Rusty VW bothering …. Boxer fiddling

[N Dentressangle]

It's a real PITA, isn't it? I'd happily use my local independent factors more, but whilst they're reasonably priced for some things, for others they're way over. And they don't have a website where you can see whether they have stock and how much it is: you have to phone them.

And then there's the crummy quality of what you get, especially anything rubber...

[Bmwdumptruck]

Our local factors use to be brilliant,  would usually do their upmost to get you parts the same day.  Changed hands and the new guy seemed to prefer to sell model cars than actaul car parts. Surprisingly they lasted Longer than I expected, especially after one of the lads in there suggested I’d be better off getting some Panda discs and pads ‘off the internet mate’, which I did and pretty much have ever since.  I doubt I’ve spent £5er in there since.  They closed last year, or was it the year before…………….

[rusty_vw_man]

Exhaust change:

yep, that’s got a hole in. It also made some weird noises when you gave it a shake. Gave it a gentle tug and the whole thing opened up. Inside was rusted and a general mess:

 

New box whipped on

 

Sorted, no more hole and no leak at the joint. All good. 

The other issue since doing the cam belt was the gear change had got worse - and for anyone who has driven one they’ll know it’s not great to start with. It’s a cable change, but all the brackets are plastic, although the mechanism itself it at least metal. Whole thing seems very flexible and the ultimate in cost saving engineering  

Trouble is it’s here:

yep, there, under the battery box, air box, pipework and general stuff. This is with a lot already stripped off  

I figured it could only have been another victim of getting wet during the belt change, and sure enough there was some fresh looking orangeyyness (technical term!) on some bits. Couldn’t really get to them, so just drenched the whole lot in a Teflon spray which seems to lubricate  everything I’ve used it on. This seems to have returned it to crap but useable…. Lesson here to not leave the bonnet open in the rain, it can’t cope with it. 

Test drive has shown the exhaust doesn’t leak, but also the slightly rough idle has gone, which I think might have been down to the collapsed back box internals. 

Ball joints then MOT and hopefully it will vanish form this thread back into general ‘modern’ duties, but despite only being 8 years old and on 60000 miles I have a horrible feeling it’s entering the ‘shit will break and fall off’ phase. Underneath is quite crusty, and all those plastics are looking quite fragile.

[N Dentressangle]

Yes, IME the modern PSA and Stellantis stuff is entering the final bend of the river as it approaches 10 years old. Which seems amazing, but the quality and build of it suggests that way.

The shiny bodywork and general modernity kind of fool you into thinking it's the new car it looks though, doesn't it?

[rusty_vw_man]

Two lower ball joints to do. Very simple in principle: jack up, wheel off, pinch bolt out, split joint and then drill out three rivets that hold the old joint on. New joint come with bolts.

First up - new joint at £10 posted, assume they are not great quality but this close to Christmas needs must

first problem, pickle fork went in and did its magic, but it would not budge the last little bit, angle wasn’t quite right. Spent an hour with various bars and a jack levering it this way that until it suddenly just popped out. 

Next problem, the various YouTube videos suggest drilling them out or just grinding the heads off the rivets. Angry grinder out and heads gone, but the whole lot wasn’t moving. The rivet shafts were a very tight fit in their holes, and the joint was rusted to the arm. There was no way to really get at it either. 

So next step, remove lower arm - just two bolts. One pops out, but the other is trapped by the driveshaft - that domed head is a bolt

 

there’s no way I was going to take off the caliper, carrier, disc, wheel bearings and remove the drive shaft so a bit of dodgy jack action got the shaft high enough the bolt would wiggle out

Even with it off and with a big hammer they wasn’t much movement until I just chopped the corners off the holes:

that showed it. The offending rivet:

new joint just bolts on

and this was the reason for doing it, the ball joint boots had split, and the joints were tire tired as a result:

At 4.5 hours for the first side I carefully considered if I had enough time to do the other as well.

I’ll save that to treat myself at the weekend…

[rusty_vw_man]

ABS/ESP fault. 

Well this is sub-optimal. Fetch the overalls, I’m going in…..

[rusty_vw_man]

So today’s list - the abs fault, other ball joint, oil leak and why the gears are bing an arse. 

Given I’d been buggering around with the o/s front hub fitting the ball joint just before the fault code appeared it was probably something I had done, coincidence seems to high. 

hub apart, the ring and sensor are quite grubby, lots of general shite, some of which is metallic. Cleaned it up.

