The doom blue Passat - brake broke (again)

[Bren]

Good work.

Oddly I have one of these on my watch list on ebay - identical to one my brother had. Inky blue tdi sport.

[Split_Pin]

This is great that this car is still going strong, I didn't know you still had it. I hope it reaches 300,000 miles.

[bunglebus]

Yeah it just keeps going, it's been family owned for a long time, but mostly it's just really well made. 

Another few years to 300k, on 273 now

[bunglebus]

Why is it some jobs escalate? All I was going to do was find out which of the injector leak off pipes was causing a whiff of diesel in the car (a regular and very easy job), but they all looked dry. However taking the engine cover off reminded me that I should actually replace the rocker cover gasket that's been weeping for years and has been "in stock" for months. But of course I dropped two of the domed washers into the depths of the undertray, and while one was visible and retrieved with a magnet on a stick, the other was nowhere to be seen. Damn it, I'll have to take the undertray off, and if I'm doing that I might as well change the wheelarch liner it attaches too (also in stock for some time) and devise a way of preventing the captive clips from falling out every single time I try and put the undertray on, and all that means I can also access the washer bottle to reseal the pump that's been leaking ever since I had the cambelt replaced!

However - on jacking the car up I found the elusive washer, which was a bit of a relief!

Here's what a 275k mile VW TDi looks like with regular 6K mile synthetic oil changes 

Oh and I found the leaking pipe on startup...

[bunglebus]

I'd noticed my rear pads getting a little low a while back so I ordered Brembo pads and discs (discs didn't look bad but I'd just rather replace the lot for the price difference).

My mate just moved to a house with a double garage so that was ideal for keeping the rain off.

Funny how sometimes you set out to do a job and realise there's something else wrong - both sides had one very seized slider in the caliper which took a bit of getting out. Sanded and copper greased them but I've ordered a new set as the galvanising has clearly vanished off them.

They must have been causing the brakes to drag a bit as the car seems to roll much more easily now, the slightest gradient and it's away.

Last changed in March 2020 so they've not done too badly I suppose 

[bunglebus]

Having done the rear brakes mere days ago (!) I wasn't too amused to get out and smell something unpleasant and lots of heat coming from the OSR wheel. Oh well I've got new sliders and carrier bolts to fit anyway

Poops

Oh well I'll clean and grease the originals again. Disc definitely looks like it's got hot

But everything seems free, sliders, handbrake mech etc. Carrier looks a bit crusty though

So I ran a file across the contact points, did the other parts the pads touch after this pic too

Still feels slightly tight after refitting everything, I wish I'd actually found a cause of the problem. Could be the piston but this side had a new caliper in the not too distant past.

Might as well look at some other bits then, got a whiff of diesel the other day which usually means the bleed off pipes are leaking - they look OK but there's oil all over the rocker cover, only just changed the gasket! Bet it's those breather pipes - cover left off to diagnose.

Might as well fit the new plastic dipstick tube then - old one crumbled to dust so that was fun trying not to get any down inside the metal guide. Bits can live in the undertray until the next oil change!

Oh and I found the bracket that holds the engine cover just about to fall off, no idea how the nuts came loose but I nipped them back up

[bunglebus]

Bleed off pipes done

I think the oil leak may have been me, I had this clamp around the bracket as well as the pipe rather than just clamping the pipe. Changed it now so I'll keep an eye. I don't like the clamp on the other pipe so I'll change that for an original type one or a jubilee jobbie

OSR caliper still getting hotter than the NS. I'll wind the piston in and out a few times, if that fails it'll be another caliper. Bloody pattern parts 😐

[bunglebus]

Headlight cataracts removed again.

Ordered a pair of indicators from Autodoc as one keeps getting water in it. Sealed up up for now after managing to find some silicone that wasn't a hard lump

[bunglebus]

Got some new indicators from Autodoc today. 

They look OK but the fit wasn't very good on the driver's side

So I've put a little spacer in. I'll replace this with a bit of clear plastic when I find some

Passenger side is a good fit

They also sent me two left side retaining thingies, they're handed

Just re-used an original.

Managed to make a lovely cock up drilling holes in them for the sidelight bulb holders (I've moved them from in the headlights), NS was fine but the OS the drill gripped the hole and pulled in at about 100MPH, so there's now a scratch inside the lens and the hole is ragged. Sigh.

