Albert Ross]

It's been happening years though. All this automotive cock-waving. The office car park in the late 70s/early 80s.... Cortinas....1.3 base, 1.3 base, 1,3 base, 1.6L, 1.6L, 1.6L, 1.6GL Estate, 2.0GL, 2.3 Ghia Estate, Granada 2.3GL. 2.3GL, 2.8iGLS, 2.8i GhiaX, Maserati BiTurbo etc. Spot the reps, spot the middle managers, spot the VP..... and spot the Director of the Board.

[Guest Len H]

I don't think many cars have trim level or engine size badges any more.

[catsinthewelder]

I'd spend an afternoon with some grease and WD40 sorting that door catch then chuck it in for a test. The catch might be an issue the rest shouldn't be (I'm not a tester though).

[Morgan84]

Just to get back to the questions, here's one for the MoT testers.

My Audi ('98 A3 TDi) is due a test in a fortnight, here's a list of things I know are wrong with it.

 

Service display (odometer - "service miles" flashes up) comes on, goes off after 30 seconds or so.

Offside door is visibly crusty at base.

Offside door latch can be iffy, pushing the internal handle in sorts it (not related to rust).

Heater only blows hot air (at all times).

Vibration through steering wheel at 60-65mph (I reckon the wheels are out but blame the council for not fixing all the fucking pot holes).

Exhaust rattles at idle or when decelerating at walking pace (quiet at all other times - car runs well and gives good economy).

Most of the lights in the centre console do not illuminate (heater aside, all controls function as they should).

Water will appear in the front footwells after heavy rain or a wash (the rubber mats mostly hide this).

Rear wash wipe doesn't. The wash will dribble when the bottle is full, wiper hasn't worked for nearly 9 months.

 

The actual question is, if I pull the rear wiper off and replace it with a gromet and throw the car at the council MoT shed (just down the road),what are the odds of a pass?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Rear wiper is NOT part of the mot test.

A door not 'securing' correctly is a failure

Rust can only fail if its likely to cause injury from a sharp edge = duct tape

Service light - not a testable item

Exhaust rattle - might be a heat shield or a baffle - providing its secure and not excessively deteriorated - advisary

center console lamps - not a failure provided actual testable control warning lamps illuminate - lighting controls only - heating controls are not testable

Heater - not a testable item

water ingress - not a failure,but its god practice to advised

Wheel vibration - might not be detectable on test - maybe a bad tyre or pot holed rim

 

Sounds like it shouldn't do too bad,but will get a long list on the advisary sheet

[Cavcraft]

Just to get back to the questions, here's one for the MoT testers.

My Audi ('98 A3 TDi) is due a test in a fortnight, here's a list of things I know are wrong with it.

 

Service display (odometer - "service miles" flashes up) comes on, goes off after 30 seconds or so.

Offside door is visibly crusty at base.

Offside door latch can be iffy, pushing the internal handle in sorts it (not related to rust).

Heater only blows hot air (at all times).

Vibration through steering wheel at 60-65mph (I reckon the wheels are out but blame the council for not fixing all the fucking pot holes).

Exhaust rattles at idle or when decelerating at walking pace (quiet at all other times - car runs well and gives good economy).

Most of the lights in the centre console do not illuminate (heater aside, all controls function as they should).

Water will appear in the front footwells after heavy rain or a wash (the rubber mats mostly hide this).

Rear wash wipe doesn't. The wash will dribble when the bottle is full, wiper hasn't worked for nearly 9 months.

 

The actual question is, if I pull the rear wiper off and replace it with a gromet and throw the car at the council MoT shed (just down the road),what are the odds of a pass?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Wheel vibration almost certainly just the balance. Any decent tyre place could sort this in 15 minutes at most.

 

Exhaust could be mounting rubbers or a heat shield, again a quick job for a tyre house.

 

Water in footwells probably down to blocked drain points under the panel below the windscreen. Have a quick look and see if you can spot the rubber bungs, there may be one under the battery if it's located there. If you can see the bungs it does no harm to poke them out with a long handled screwdriver. Wet floors can lead to myriad electrical gremlins on VAG stuff.

 

Rear wiper blade seems to fall under MOT scrutiny, certainly they check them when I go for an MOT. However if wiper removed it's not a fail.

