The doom blue Passat - damn fuel

[bunglebus]

The heater is absolutely rubbish, it's been getting worse for years but the latest cold snap has drawn to my attention that the hot air is warm at best. 

Only really two possible causes, a gummed up matrix or one of the flap motor things inside the heater isn't playing ball. As it's 5° rather than -5° today, it's my best shot at sorting it. Drained as much of the coolant as I could so below the level of the matrix and put the hose up it each way - nothing but nice pinky orange coolant came out. I've put a bit of vinegar in it for half an hour but I've got the horrible feeling this is not a simple fix

[Westbay]

Thermostat ?

[beko1987]

Put a garden hose on the inlet then outlet of the matrix? 🤞

I fixed a cold corsa c by doing that once. Ran clear for a while then suddenly something moved and tons of shit came out

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, Westbay said:

Thermostat ?

Engine gets up to temp fine, I've changed the stat before. 

I did hose it both ways but it just ran clear, I know these Passats have problems with the servos inside the heater failing, so I think I'm getting a mix of hot and cold air rather than full hot despite the coolant being up to temp

[bunglebus]

OSR caliper is getting stuck on when using the handbrake, lubed it up but it's still happening. It's a cheap eBay Chinese job so no surprise, I should know better. Ordered a Febi Bilstein one as I trust their parts.

This turned up, clearly been opened before 

That's a left side, not a right, here's a crap pic of the current one - cable comes from the front (to our right) and pulls the arm clockwise

Try again, messaged a different seller asking for a pic of the actual item - no response so I ordered anyway, guess what?

Yep, another opened box and the wrong side - it seems Febi have an error in their parts listing, I'm actually in talks with them now to try and get it corrected, but the obvious answer short term was to order a left side...

Sealed box, correct caliper for OSR. Only taken a month to get the right part...

[bunglebus]

Getting a little bit miffed with the rear caliper situation now, had two "rights" which are actually lefts, ordered a left which looked good initially 

But is still different so the flexi won't go on due to different positioning. I'm not convinced the handbrake cable would fit either now looking at the pics

These are the ones Febi list, their UK guy has been really good talking about the problems but I'll have to get another brand now.

We took the handbrake mech off and lubed it up, working well for the moment at least, did have a bit of fun with fluid leaks at the flexi as I didn't want to overtighten the bolt into an ally housing 

[bunglebus]

Well this is odd

When I parked at work on Wednesday afternoon, it was above the red and I intended to fill up tomorrow as I've been driving a van instead. Got in it tonight and it beeped and showed completely empty, which was rather concerning. Put £7 at the expense local station and it hasn't changed, I think the sender has failed. Fun...

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, bunglebus said:

Well this is odd

When I parked at work on Wednesday afternoon, it was above the red and I intend to fill up tomorrow as I've been driving a van instead. Got in it tonight and it beeped and showed completely empty, which was rather concerning. Put £7 at the expense local station and it hasn't changed, I think the sender has failed. Fun...

If you lived in rural northern England, your fuel gauge would go UP overnight. 

[beko1987]

I doubt £7 nowadays would make even my fully working fuel sender move 😂😢 

Short term fix would be to brim it properly then do 400/a safe amount miles (assuming it does that anyway to a tank...) then re-brim and there's your safe range and never fix it...

The fuel warning light on a zx 1.9td I had once would trigger when I joined the m40 if it was low, then go off again once I'd stopped doing a massive left hand corner very fast and it leveled out. On the 4th time it would then stay on and I knew I needed to refuel on the way home 👌 (or add veg at the office in those glorious days)

[Brigsy]

I think you would be lucky to see the gauge move for £7 with current prices.

I was behind a modified bm 140i at the fuel station the other day. Stanced, loud as fuck exhaust etc. Owner was at the pump for about 20 seconds, put £12 in approx 7 ltrs from memory. Thats the new equivalent of putting a fiver in. Must have lasted him ten seconds when he sent it up the road😆

[High Jetter]

My Aldi beeps at me whenever it thinks I only have 40 miles range. This morning I was down to 80 odd miles, did 15-20 before coming home. Went out to get tea, OMG 0 miles left! Chucked £10 in (at 174.something) and low, 60 miles range. Leaving the chippy I had 90 range, up to 110 when home. Will brim it tomorrow.

[bunglebus]

OK this is bee zar. Stuck a full 5l can in - no difference 

Filled it to the top, got this

2 miles down the road and it's slowly crept to display full. WTF

[Zelandeth]

Slightly sticky or scratchy potentiometer on the sender.

The gauge isn't tied directly to it but is controlled by one of the ECUs which damps it out.  It will also tend to be heavily pessimistic (as the opposite is more likely to leave you stranded) so wouldn't show a higher reading until it was confident that it was seeing an accurate reading.

So most likely the potentiometer is a bit noisy at the extreme ends of the travel of the float.

[Split_Pin]

My Saab fuel guage does exactly this as well. After a short drive it wakes up. Thankfully, so far, its dropped at the correct rate so I'm not left stranded.

My old.Megane fuel guage was stuck at 5,500 rpm 😂 so I just zeroed the trip counter and filled up every 350 miles (in case you are building yourself up to the fun* of replacing the sender).