[bunglebus]

Bit of a day to myself today, so I thought I'd attend to the OSR window. What keeps happening is this double roll pin falls out, it's what retains the glass into the lifter

You need to get it into this hole which is a bit of a swine with the cable in the way, a bit of keyhole surgery essentially.

Thought I'd stick some glue on it to try and stop it falling out again, but nothing too strong that I wouldn't be able to remove it again. Tried PVA, we'll see

Having got it back in I remembered I also needed to seal the carrier thing against the door, it's a foam seal and they deteriorate over time. Rain then gets between it and the door and runs out just inboard of the door seal on the body, so you get wet carpets. Of course that means taking the flippin' roll pin back out again!

Cleaned all the remains of the seal off the door

And off the carrier (not fun)

Then a quick run up to Toolstation for a few metres of this foam seal stuff, don't know if it will work but fingers crossed. Certainly not using silicone like I've seen done before!

I also noticed after the drive the OSR brake smells hot again so I think that caliper is done for, great.

Refitted everything, spent half an hour swearing at the roll pin as it fell inside the door several dozen times and threatened the speaker with the hammer if it didn't stop attracting the grab tool onto it 🙄

Eventually got there, even got the stupid plastic expanding pin thingies to go back in to retain the door lock, shut the door and heard something metallic rattle down inside! Fuck knows what that was, I'll find out next time as I'm not taking it apart again today.

Interior door handle is broken where the screws go in, car seems to be getting to an age where all the plastic bits are getting brittle, we'll see how shit the Chinese replacement is in a few weeks. I need a NSF handle too but if course all the replacement are designed for LHD 

[bunglebus]

My cheapie eBay caliper arrived. Last cheapie eBay caliper on the same wheel has lasted 4 years and 33,000 miles, not brilliant.

Went together OK until I tried to refit the handbrake cable. Those cheeky Chinese chappies forgot to machine a deep enough recess for the cable to sit in, so I couldn't get the retaining clip on. Here's the old

And the new

A fun 40 mins using a sanding attachment on the Dremel ensued until I'd thinned the arm enough. Still, it works and cost me £18 with a Nectar voucher and a discount code.

I also fitted all new sliders and the caliper carrier retaining bolts to both sides, having ordered them in previously.

Finding water in the jack recess of the boot while looking for a spanner didn't please me, anyone got a suggestion for a non setting sealant I can apply to the foam tail light seals?

[Split_Pin]

42 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

non setting sealant

I use red rubber grease although it doesn't last forever.

[bunglebus]

New interior handle arrived

As predicted, it's hot Chinese dog shit

Looks alright there but it doesn't clip together properly, and because it's not made right it's pushing the door card away

New clips would help there I'm sure, but they're all cheap crap too

Put me in a crap mood, especially after finding the wiring connector to the tweeter somehow got broken when I last put it together 

[bunglebus]

Decided to get to the bottom of water ingress into the boot. Gets wet along the NSR back edge of the boot carpet, pulling that up revealed water under a bit of wiring loom

Pulled the side trim and the plastic cover inside the rear panel off, definitely wet down the bottom

Got the Mrs to hose the car while I was in the boot with a light, confirmed NSR tail light is the source. Seals are these foam jobbies

Another job to do while I'm having the lights out was removed the decade old tint that was starting to craze and come off

This was frankly, a right bar steward. About an hour with thinner, acetone and wet sanding got it done. Then I remembered one of the reasons I tinted them originally, one is a pattern replacement so they're not quite identical 

Found the alarm siren, that's what the wire was that the water was tracking along.

Had problems with the tinting spray, it would only come out if the can was on its side or upside down, which made for an interesting time. They look really black!

However you can see where the sun is on them it's not too dark at all 

Used a thin line of butyl rubber "Butyrub" sealant between the foam and body as it's none setting and I want to be able to get them out again! Hopefully that's water leak #2 fixed, two more to go...

[bunglebus]

Had a bit of a stressful day fighting M25 bank holiday traffic, and getting home wasn't looking great either, so decided to go through the rather excellent Essex county lanes instead. Just at the end of a spirited  drive, it beeped at me and showed the warning hazard symbol. WTF?

On inspection, there was something leaking in the NSR wheel area and brake fluid on minimum. Bearing in mind this is not the caliper I've just replaced!

Removal of the wheel revealed a bit of a horror story of wetness everywhere

Now also bear in mind I've just fitted new carrier retaining bolts and caliper sliders a few days ago, I would have seen this if it was like it then.

Cleaned everything up, worked out it was coming out at the compression washers on the brake hose so nipped the bolt up to FT and checked it - no more leak. Heaven knows why it's happened, this connection has never been interfered with in the last 11 years and possibly not since 1998...

 

[bunglebus]

Sun is shining, spanners are a' twirling

NSF wheel arch liner has had a hole in for ages, caused by driving about without the undertray to hold it in place - hence this bodge using a section of the original undertray. I bought a 2nd hand one ages ago.

Other problem was the crappy pattern clips fall out of the crappy pattern undertray. So I decided to try bonding them in using plastic gutter sealant. 75% success rate, after I'd failed to find the new ones I knew I'd ordered, ordered some more then found the first lot while looking for something else! Grr

That's better

Of course the pattern fixings are crap so I've put a self tapper in each side as well just to be in the safe side.

While doing all this I changed the oil, got rid of loads of stones out of the undertray (weird, never found any before), cleaned up various oily gunky bits and dug out all the mud lodged at the back of the inner wing behind the liner.

Oh and re-bled the OSR brake as I wasn't happy I'd got all the air out last time

[bunglebus]

Wickes were thoughtful enough to provide a diagram showing how to load my Passat correctly. Great attention to detail!

 

[bunglebus]

I'm putting off doing MoT work (brake pipes) as I'm getting THE FEAR about immobilising my car. Instead I thought I'd sort out the pollen filter housing leak, only needed doing since day one.

Actually pretty easy to get the old housing out (why didn't I do this before?), it has had the recall sealant used but it's failed for some reason.

Cleaned all the gunge out and put the new tar-like sealant on the brand new pollen filter housing my dad bought probably the best part of 20 years ago - and the bloody thing's wrong! Wonder if I can still return it?

Ah well, pinched the foam bit off it and cleaned up the old one. As well as the VW tar seal I'd bought, I also applied a layer of non- setting sealant around the opening in the scuttle.

One of the retaining studs snapped, fortunately the one you can drill out and replace with a suitable self tapper. Job done in under an hour - pollen filter looks grim though so I've ordered a new one for 'ron

[bunglebus]

Still chasing water leaks, having sealed the tail lights with some non setting butyl I thought I'd got the boot one sorted - but my windows have been steaming up again, couldn't find the problem until I needed some tools out of the well at the side - and they're all rusty thanks to sitting in a puddle

I dried out the boot carpet and refitted it, but removed the parts that line that well. Found a few more drips in there since but might have just been from everything getting soaked.

Just opened the boot and found the carpet wet again, but not in the well. This is underneath the mat/trim

I don't know where it's getting in but it's been tracking along that wire and filling the well up, misleading me into thinking it was coming from the rear light. Weird thing is there's no dampness above that puddle anywhere, and it's along behind the rear valance. I just can't see how it's getting in, seems to happen when it rains overnight rather than when I'm driving so I don't think it's getting forced in

[bunglebus]

I know it's not really the Autoshite way, but I like this car, so I don't mind splurging a bit of money on it. The tyres had done 30k miles and were getting a bit low (not terrible but about 3mm and rather worn on the front inner edges), and I got an offer via FB from a wheel refurbishment company local to me who seemed to do good work.

This has been an expensive endeavour, but it does look rather nice on the A3 alloys wrapped in Efficient Grips, I replaced the corroded old centre caps with a plastic set I liked the look of too, and even polished my nuts!*

Shiny wheels needed a shiny car so I washed it as well

*they're bolts but that's not as funny

Even bought a set of the proper sockets to avoid scratching them

Fitting all the Passat's wheels/tyres, and four new tyres in the Lupo was a challenge, but we managed it somehow 

[bunglebus]

In slightly less good news, the glovebox I bought off eBay ages ago is not only the wrong colour

but also has a faulty latch on one side so it doesn't close properly. No way in to fix it as the inner and outer parts are plastic welded together.

The biggest problem I seem to face with this car is the plastics are getting brittle, this is the third glovebox now as the handles break off, when I removed the glovebox this time part of the support structure broke off the dashboard so I had to reconstruct it using epoxy. Various other bits of trim have broken inside the car and the options are 2nd hand/equally old or Chinese repop that doesn't fit, or is designed for LHD so doesn't work.