Whilst I’m in that wheel arch new crank seal - I’ve never been good at getting these to seal

next investigate fuse box, and gear change linkages - which meant taking out the battery that has done 8.5 years service - fluffy:
 

Gear linking is all nice and smooth, so that’s good, but also annoying as there is some other fault to find. Fuses are all intact. 

Next was a quick check of the ABS pump, which is mounted int he front bumper. The cables have unwrapped themselves but everything is intact and no green fuzz, so this end looks fine  

next I do the other ball joint, always easier the second time round. 

Got a code reader coming tomorrow to reset the ABS light and see if it can shed any light on the issue. 

Just as I was sliding back out from underneath I found the clutch space is quite drippy, so assume that’s the cause of the stickier gear change. Balls, more money and time under the car. 

This car has been low cost up to now, but all of a sudden it wants everything! 

[rusty_vw_man]

On 30/11/2025 at 16:12, N Dentressangle said:

Yes, IME the modern PSA and Stellantis stuff is entering the final bend of the river as it approaches 10 years old. Which seems amazing, but the quality and build of it suggests that way.

The shiny bodywork and general modernity kind of fool you into thinking it's the new car it looks though, doesn't it?

This sums up the day today nicely - it looks like a newish car on top, but looks like a 20 year old car underneath. 

[N Dentressangle]

3 hours ago, rusty_vw_man said:

This car has been low cost up to now, but all of a sudden it wants everything! 

...and that is what value engineering means.

For the last 15-20 years, computers have been powerful enough to be able to calculate exactly how many cycles a component will last for, and they're specced for a certain number, no more.

Hence everything starts to fail at around the same time. Good, innit? 🙄

[Matty]

2 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

...and that is what value engineering means.

For the last 15-20 years, computers have been powerful enough to be able to calculate exactly how many cycles a component will last for, and they're specced for a certain number, no more.

Hence everything starts to fail at around the same time. Good, innit? 🙄

At this point we could start to discuss how any of this is more kind to the environment than what we did previously. But then me and you are on the same page so itd just be an echo chamber. Maddening isnt it.

[rusty_vw_man]

10 hours ago, Matty said:

At this point we could start to discuss how any of this is more kind to the environment than what we did previously. But then me and you are on the same page so itd just be an echo chamber. Maddening isnt it.

Would love to see some proper whole life environmental costs for new cars. This Picasso probably won’t see its 12th birthday. It is allegedly super efficient and clean, but only achieves real world mpg of 41. This isn’t significantly better than a lot of older cars that lasted 25 years….

Even more interested in the same for electric with their rare earth metals. 

Without going too political this is late stage capitalism - we have the technology to make long lasting things, but that doesn’t make money.

Looking forward to fishing my Amazon shipped Topdon 600 out a puddle or recycling bin later and having a play….. 

[rusty_vw_man]

A new era, diagnostic tool has entered my life. 

Car was showing ABS, ESP and TPMS faults.

Plugged it in and found I had a steering position fault and the o/s front abs sensor was giving no signal. Reset fault codes. Noted that the silly lights that come on as you steer left/right confirmed there was something squiffy with the steering sensor, but after a reset it behaved itself again.

New abs sensor on order, let’s see if that fixes it. 

Also found a load of other minor fault codes for all sorts of things as they hadn’t been reset since it was manufactured.

[artdjones]

On 13/12/2025 at 19:54, N Dentressangle said:

...and that is what value engineering means.

For the last 15-20 years, computers have been powerful enough to be able to calculate exactly how many cycles a component will last for, and they're specced for a certain number, no more.

Hence everything starts to fail at around the same time. Good, innit? 🙄

Renault don't seem to have gone down the same path. I've had two Meganes (13 and 14), and most components seem to be very resistant to wear.  Unless they hit two deep potholes within a foot of each other.

[artdjones]

On 14/12/2025 at 09:06, rusty_vw_man said:

we have the technology to make long lasting things, but that doesn’t make money.

We have that technology, but prefer to buy Chinese stuff because it's so cheap. Even though it's probably going to wear out very quickly. And in the case of complicated things like cars, even though the spares supply will die a death after 5 years, leaving owners with a 2 tonne paperweight.

[rusty_vw_man]

New ABS sensor arrived. Wrong one, they’d sold me a rear as a front. 

Next new sensor arrived. Fitted. Still no reading. Puzzling. 2 pin sensor, checked and getting clean 10v as required, so upstream wiring must be okay. 

Swapped front sensors around - old one definitely knackered, but still no reading on the offside. Waved a magnet and managed to get it to show some very erratic readings. 

So next point of interest is the inductor ring - it’s built into the rear face of the wheel bearing. Except it’s not. It’s now loose and stuck (by its magnetic might) to the back of the hub. 

So, sensor had given up, and somehow the inductor ring had also decided to wander off.  No idea how it all managed that. It’s the most feeble bit of thin magnet I’ve ever seen. The sensor doesn’t touch it, and it was in the right place the other day when I checked it was clean. 

 

Another £20 to my current favourite parts supplier (parts in motion) and a new wheel bearing with inductor ring is coming at some point in the next couple of days…. 

The clutch slave has also arrived, but I’m adamant I’m not doing that until the abs is fixed and it can go and pick up the requisite brake fluid…. Had a look at it, and it’s the weirdest setup I’ve ever seen, two sets of clips move the hydraulic pipe to different settings for bleeding and operation.

Still seem to have an oil leak as well - it’s not the crank seal, as the crank pulley rear face is absolutely dry. It seems to be getting on to the inner CV joint which is spraying it everywhere. Not leaking at idle though so it’s difficult to see where it’s dribbling out of. Cam cover seems to be leak free, as other cam blanking plugs. Might be the little inspection cover I suppose, but the oil in there can’t be under much pressure. 

Still needs an MOT as well, so the pressure is building, only having a 35 year old van for all journeys is not ideal….

[rusty_vw_man]

Today was new hub bearing day, which was a big press in bearing and a new thing for me. 

Internet suggested I’d need a 10t press or some luck. As I don’t have a press, I crossed my fingers and jumped in. 

First, prep bearing

Whilst that was chilling I popped the hub off the car.

Step one is to remove this massive circle, which was at one with the hub. 

 

Smashed the centre out the bearing along with the stub axle thing and then it was time for the brute force approach. Ground down a bolster to exactly the right width and got hammering. 

 

After some effort I saw the happiest sight, a gap forming between the bearing and carrier, so it was in the move. 

 

Another 30 minutes of violence with the club hammer and it was out. 

To compliment my frozen bearing I cracked out the gas BBQ and got the hub up to 250 degrees. 

 

No pictures as one hand was very hot and one very very cold but the bearing just dropped in, didn’t even need a gentle tap. Cooled the hub off and the bearing was well and truly trapped in place. Love science. 

Next was to the the innner bearing off the stub bit - grinder down the side until wafer thin and back out with the big hammer and chisel and boom

Final step is to get the stub back into the bearing. Some threaded bar, so random bits of metal from my box of stuff 

Old bearing didn’t fit back in the box! 
 

All fitted, got reading from ABS sensor from a quick spin, so finished assembly and whipped round the block. No errors, so I think that it’s sorted and it’s time to get an MOT booked. Knackered now. Clutch slave still needs doing, but I’m going for ‘hoping for the best’ for a few days now!! 

[rusty_vw_man]

Balls - every parts supplier suggests I need one of these:

So I purchased one. Tonight I came to fit it. Stripped the old one off, but hang on a second, the old one is not the same:

the pipework from mine does not fit in the new one. Apparently I have a single clip version with hex bleed, not the twin clip with bleed aperture I should have.

Searching by part number I  told this is not the right part for my car (I mean, it’s the original one and fitted now, but that apparently is irrelevant.) 

This is not the first time I have had this issue - I have one of the last ever c3 picassos, and some parts when you search by oe part number are listed as being for the aircross that superseded it. 

Irritating as I had to then refit and bleed the old one (I’d popped the hose off before I realised the difference!). Upside though was from my new vantage point under the car I finally found the last elusive oil leak source that drops to the CV joint that sprays it everywhere so sorted that for a minor win. 

Tommorrow is emergency wheel alignment session as the lower ball joins have thrown it out so far it’s rather twitchy and squeals like a stuck pig round corners…..

[rusty_vw_man]

Halfords Autocentre was surprisingly efficient this morning, although my god there were a stream of customers about to feature on the Motortrade Moments thread coming in, my favourite being ‘you serviced my car last January, but now there’s a red light on and I am supposed to be driving to Cornwall later today and as it’s your fault you have to fix it now’. It was a 6 year old Merc so not even some old heap.  

