Oli's '97 5 Door VR6 Journal

[Therusterman 59]

6 Month maintenance and service

 

I've begun stock piling parts for a few jobs on the VR later on in May. Things that need doing are an oil service-will also do pollen filter and air filter as I've not changed it since owning the car. The air conditioning also isn't up to much at the minute and still smells damp. I've read the receiver/drier should be changed every couple of years so have one of those as well. 

 

The main job that I need to do is to resolve a small oil leak I have somewhere at the front of the engine block. This has been there ever since I did the timing chains last summer, and hope it will help reduce the oil consumption of the engine. I think (hoping) the leak is coming from the upper timing chain cover, and isn't the rear main seal or lower cover meaning gearbox off  So will order some proper O.E spec sealant to stop it happening again. I think the sump is weeping a little oil also so that's coming off to be re-sealed and I'm putting a gasket on it too. Plus it bugs me knowing how oily and filthy it is down there, so some weapons grade degreaser will be used, should also help spot an further leaks.

 

Seen as the front of the car will be off, I'm doing some preventative maintenance on the oil cooler and replacing it, both seals and coolant hoses to it, as I don't fancy a oil and coolant party going on in the engine.

 

Took advantage of the Euro Easter discount and ordered some of the service consumables; 

 

 

And on a side note, the indicators have been working fine since the indicator stalk wiring contacts were cleaned

[Therusterman 59]

Parts haul

 

Placed a big order on Wednesday. Parts wise this included a new (Febi) oil cooler, oil cooler gaskets (Febi), oil cooler hoses (Meyle), sump gasket (Elring) and a new gasket for the thermostat housing (V.W) in case it needs to come off. All the parts arrived today which i'm pleased with as it all had free p&p.

 

 

 

Awaiting a few bits and piece's still like coolant and some tools, got my leave booked at work so will have plenty of time to get it all sorted out properly I hope. 

[Therusterman 59]

Summer service commenced

 

Started with the summer service yesterday morning when I cam off nights. Main jobs to do are;

 

• Replace service items; Oil, oil filter, air conditioning receiver/drier, air filter and cabin filter
• Replace oil cooler and hoses
• Investigate oil leak (hopefully from the above)
• Re-seal oil sump if required
• Fit Goodridge braided brake lines
• Investigate exhaust blow at catalytic converter join.

Started yesterday by investigating the oil leak, stripped down the front end, thermostat housing and oil cooler which exposed this;

 

 

The area was cleaned as much as possible. Part of the leak looks like it could of been coming from the rear of the oil cooler (despite replacing its seals a few months ago). I did consider oil leaking down from the upper timing case cover but this looked dry where the cover met the block. One theory I have is the oil was getting blown over the block and gearbox by the air pushing through the radiator.

 

New oil cooler, seals and pipes were fitted. This time using some appropriate sealant between the gaskets.

 

 

Whilst the upper coolant hose was off this was an ideal time to put the replacement one I had on - the old hose had a small leak from it;

 

 

 

Unfortunately I did manage to break something In refitting a a/c line to the evaporator, I cross threaded the fittings:

 

 

 

Note to self: aluminium is a very unforgiving metal. Managed to source another evaporator with the pipes attached today. So hoping that arrives in the week.

 

In the mean time I'm going to make a start on the braided brake lines so if anything goes wrong with them I'll have plenty of time to rectify and problems.

[Simon_a 12]

Good work :-) proper maintenance on the car... Love it

[Therusterman 59]

Mid maintenance work update

 

Been very busy all of yesterday and this morning, got a few bits ticked off the list, and one or two items to add on.

 

After fitting the oil cooler and cleaning the old oil off the block, yesterday I decided to have a change of scenery and make a start on the brake lines. This wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but no walk in the park either.

 

I firstly sprayed all the brake pipe unions with WD-40 and left them to dwell for a while, then attacked the fittings armed with a brake pipe spanner. Unfortunately the solid pipe that is between the two rubber pipes on the rear beam had to be cut off, despite this only been replaced in the past 3 or 4 years, the fitting were corroded to far. Having started on the passenger side, the driver side was much quicker to do as i'd figured out how the spring clips were located and knew where to apply a bit of force to remove old lines and fittings.

 

I was fortunate enough that my dad was dropping near by a motor factors that could make up new copper brake lines for me, and these were at home ready the following day. The Goodridge lines fitted without any dramas and the replacement copper pipe was easy enough to manipulate by hand to fit and route appropriately;

 

 

 

 

 

The brakes were bled using a one man bleeding kit which seems to have worked ok-in as far as there was no air in the fluid coming out of the pipe, and I have a firm brake pedal. But only a test drive will confirm how they are.

 

Yesterday afternoon was then spent cursing and rolling around on my back under the car trying to sort out the exhaust, again.

 

This car and exhausts seem to be the bane of my life. Granted the Milltek system is a good fit on the whole, I was still getting some leaks around the catalytic converter, which could often be heard especially when slowing to a stop. Long story short I wrestled (and I have the cuts and bruises to prove it!) the mid pipe off the car. This was shortened slightly to make it easier to refit, and I cut some additional slots at the end which clamps around the cat to help it seal. 

 

I frankly wasn't in the mood for taking any pictures at this point, but i'm sure you can use your imagination as to what an exhaust underneath a car looks like. The test to see if this was successful will have to wait until the front of the car is back together and I can run the engine.

 

Fast forward back to today and after finishing with the brakes I thought it might be wise to also bleed the clutch, as this has never been done in my ownership. I wasn't 100% sure how to do this, but having a rough idea and armed with the Bentley manual it was just the same as bleeding the brakes. This yielded some satisfyingly acrid looking brake fluid and perhaps a smoother feeling clutch. 

 

As I'm still waiting on the replacement air conditioning evaporator/radiator, I knocked out the easy service items too. The air and oil filter change was done without any drama. However my new drip tray with a spout on is a god send for decanting old engine oil into a container, well worth the £11.99 it cost me.  

 

The only thing worth noting was when I opened up the scuttle tray to change the cabin filter I found the area around the filter rammed full of leaves and seed casings from the pesky field mice....I'm just grateful they didn't attack any of the ecu wiring!

 

 

I will admit it was strangely satisfying getting the vacuum out and getting rid of all the foliage that was stuck in there, should also have a better air blower now the filter isn't so blocked.

 

This is how the engine bay now stands-

 

 

Regarding the oil leak, I still think this was down to the leaky oil cooler. I'm waiting on running up the engine and trying to trace where the oil is coming from now the block is clean. On the plus side the sump doesn't appear to be leaking.

 

Now, onto a bit of bad news. Whilst I was under the car yesterday faffing around with the exhaust I looked a little more closely as some welding that had been done to the car before I got it. For reference one of the drain plug holes has been removed and had a plate put over it. As I looked at the under seal, I couldn't help but pick at it, and before I knew it I was peeling patches of under seal and rust off. By the looks of it, who ever did this so called 'repair' didn't think it was necessary to treat the bare metal with anything like say a primer or etch coat to seal it. Instead they just slapped a load of  under seal on, which has allowed the exposed metal to rust.

 

My dad does have a welder at his place, but is new to welding. I'm hoping I can convince him to weld in a new plate for me so I can treat the underneath of the car properly. 

 

More to come over the coming days folks.

[Therusterman 59]

Systems check....failed

 

With little else that I can do until the air con bits arrive (these were dispatched yesterday and went from Gatwick all the way to Coventry overnight?!) I thought it best to run the engine to see if any leaks were detected...

 

The radiator was quickly plumbed back in and just filled with tap water to act as a flush, and I started the engine. On the plus side the engine fired right up, however (there is always a however at the moment) a number of issues were found;

 

 

• Exhaust still blowing, I'm going to try one more new clamp then take the car to an exhaust specialist, i'm tired of crawling around on my back attempting to fix this.
• Brakes feel spongy, not sure if they need another bleed or its a placebo thing
• Oil leak from oil cooler, not just a little one but quite a significant leak

Today I just dealt with the oil leak. I ran the engine for specifically this kind of reason as its easy to access the components to fix any issues that may arise. I pulled off the crack pipe and just the lower part of the thermostat housing this time and whipped off the oil cooler. Once I had the oil cooler off the car and the retaining bolt/cap in my hand it was obvious what the issue was;

 

 

The outer seal that sits under the retaining bolt had split completely. I did notice it was a snug fit and different in shape to the old one, but thought with some sealant on it should be fine. Wrong. What I think has happened is when the oil cooler was torqued up the seal grabbed and just ripped. Luckily I kept the old one (which is only a few months old) and I was able to reinstate that.

 

 

In some apparent positive news though, there were no other obvious oil leaks My main area of concern is at the top of the bell housing around the thermostat housing and in front of where the upper and lower timing case covers meet. I had already cleaned this, but as I had some intake and carb cleaner thought I would give the area a blast as it was still a little grubby. All I can say is this stuff went through the grime like a hot knife through butter. There was areas on the bell housing that were caked thick in oil, yet the cleaner blasted it all right off-

 

 

 

The actual liquid smelt similar to clutch and brake cleaner so my plan is to by a huge carton of the stuff and a sprayer with a hand pump and go to town on the rest of the engine with it.

 

Anyway, I'm now back to where I was this morning regarding progress. Need the give the sealant I put on the oil cooler a day to cure properly, then i'll run the car up again and see what happens.

[Therusterman 59]

2/6/14 We're on the road to nowhere

 

Right. Just to update this, the car is now back on the road after a couple of hiccups. Firstly the exhaust blow has been cured once and for all. I took the car to the guys down at Styledynamics in Hayes. They are a great bunch of guys and they cut off 3'' off the exhaust where it joins the cat, flaired a new peice to fit perfectly then TIG welded the new part onto the rest of the exhaust. As a little Brucey bonus they refitted the rest of the exhaust and got it fitted perfectly. No more more blowing, the exhaust sounds a lot better for just cruising with, and has enhanced the smooth vr burble a little more.

 

Next was getting the brakes sorted. Since fitting the braided lines and bleeding the brakes I didn't have a lot of confidence in them, especially when driving, erm, progressively shall we say. I already had VCDS Lite installed on a laptop and purchased a license for the full version. This gives me full diagnostic access to the cars systems. From this I was able to bleed the ABS pump and do some output tests on the rest of the brake calipers. This liberated some more air through the front calipers and the brakes are feeling better the more I drive it.

 

In other news, still need to sort the crusty rust repair to the floor, re-gas the air con and just enjoy driving it for the summer. Ordered one new part this morning which was the elusive PCV valve which is sweating oil currently, managed to get it cheaper through VW parts international's website opposed to their eBay page :s

[fer b16 5]

Hello from Mexico. Firs of all I have to say yo did a great Work,  with work done on your car, that gives me an idea where the oil leaking may come from on my car, it´s a great help you have posted all the problems you had deal, so people like me that lives in Mexico can find easily the problems on our VRs.

[Lukey. 381]

Good news with the brakes they are a right bugger on the mk3 I had the same thing with mine, then like you say more and more driving made it better and better

[Therusterman 59]

Brake update and PCV replacement

 

Since bleeding the brakes with VCDS they have improved a great deal, there is so much more feel with them now and work much more progressively. Despite the discs and pads been I'd say at least 70% worn the brakes have never felt better. All I can say is that if you want to bleed the brakes properly (and you have ABS) you'll need to have access to diagnostic equipment to do it properly.

