VR64free 0 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 First of all thanks to all those who replied to my first post, it's great to feel welcome It's pissing with rain here today hence i have a day off work and some time to make this post. First a bit of history on the car. Btw apologies if this turns out to be a long post and i hope i'm posting it in the right place!As some of you know a friend of mine gave me his VR6. He bought it 6 years ago with 140k on the clock and it has now done 165k. High i know. The car failed an MOT 6 months ago due to the ABS light staying on. It needed a new ABS Control Unit ( i think that's what it's called) and this, added to the fact it had a slow coolant leak was enough for Andy to want rid of it. His brother then took it on, sorted the ABS problem and got it through it's MOT. After running it for 3 months the brakes apparently failed completely (i dunno about this) and he took it to a mechanic who told him he needed a new brake master cylinder. Mike didn't want to pay out the money for this and so the car came to me as he was gonna scrap it. Phew...history done.I've been uncertain about what i wanna do with this car, as i'm not made of money and can't afford lots of high repair bills. But...well i insured it last week (£276 from ibuyeco, not bad i thought) and have since driven it every day. What a lovely car to drive. Powerful and comfortable with really great handling and steering...as i'm sure you all know! Here are some pics of her.The brakes are not great but do stop the car, i just have to depress the pedel alot. I think Mike was exaggerating a total failure to justify scrapping it maybe..he's odd like that. Anyway...are there not two cylinders inside the master cylinder in order to prevent complete brake failure? What would indicate the brake master cylinder needing replacing? Whatever the situation, it's something i have to get to the bottom of.Which brings me to my next point. I've noticed a split pipe. I'm not sure exactly what it does, but i was wondering if the split is stopping air going to the brake servo? Maybe wishful thinking. Picture of it below. Any advice on the brake situation would be much appreciated guys. As for the coolant leak, i'm gonna try replacing the thermostat housing first as i've read on here that's a common cause and pretty cheap to fix. I've a suspicion the head gasket might have gone, if it has i expect i'll break the car for parts which would be a shame. Performance seems fine and i've not noticed any oil in water or vice versa but i've spotted what seems to be a leak the pulley side of the engine. It's hard to tell on such a dirty engine tbh. Pic of suspected leak bellow.I've cleaned the area up some and will keep an eye on it. Also the oil filler cap has a distinct wiff of petrol about it and i've heard this can indicate a head gasket problem. I'm not sure how reliable that info is though.Couple more pics of potential problems bellow. The first is of a pipe which (when Andy had it) was leaking out a reddish orange 'foam', you can still see some residue in the pic. Any idea what that is? The next picture is of some dodgy looking cables in the engine which look a tad perished. Any ideas what these are?I'm picking up a workshop manual tomorrow so hopefully i'll be able to answer alot of these questions myself but any input would be great thanks. I'll keep you posted on my progress or lack of.Cheers all.Moderator edit by: SankysVR6 Link to post Share on other sites
SiGainey 1 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Hiya - welcome Nice car - way too good to be scrapped!The split pipe is the PCV breather system - it's quite expensive from ford and they crop up on ebay alot but there's a ford replacement part which is cheaper - have a search round, i THINK it's part number 7364573 and is about 25 quidAs for the head gasket, it looks like it could be, but clean it off with a rag and see if it reappears The leak looks to be just dried coolant - put a jubilee hose clip on it and it should fix the problem - very cheap to do Those perished cables are just wrap for the wires - get some loom tape off ebay if you want to fix it but so long as the wires underneath are not broken, you've got away with it Link to post Share on other sites
nivag27 5 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Hi mate, firstly the broken pipe is the oil breather pipe I am afraid. Cant tell the other to pics and the last one looks like the wires are ok its just the rap round stuff that looks dodgy, Link to post Share on other sites
VR64free 0 Posted October 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 Thanks for the replies guys, very helpful.I replaced the PCV breather, got the part from Fords as advised by SiGainey for £25...happy with that By the way, that part number was correct mate, cheers! Fitting it was easy, trickiest part being getting the VW hose clips off, they must be crimped on or something. Had one problem though, the flexible pipe that connects the PCV to the main air intake pipe was also split i discovered, so i've bodged the connection with a length of coolant pipe. Does anyone know if i can also get this part from Fords? Pic below. As for the head gasket, that seems to be fine. I cleaned the area and haven't noticed anything leaking. I've got a feeling the oil that was there leaked from the split PCV. Only thing that troubles me is the fact the coolant in the reservoir bubbles somewhat but i'm leaking coolant from the thermo housing (i think), so i guess that would cause that. Speaking of the thermostat housing...that's my next job. I'll do a search of the forum for any info on doing that but any advice you guys have would be great. Is it tricky to do? Seems pretty tricky to get at tbh. Any future posts i'll put in the relevant forums.Once again, thanks alot for your help. This forum has saved me £80 so far and given me alot of confidence!Cheers.Moderator edit by: SankysVR6 Link to post Share on other sites
SiGainey 1 Posted October 13, 2007 Report Share Posted October 13, 2007 No credit on my behalf on that part number, I found it on here There's a thread on the corrado forum about replacing the thermostat housing - the thread is located http://the-corrado.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55166. I've heard that you need to remove the front end for better access as a couple of the bolts are hidden but it can be done if you read up enough & know their location etc. This forum's ace Link to post Share on other sites
VR64free 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 Thanks alot for that link Si, undoubtedly it will come in useful! Link to post Share on other sites
philbatesvr6 0 Posted October 14, 2007 Report Share Posted October 14, 2007 i use a normal piece of runbber pipe to replace the breather and just blocked up the vacume pipe with a screw Link to post Share on other sites
hallie 0 Posted October 30, 2007 Report Share Posted October 30, 2007 Nice to see another person in Southampton (where abouts?). Your free car sounds like a result. Mine was cheap but i had to spend a lot of time sorting it out. If you need any help sorting yours let me know. I have just got a vagcom cable from ebay today if you have any diagnostic problems. Mine is also a L regCheersMartin(in Chandlers Ford) Link to post Share on other sites
SankysVR6 1 Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Moved your post and sorted out your pictures. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts