R-Doggs T5…aka the Transharter

[Rikdogguk]

After getting fed up of threading mountain bikes into car boots decided to bite the bullet on a van… enter the cheapest MOTd T5 on gumtree… what could possibly go wrong?

After 305k the bodywork is a bit tired and the tailgate has a few rust blebs, but the pile of invoices from the last of two owners tells me it was well maintained over the 10 years he had it. 

Interesting drive home  North Wales after collection…the previous owner had pointed out a few minor niggles, one being a weeping coolant pipe which necessitated several stops to replenish on the way home…  but made it eventually. 

Pipe changed this morning and leak seems to have stopped (phew).   Noticed it was slow to warm up and gauge a bit variable so I’ll change the thermostat, doesn’t look too bad a job on the 1.9td.  Other jobs on the to do list include a new cable for the heat selector, stitching to a split on the rock n roll bed and some cosmetic tidying.

overall pretty chuffed after a good look over it and at sub £2k leaves me a pot for the inevitable repairs.  More importantly wife and dog approve!

[Sunny Jim]

Hope it does you proud. Whereabouts in North Wales are you?

[Rikdogguk]

12 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Hope it does you proud. Whereabouts in North Wales are you?

Aye fingers crossed… bottom end of Eryri… nr Dolgellau. 

[Rikdogguk]

Sadly further investigation revealed the transharter was still leaking coolant but only at higher revs… yes I changed the wrong the pipe, the correct pipe was hiding away underneath.   Not only was this in a very awkward place but no longer available from VW so a two week wait ensued whilst it made its leisurely way over from Lithuania…

taking advantage of some drier weather I tackled the thermostat first… for the love of god, who decided to locate the housing in such an awkward place.  The lower bolt could only be seen by peering through a 1cm gap in the bumper whilst lying on my back,  from which vantage point I couldn’t reach it.  So working blind trying every permutation of socket extension after a couple of hours it was free.  Thank fuck.   The old thermostat was stuck in the block but popped out with some persuasion, and perhaps it was first time lucky but managed to reinstall without too many problems.  

the hose of doom was next, the clip on this fucker was bedded deep in the swollen rubber and despite using every variant of pliers, molegrips, and other such tools it simply would not loosen enough for the pipe to be removed.   Removing other hoses for access allowed judicious use of the angle grinder which weakened it enough to be peeled off.  New pipe installed with jubilee clip.

 

Refill with coolant, turn the key, nothing.   Fuck.  Battery completely dead so whether that’s a parasitic drain or simply a result of a tired battery and three weeks of freezing weather time will tell.  Got it going off a jump start… came up to 90 degrees and sat there nicely with no leaks.  Result!!!

Next job, tackling some of the infernal interior rattles… passenger seat and tailgate primary culprits!