[Andrew353w]

Speaking as a tester, the only thing in that list that MIGHT be of concern is the door rust; Although not structural (as in suspension brackets) it could be a failure if the tester considers it dangerous if a pedestrian were injured by it. The rear wiper's NOT part of the test, the exhaust pipe mustn't leak and be securely attached to the car, but it can rattle as much as it wants! (although this might suggest that the catalytic converter has gone west...) The tracking can be out, but if it's caused excessive wear on the tyres then it'll fail for that, but you'll not fail for having puddles in the floor (unless they've made the floor so rusty that it's not structurally sound)

 

Your heater controls don't have to be lit for the test, and neither does your heater have to work! The door has to be "capable of being opened from the inside" which you have said you can do, so that's OK.

 

Hope this helps!

[r.welfare]

I was intrigued to note that my brother-in-law's car passed the MOT a few weeks back with a complete absence of rear washer nozzle - water got through but just trickled down the outside of the bootlid, nowhere near the rear window.

 

Didn't this used to be testable, or is it just that the rear wiper (not washer) needs to function?

[Albert Ross]

Rear wiper has never been part of the test. Same as front foglamps, spare wheel (but not security thereof if suspended underneath) and other things.

[CreepingJesus]

Re Tayne's door handle issue: this might be the curse of the VAG mechanisms... Easily sorted tho'.

Take the door card off, have a look at the mechanism inside the door, it should be composed of a number of fingers, cranks etc., (it is unnecessarily complicated for what it is) which have little white nylon wear pads on. Bet you find some wear on them. If so, file them flat (a nail file will do), and superglue little discs of plastic onto the wear pads to take up the gaps. I've found that plastic bottle caps make ideal donors.

Ten minutes work, and free to do, providing you've got a bottle cap, nail file and superglue. and something to cut the cap up with.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

WTF is a 'diesel mineral motor oil"? Surely the grade and the API spec are the only relevant things?

 

http://direct.asda.com/Asda-15W40-Miner ... lt,pd.html is on 'special offer' but, rather helpfully, the description's been merged with that for a 5w-30.

[Rod/b]

Mineral oil. For a diesel.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Mineral oil. For a diesel.

 

I can see that. The question is, will putting it in an engine that burns petrol/lpg/wood pellets/lamb chops cause said engine to go BANG?

[trigger]

Is your car a diesel?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

No. But what difference does the fuel type make in terms of lubrication? Why isn't there an 'LPG/CNG oil' for engines of those persuasions?

[trigger]

Because LPG is still a petrol engine, There's cleaning additives inside the oil to clean the engine, Diesel engine carbon up more then petrol engines so there's stronger additives in diesel oil to clean them, (This could be bollocks but i think that's right).

 

Your car is a petrol so go and buy petrol oil, It's quite simple.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Because LPG is still a petrol engine, There's cleaning additives inside the oil to clean the engine, Diesel engine carbon up more then petrol engines so there's stronger additives in diesel oil to clean them, (This could be bollocks but i think that's right).

 

Cheers! I guess that makes sense. I surely don't want very abrasive stuff rubbing against the VTEC. BTW, google does seem to be able to find some oil specifically formulated for LPG engines, but I'll stick to Motorcraft 10w-30 for the Scorpio.

[loserone]

MX5 failed it's MOT today, including two main points; a (5p sized crack) hole in the sill which I knew about but hoped would be OK, and NSF brake binding. Tester tells me that it's been binding a while - so presumably it's been heating up and being generally useless for a while, and I've been relying on the other side to slow me down.

 

Stupid question: How the hell did I do a 1200 mile drive around Scotland last week and not notice this? I wasn't exactly taking it easy, and I do try to pay attention to the poor thing as I'm ragging it around!

 

Surely it would pull under acceleration/braking, the brake performance would deteriorate drastically, the world would collapse &c.?

[pdg]

I've used 'diesel motor oil' in a petrol car - for over 90k - in a year - it was my taxi...

 

It's not got any abrasives, otherwise it'd be called 'grinding paste' or 'cutting fluid' or something more obscure instead of oil.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Because LPG is still a petrol engine, There's cleaning additives inside the oil to clean the engine, Diesel engine carbon up more then petrol engines so there's stronger additives in diesel oil to clean them, (This could be bollocks but i think that's right).

 

Cheers! I guess that makes sense. I surely don't want very abrasive stuff rubbing against the VTEC. BTW, google does seem to be able to find some oil specifically formulated for LPG engines, but I'll stick to Motorcraft 10w-30 for the Scorpio.

 

VTEC or not I wouldnt worry too much about what oil brew you put in, you shouldnt have any problem with 'abrasive oil', just put something in which says 'OIL' on it and is not ridiculously cheap or expensive and you'll be fine.