One day I'll find a VW dealer with a dusty shelf full of 90s trim parts they're binning

[Leyland Worldmaster]

On 30/04/2024 at 13:37, bunglebus said:

Headlight cataracts removed again.

Ordered a pair of indicators from Autodoc as one keeps getting water in it. Sealed up up for now after managing to find some silicone that wasn't a hard lump

Love the Boobies! I've got a pair of those 📻📻too! 

[Split_Pin]

Wheels look ace, good colour choice with the dark blue.

[Bren]

17 hours ago, bunglebus said:

In slightly less good news, the glovebox I bought off eBay ages ago is not only the wrong colour

but also has a faulty latch on one side so it doesn't close properly. No way in to fix it as the inner and outer parts are plastic welded together.

The biggest problem I seem to face with this car is the plastics are getting brittle, this is the third glovebox now as the handles break off, when I removed the glovebox this time part of the support structure broke off the dashboard so I had to reconstruct it using epoxy. Various other bits of trim have broken inside the car and the options are 2nd hand/equally old or Chinese repop that doesn't fit, or is designed for LHD so doesn't work.

One day I'll find a VW dealer with a dusty shelf full of 90s trim parts they're binning

Because they've gone brittle.

[bunglebus]

A bit of preventative maintenance I've been meaning to do - the original brake fluid reservoir went brittle as it's exposed to UV through the scuttle vents. Having found a correct RHD replacement, I was keen to stop it happening again. A bit of adhesive foil tape should do the job

[bunglebus]

Not so much as an advisory 😎

[bunglebus]

Came out this morning and instead of the usual instant start, it churned lazily and stopped. I had noticed it turning over slightly more slowly than normal for the last week or so, but put it down to leaving the dashcam on overnight as I was parked on the road.

I've had my fair share of problems with Halfords batteries, the one on it now is a replacement from about this time in 2023 after a big argument over their 5 year warranty not being worth diddly squat, as apparently it only covers "manufacturing defects".  If this one's now died I'll be getting one from elsewhere.

I did run it into their autocentre as they did a comprehensive test last time with their whizzy meter thing, this time it's showing as 70% life left but suggested the 13.8v charging level is below par. Having tested an E30 BMW (13.8v), a Honda Jazz (14.2v) and a Nissan Elgrand (14.4v), I'm not too worried. 

However, I noticed something odd. This morning, I was using my mains charger on fast charge/jump start mode, and the voltage increased from 11 odd to 12.6v, but would not climb any higher. In the end I connected up a spare battery and the charger to get it to start, but it made me think - can a battery fault effect the rate of charge via the alternator, i e. if it's faulty, could that limit the voltage taken from the alternator?

Having had a decent run around today, I got back at lunchtime and did an amp drain test

0.4 amps isn't ideal, removing each fuse in turn made no difference either. I then connected the small battery charger up while doing some work on the Lupo. It's been on there for about four hours, and still says it's charging. I suspect the battery is FUBAR but I'd appreciate other's opinions 

[Lord Sterling]

Nice work there on the Passat Rich. Love the styling, very early 00s 'Polish plumber' with his first Passat-like.

You may or may not remember, I had a Passat TDi for a very short time. In fact the alternator gave up as I was driving it home. I ended up giving it away. Sadly not too long after it was scrapped.

It also suffered from damp carpets. But they seemed dry, if a little mouldy when I got it. Its one car I never got to 'properly' own.

Fatha_Sterling is a BIG fan of Passats. He owns this now:

I think it's a 1.5 TSi (because Brussels ULEZ) I've just bought him a set of mats as it's mkssing the drivers side. Plus we got the wheel trims after it came on some very poorly painted black alloys.

At 69, my Dad is starting to find it a bit of a challenge but he is so far being a bit reluctant to change.

Soke years ago, when I owned the Mercedes E280, as it was in the garage for work and I had no car, I borrowed a Passat like this from them:

It was thier runaround car. I think I had it washed once too. I have a pic of the actual car somewhere.

[Cavcraft]

IIRC, the B5 and B5.5s all suffered from water ingress, which was caused (at least on mine) by the pollen filter seal, or something like that.

[bunglebus]

41 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

IIRC, the B5 and B5.5s all suffered from water ingress, which was caused (at least on mine) by the pollen filter seal, or something like that.

Yeah that's one. The seals on the metal panels inside the doors is another, both foam that's fallen apart over time. Leak into the boot is a mystery though, as it creeps upwards through a join inside the rear valance