Anyway, camber and castor are not adjustable , as are the rear wheels, so it’s only front toe that can be adjusted (without resorting to adjusting the vehicle frame!)
 

As it driven in - total toe out 4.75 degrees against a target of 8 to 26 seconds toe out (always go in with the specs, like to check what the are using is correct!) Evenly split between wheels though, which makes sense, ball joints are clearly slightly offset compared to originals: 

 

Witnessed some track rod fiddling through the window and 30 minutes later 

Camber is a bit squiffy - limit is one degree so offside is technically out of spec, I suspect that would be the result of some bending related to a monster pothole that destroyed the shock and top bearing a few years back. Back left is also a bit squiffy, I suspect from the same incident, but is just round bolts in round holes so no adjustment provided. 

Now drives in a straight line and goes round corners without the indignant piglet noise so winning. 

So it’s now had the following in the last month:

cam belt

crank seal (self inflicted due to muffing up the first one)  

abs sensor 

abs ring (attached to wheel bearing) 

service 

lower ball joints both sides

Topdon 600s to diagnose abs issue and reset steering wheel calibration 

clutch slave (well almost!)

Wheel alignment 

Still needs MOT, and the rim leak on the front near side wheel sorting (another job no one seems to want to do). Battery is also only just clinging on, reckon a cold snap will see it off. 

It’s been an expensive few weeks but significantly cheaper than garage prices…. 

Still also need to finish off the motorhome door lock replacement, and fix the van heater where the cable has popped off the hot/cold slider - currently I’ve taken the stereo out and the cable hangs out the slot with some mole grips on as I need heating I can adjust at this time of year! 

Oh and apparently it’s Christmas as well, so may need to stop fiddling for a few days and engage with that!! 

[rusty_vw_man]

I’ll take that: 

Rear discs were noted as worn/pitted/scored, but he said it’s actually because of rust. They are perpetually rusty on this car, the back seems to do very little braking, and passed the efficacy test with no issues so they can live another day. 

The oil leak is fixed (I think) the cam cover had developed a drip onto the CV joint which sprayed it everywhere as it rotated. However cleaning the cv joint has been quite the challenge so it’s still making the engine oily! 

Clutch slave was a bit of a mission - it’s strangely tricky to find parts by OE part numbers and not just by reg (which brings up the wrong part). A couple of places wouldn’t sell me one without a matching reg as it wouldn’t fit - I even sent one a photo of the part number but that wasn’t enough either. Autodoc were handy for cross-matching parts, but they were actually really expensive, which is unusual. Finally managed to order one off a Vauxhall specialist as they’re fitted to the Crossland with the PSA puretech engine, so fingers crossed it’s actually the right one when it arrives. 

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, rusty_vw_man said:

I’ll take that: 

Rear discs were noted as worn/pitted/scored, but he said it’s actually because of rust. They are perpetually rusty on this car, the back seems to do very little braking, and passed the efficacy test with no issues so they can live another day. 

The oil leak is fixed (I think) the cam cover had developed a drip onto the CV joint which sprayed it everywhere as it rotated. However cleaning the cv joint has been quite the challenge so it’s still making the engine oily! 

Clutch slave was a bit of a mission - it’s strangely tricky to find parts by OE part numbers and not just by reg (which brings up the wrong part). A couple of places wouldn’t sell me one without a matching reg as it wouldn’t fit - I even sent one a photo of the part number but that wasn’t enough either. Autodoc were handy for cross-matching parts, but they were actually really expensive, which is unusual. Finally managed to order one off a Vauxhall specialist as they’re fitted to the Crossland with the PSA puretech engine, so fingers crossed it’s actually the right one when it arrives. 

Brake discs are rusty all the time on all cars, they’re unpainted metal . The rust gets cleaned off every time you brake but park a car with wet wheels and the discs are rusty within an hour or so.

[rusty_vw_man]

14 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Brake discs are rusty all the time on all cars, they’re unpainted metal . The rust gets cleaned off every time you brake but park a car with wet wheels and the discs are rusty within an hour or so

I agree, but on the rears the rust doesn’t really get cleaned off. Get some heavy braking in and Fronts, lovely and shiny, rears still look like they’ve been in the sea. Been through three sets of discs and pads, never had any issue with passing brake tests (and it stops very well) it’s just the back doesn’t seem to do much and so they don’t see to scrub clean…. 

[rusty_vw_man]

The gears on the C3 Picasso have been average since new - bit notchy and 5th to 4th down change slightly reluctant. 

Got much worse recently, difficult to select gears and often it’s actually in gear but it didnt feel like it went in. 

As above, clutch slave was a bit weepy, finally managed to track down the right one and get that fitted. All went well apart from a face full of brake fluid due to my own stupidity removing the bleed tube. Apart from the shaft and spring, all other parts are plastic, and estimated life is 20k miles apparently, which seems wild to me. 

seal was quite hard, although still coated in a white grease. Very limited leakage past it, but still not ideal. 

After removing fuse panel, ECU, air intake, battery, battery box, support tray and some wiring I could get to the gearbox end of the shifter mechanism. 
 

One cable does the up-down of the gear stick  (so between 1-3-5 and 2-4-R) - this acts on the shaft arrowed green.
 

The other does  the selection - this moves a meaty counter weight, which pushes a plastic shaft with ball jointed ends that operates a cranked metal input shaft out the side of the box. This whole assembly is mounted in a plastic cradle, and has a fair bit of flex in. Gave it all a clean and lubed all the moving parts. 

Checked the in-car end and that is even more flimsy, again lubed it lightly.

There doesn’t seem to be consensus of oil level in these boxes - the  general wisdom* online seems to be drain it and it takes 2.1l, BUT a few places say a bolt on the side is the  level indicator and it should just about flow out the hole on level ground. These is a bolt, it has a seal and is separate to the end plate bit so this would make sense. Undoing it there’s no oil, but then I’m not 100% sure there should be. There are no leaks either, so not sure where the oil would have gone! 

If the gears remain rubbish then an oil change and refill to correct level is on the cards. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

After following this, I can say that I don't get the best impression of newer PSA/Stellantis cars.

[rusty_vw_man]

8 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

After following this, I can say that I don't get the best impression of newer PSA/Stellantis cars.

Totally agree - would not buy again! 

[rusty_vw_man]

For various reasons the purple C3 Picasso of doom needs disposing of quickly and easily.

WBAC online check says £3k for this 67k mile 2017 plate Puretech powered beast, with £500 knocked off for declared issues:

Photos are upside down for reasons I can’t fathom…

small dent in front wing from an errant wheel barrow that blew around in a storm 

 

and a small scuff where the parking sensors were right and I was wrong to ignore them:

so place your bets - will I get anything like the £2.5k or will it be chipped down to below the minimum I want (which is only £1k)…. 

[rusty_vw_man]

Shock horror - I’ve got more - £2610 was the final price less £50 admin fee. Well happy with that. 

Possibly could have got more through private sale, but my god that was easy! 

Now off to peruse marketplace for some old VW shite to replace it with. 

[Wibble]

Great result, you did well there for sure. Given the time of month though, I suspect that buyer was struggling to hit target and was probably lenient on grading and used max flex because they were desperate to buy anything to hit target and get their bonus.

[rusty_vw_man]

34 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Great result, you did well there for sure. Given the time of month though, I suspect that buyer was struggling to hit target and was probably lenient on grading and used max flex because they were desperate to buy anything to hit target and get their bonus.

This will mean more to you than me, he said it was boundary condition 3/4 but he went in my favour. Small dent he reckoned went from age related wear to actual damage. He also just kept tweaking his discretionary amount up until the computer said no more.  Thanks to your thread and advice I presented a clean car, with all the right paperwork to hand and without booking an appointment so it was a totally hassle free ‘bonus’ sale for him. 

He did say the bonus structure had just been revised so that it’s now basically impossible to achieve, so he’s less bothered than he used to be! 

It’s mad though, I could buy one in similar condition off Facebook now for less than £2k, I’ve no idea how anyone’s expecting to make anything off it. 

[Wibble]

He used max flex then, that’s when you keep adding until it says no. Interesting that they’ve changed the bonus structure, again, bastards. I’d have said grade 4, you were obviously a decent customer, which does help. It’s not his money and he’ll get away with being one grade out. Well done for not booking and I’m glad you got a good price.

[MrBig]

45 minutes ago, Wibble said:

He used max flex then, that’s when you keep adding until it says no. Interesting that they’ve changed the bonus structure, again, bastards. I’d have said grade 4, you were obviously a decent customer, which does help. It’s not his money and he’ll get away with being one grade out. Well done for not booking and I’m glad you got a good price.

Does not booking work in your favour sometimes then?