 

PCV

 

The new and genuine PCV arrived from VW Parts International late last week. When I spoke to the chaps over there last week they commented on how they can only get them directly from VW in the fatherland, and only make a tiny margin on the ones they sell to the public. Apparently its for the love of the mk3! 

 

Anyway, I'm just glad I've got a nice new one and didn't throw money at a seemingly o.k one from eBay;

 

 

Old one wasn't the worst i'd seen but was sweating oil out of all its seams and joins;

 

 

Upon removing it I did find the join to the intake elbow was letting some oil by, so I smeared some sealant on the breather pipe before refitting it, will keep a close eye on it over the coming days to see how it does and if it affects oil consumption. 

[Surreyvr6 199]

Here's my old one lol

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/11/a3aseteh.jpg[/]

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[Surreyvr6 199]

That pic didn't work hopefully this one does

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[Therusterman 59]

Safe to say that one is toast!

[Therusterman 59]

Just a little update to keep this thread alive. Nothing to report in the last couple of months. Just been keeping it clean and driving it.

 

As much as I enjoy tinkering with the VR, its nice to be able to just drive it. Doing a long run up the M1 once a week at the moment and driving at around 65 mph is returning a consistent mpg in the mid to high 30's, shame its so horrendous driving around town!

 

Have the MOT looming at the beginning of September as well. Only thing I need to address that I'm aware of is the patch that has been welded onto the floor. I've got a few weeks off work in August so will use the time then to sort that out and look for any other possible problems.

[Therusterman 59]

13.8.14 New front splitter

 

Received my new front splitter a couple of days ago. Decided I prefer the look of the early VR splitter with the deeper 'chin' on it.

 

After reading into getting a replacement and having fitted a cheap copy about a year ago not last more than a month, I knew I needed to be selective. I've read a number of comments that suggest a splitter made by a firm called Retov were of reasonable quality and didn't seem to fail too quickly. A short Google of the company, and it turns out they are an Argentinian based after-market plastic body molding manufacturer, apparently making parts to OEM quality.

 

This been the case would support the good things I've read about their splitters. From what I've read about how plastic moldings are made, is that genuine stuff is made of 'virgin' plastic, and is therefore stronger and more flexible. Whereas the cheap copy stuff made in China, is often made of a mixture of the virgin plastic and scraps of plastic swept off the floor. From the feel and flex that this Retov made splitter has, I'm hoping its made with more quality materials. Will wait and see when the temperatures drop (if it lasts that long!) how flexible it is then, as my previous one became very brittle at lower temperatures.

 

When it came time to fit this splitter I did also find it was much easier to fit, again I'm not sure if this is due to the warmer temperatures making the plastic more flexible. The fit is good-nice and straight across the bumper and has clipped into place firmly.

 

Once fitted there was one thing I noticed. There are a couple of screws which normally join the lower part of the wheel arch liner to the splitter, now only front two of the original four fit. This is due the the deeper sides of the new splitter, and the wheel arch liner essentially not coming down low enough to meet the hole in the side of the splitter. A quick look on Vagcat has shown there is a couple of what it calls 'air guides' with options for gti/vr6 and non gti models. So I guess this is to accommodate the different splitter. For those of you that are interested the part numbers are:

 

1H6805825A- For the left

1H6805826A- For the right

 

I know this is a lot of waffling for what is essentially just a splitter, but its these finer details that interest me! 

 

And here's a pic to show how it looks, I'll let you all know how its lasts.

 

 

 

 

[Therusterman 59]

6 Month service

 

Its getting close to 6 months now since I completed the last oil service. Since that time I've used a lot of the spare oil I had from the last oil service, requiring top-ups every couple of weeks. I don't think I'm burning much as I haven't seen any blue smoke. But I know I'm dropping oil from a persistent leak which I tried to eliminate back in May by replacing the oil cooler and seals.

 

My suspicion is that the leak is coming from the timing chain cover plate, which I was hoping was not the case but that area is always damp with oil, especially around the join of the two parts. So unfortunately the gearbox and clutch will be coming out again

 

I've got my next tour off work so I'll have a run of 12 days to get it all sorted (hopefully) and have started the obligatory parts haul. This has included new    

 

• Flywheel bolts 
• Clutch pressure plate bolts
• G13 Coolant
• Clutch operating lever
• Drive shaft bolts
• Sump gasket
• Oil and oil filter

 

The flywheel and pressure plate bolts have to replaced as a matter of course, and the drive shaft bolts I started to round some of the heads last time I refitted them, so opted for a new set. I also keep reading its a good idea the replace the clutch operating lever and at £11.43 for a genuine one I thought it would be rude not to. The clutch itself should be fine as its only got about 10,000 miles on it.

 

The sump gasket threw up a few queries. When I look at Vagcat it only lists one for engines up to number 255785 and to use a sealant after that. This is what I did when I had it off to replace a wishbone but wasn't convinced it would seal 100%. I've since spent more time looking into this and Elring list 2 sump gasket's one for models made between '92 and '93 then for models up to '97. I've already got one of these but neglected to fit it. The plan is to whip the sump off again and fit the gasket using a better sealant that I've found.

 

I'll also be inspecting the crank seal in case this is letting by any oil. Fingers crossed this will solve the oil leaks, and bring the oil consumption under control! 

 

Front splitter

 

Just to mention, touch wood it so far has been fine and hasn't split or come apart. But that said the car isn't low enough to cause many clearance issues.

 

Mot

 

Passed the mot back in September. Had a couple of advisories around some slight corrosion of the brake pipes at the front of the car and some corrosion on the hard lines for the power steering. I'll address these when I have the gearbox out.

 

For the mot I decided to remove the quad headlamp and go back to the original units. This turned into another massive pain in the arse because one of the adjusters had broken. I ordered a total of 3 replacement headlights, all of them having the same problem-broken adjusters. I understand this is becoming more of a problem as the plastic become old and brittle from the heat of the headlight bulb.

 

Eventually I found a headlight for sale locally which I collected as I didn't think the couriers chucking them around helped much. This turned out to be a after market reproduction anyway and the wrong side! It did however have part of the adjuster I needed and was able to rebuild it using bits of the broken one and finally had it fixed. At this time I also fitted some Oram Nightbreaker bulbs which were an improvement, but not as good as the HID's, shame these can't be used properly in the mk3 headlight.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Therusterman

[Therusterman 59]

Mid service update

 

Been working on the car for the past few days and starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Started with the disassembly of the engine and ancillaries, and noticed the inlet runners for the inlet manifold looked rather oily;

 

 

 

This prompted me to pull the spark plugs aswell. The only ones that were of some concern were cylinders 1 and you probably guessed it...6.

 

 

I did a compression test to get an idea of how things were looking, and this was quite positive getting between over 180 psi in most checks, lowest been cylinder 5 with a reading of 168 psi.

 

From what I've read the valve guides wear causing the oil to get by the valves, which may be contributing to the high oil consumption. But until I've got the leaks fixed I can't tell for certain what the real 'usage' is. For reference VW deem 1 litre of oil use over 1000 miles within tolerances.

 

I contacted Vince at Stealth Racing to get a professional opinion. He suggested rebuilding the engine, as that is what it will probably need in the long run. But he did point out if the engine is running fine otherwise not to be too hasty in doing anything just yet.

 

The only other highlight of the strip down was rounding the head out of one of the thermostat housing bolts, luckily I've got some Erwin bolt removers, and a spare bolt.

 

I eventually worked my way down to the timing chain covers. The source of the leak I was getting appeared to be where the two covers meet. I did find when removing the two 6mm hex bolts, that mount vertically between the two covers, one of them wasn't particularly tight. 

 

I had a read of the Bentley manual and it specifies that these two bolts must be tightened first, as it sandwiches the two covers together between the head gasket, and mentions failing to do so may cause it to leak   Needless to say, when I refitted them after a clean I followed those instructions to the letter.

 

 

Since the gearbox was out I decided to give it a bit of a spruce up as it was filthy from years of oil been blasted over it. After pressure washing, steam cleaning and degreasing it the only way to make an impression on it was the trusty wire wheel.

 

 

Its far from perfect, but significantly better from before and should help spot any future fluid leaks. Of which there should be none!

 

Unfortunately when struggling to fit the gearbox back in I broke the plastic fitting one of the gear lever cables go onto. Fortunately this looks like a kind of sacrificial part and is widely available so getting one was easy and inexpensive, for reference part number is 1J0 711 256

 

 

Next will be dropping the sump to fit a new gasket and hopefully solve that leak too.  

[Bealieboy 1,625]

Great right up. This will be required on my car fairly soon, leaky oil cooler and rocker gasket.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Therusterman 59]

Service-finished!
 
So as of yesterday I had the car buttoned back up although it wasn't without its teething problems!
 
I'll get to problem's I had shortly, nothing to bad fortunately. By Thursday evening the car was 90% back together. I was waiting on the sealant to dry around the thermostat housing before I filled it with coolant and went any further, I did instead spend longer than I'm prepared to admit refitting the bonnet release cable back into the latch!
 
One job I did was drop the oil sump and fit a proper gasket to it. Apart from a number of loose bolts holding the sump on   one interesting find when I removed the sump was this;

 

 

After some head scratching I realised it was the spring which is mounted around the rear crank oil seal and this was confirmed by some people on here. I'm not sure how long its been floating around in the sump, I'm just glad its out now. Seen as I had at this point refitted the gearbox-which was a massive ball ache this time, I've left it as it is for now as the seal doesn't appear to be leaking 

 

When the time came to fill the engine with oil, it was only when I had the oil containers lined up next to each other something wasn't quite right. They are all the 'Triple QX' ECP brand, but the one I'd been using as a top up was 5w30, not 10w40 that I normally use! I'd in fact been using the wrong oil, how this mix-up occurred I'm unsure of, but having the thinner oil may perhaps go some way to explain the higher oil consumption?

 

Once the fluids were all topped up I ran the engine up to temperature to bleed the cooling system and kept a beady eye out for any leaks. So far over the past couple of days I've only seen a little oil weeping around the oil drain plug for the oil filter housing. (Part 27a below) 

 

I'll call into a VW dealer next week and get a replacement ordered up. On the subject of dealerships I was very unimpressed with the parts 'department' from the local dealer. I won't say which as this may be an unfair view of the rest of the dealership. In the past I would sit at a desk with the parts advisor and look at the parts catalogue on the ETKA and pick out what I need. This time however its changed to 'tell a guy what you need, who then disappears for 5 minutes out the back, comes back with a diagram which you then have to point to what you want and repeat this process for every part that you need to order.' Needless to say it was like pulling teeth ordering some coolant and a range of bolts. The icing on the cake for me was the lack of an agreed courtesy call to let me know the order was in. I know its not a big deal but to me its the little details like that which count.

 

In the future I'm going to try a dealer which is nearby work and see if the grass is any greener.

 

Just as a comparison, when I used to visit a BMW parts desk, it was the polar opposite of VW, with a number of guys working at the desk who actually engaged with their customers. Anyway, rant over.

 

The next little conundrum I had was with having difficulty selecting first gear. I had a read of the Bentley manual to see how the gear cables are adjusted. This informed me the use of yet more 'special vw tools' were required   A quick Google search found me a more straight forward guide. As it was only first gear I was having trouble with, only the cable that I fitted a new part to needed some adjustment to bring first gear back in line.

 

Whilst trying to remedy the gear cable problem this in turn highlighted yet another issue, with the reversing lights. I had noticed the previous evening when reversing onto the drive I couldn't see very well, but didn't think too much of it at the time. It was only when walking into the garage to get some tools I noticed the reverse lights were on, only very dimly.

 

I checked the car wasn't on reverse, which it wasn't. Then disconnected the reverse light switch, no change. I removed the switch to make sure it wasn't damaged and plugged it back in off the car, no change again. I checked there was no voltage coming down the connector and none was shown. Then I faintly recalled something in all the VR6 browsing I've done over the past few years and had a brainwave!

 

In the nest of wiring that sits above the starter motor is the plug that goes to the reverse light switch. There is another similar plug, but the wires either side of the connector are the same, so you'd safely assume they should go together? Wrong! I switched the plugs over and hey presto problem solved. 

 

Current plans are to give the car a bath as its looking a little neglected now, monitor the fluid levels and watch for leaks-to which I'll add whilst writing this entry I popped outside and couldn't see any  Then I'll be waiting for the colder weather to come round and get the winter wheels out of storage and fitted.

 

 

[Lukey. 381]

It could be that the oil filter cap has had itself threaded rather than it being just the filter emptying screw, so it could be that you need a new cap rather than screw

[Therusterman 59]

I understand what your saying Luke, but the oil is only leaking around the circumference of the drain plug/screw, there is no evidence of it from the oil filter cap.

 

In other news I've finally had enough of the harsh ride I'm getting. I thought about changing the springs (again) to some H+R's, but having changed the springs from  Rokkor to Eibach and having a negligible effect on the ride quality the next port of call is to change the dampers. I've opted to simply go for some Sachs/Boge units this time as I'm only running a modest drop and managed to get a full set for £130 delivered, and I'll be selling the B4's on. 

[Therusterman 59]

Shock absorber replacement started.

 

Last week the replacement shock absorbers arrived. Wednesday afternoon was spare and planned to have the rears fitted before I went to work that evening, should have plenty of time right? Wrong.

 

Started by removing the nearside rear strut and had to cut the retaining washer off that sits near the top of the strut as it was stopping me from removing the spring. Number 7 below is what I had to cut off;

 

 

Once that was off it came time to move everything over to the new strut. When  refitting the nut that sits on top of the long spacer (number 14 above) I thought it was a little tight but put it down to the tension from the spring. Wound it down around an inch before it became obvious something wasn't right so took it off. Looking at the threads I could see they were getting chewed up by the nut. Turns out the replacement Sachs dampers now come with an m10x1 (fine) thread, opposed to the m10x1.25 on the Bilstein and original dampers. FFS   Ordered some new nuts that should fit, hoping I get away without having to run a die over the thread.

 

So a couple of days later when I came off duty Friday morning I planned to tackle the front shocks. I had the parts in the garage, checked the threads were the same on the new shocks, had the car booked in for an alignment so I made a start.

 

Things weren't looking good when I snapped the plastic holder for the abs sensor wiring, and then I tried to get the lower top nut off the strut. I didn't think this would be a problem as my impact gun usually get this sort of thing off in an instant, but no luck this time. So I resorted to using a socket with a 7 mm allen key through the middle to break the tension of the nut. Still no joy so put a tube over the allen key to get more leverage and heard what I thought was it starting to loosen...

 

 

I managed to successfully strip out the hex part of the strut which is precisely what I didn't want to happen. Waiting for some tools to come through in the post then I'll get medieval on it this weekend and get them apart.

 

So, all in all not a very successful couple of days on the car. And to add insult to injury I stupidly removed one of the front struts off the car without seeing is the top nuts will come off so now the alignment is slightly off that side. I couldn't be bothered to even look at the car over the weekend   or look at anything car related! Having had a few days to dwell on it I'm getting a new plan of attack together and hoping to have a more successful go at it this weekend. 

 

 

[Therusterman 59]

Shock absorbers replaced

 

Spent another day on the car and was much more successful compared to my last two attempts. I've spent the week getting some extra parts I needed and some new ideas how to approach the stuck nut on one of the front struts. 

 

Today started where I left off previously, working on the strut with the stubborn nut. Pulled the strut off the car and thought I'd try clamping a pair of mole grips around the strut to stop it spinning. This was enough to break the nut free  The other side came apart with no drama in comparison; had the strut off, transferred the spring and upper mount onto the new strut and had that side refitted in about 10 minutes.

 

Next up was the rear suspension. The problem I had when I previously tried to fit the new struts here was the different thread pitch on the upper part of the strut. I ordered some appropriate m10 x 1mm pitch nuts from eBay and a die which cleaned up the threads nicely after getting chewed up by forcing the wrong nut on. The fitting of the rear struts went smoothly and proceeded to get everything buttoned down nicely. 

 

When working at the back of the car I also located what I'm pretty sure was the source of an annoying knock I'd been getting over the past week. I thought it was the exhaust hitting the rear beam-which I pre-empted by ordering a new hanger. But, when removing the o/s/r wheel, all the wheel nuts were loose...I'd forgotten to torque them up when I tried doing the rear struts last week  Needless to say, I double checked all the wheel bolts with the torque wrench this time.

 

On the subject of wheels, I've waxed and fitted the winter wheels which are shod with some Nankang SV-2's and have performed well the past couple of winters for me. Thought it made sense do fit them now as the wheels were all coming off and the temperatures are dipping lower and lower either end of the day, which is when I do most of my driving.

 

Misc jobs

 

Had a few outstanding jobs to do, first of which included replacing the oil filter housing drain bolt+washer. The old one was pretty chewed up from over tightening;

 

 

It looks to be milled out of a single piece of aluminium billet, which I thought was nice. Anyway, new one was installed and torqued to 10nm and has stopped any leakage.

 

Another long term gripe I've had is from an annoying squeak coming from somewhere around the boot area. When I test drove the car after fitting the struts I left the parcel shelf out and this stopped the squeak which I'd usually get when going over small bumps/undulations. I'd already bought some anti-rattle tape and fitted some to the trim which the parcel shelf sits on;

 

 

I'll be taking the car to get the alignment readjusted tomorrow or Tuesday so will wait until then to see how effective its been. 

[Therusterman 59]

Wheel alignment-done!

 

Had the car booked into a local firm called 'Wheels in Motion' who specialise in steering and suspension geometry. As per usual they have done a great job in bringing the alignment back within spec after I changed the shock absorbers. On that note, from the short drive I did today the Sachs struts appear more compliant with the road, so the drive to work tomorrow should go some way to confirming this.

 

Had the afternoon to myself and gave the Golf a wash and took this opportunity to get a layer of durable wax on;

 

 

One application usually lasts a couple of months so should help keep the winter salt at bay, and looking out tonight the rain water is beading nicely all over the car, better than the Meguiars NXT wax at least.

 

So that just about wraps up the suspension work, after battling with stuck nuts and wrong sized fittings I've got there in the end, hope the effort (and expense!) was worth it!

[Therusterman 59]

Window regulator sticking

 

As long as I've had the car I can remember the drivers side front window sometimes stopping part way up. This has got gradually worse now, and despite lubricating the runners earlier in the year when I replaced the door cards the problem still persists. Added to this one of the clamps that hold the glass in place appear to be past their best and make a slight knock when the window is closed.

 

I've ordered a replacement regulator from VolkBits via eBay and expect it to be a simple fix. I'll also keep my eyes peeled for any broken clips on the door card as they tend to get fragile, especially in this cooler weather.

 

Suspension overhaul impressions

 

Now I've put a few miles on the new suspension, I can say I'm much happier with the Sachs shocks over the Bilstein B4's. The ride is still firm, but the damping is slightly softer on the Sachs units which I much prefer. Plus, the wheel alignment I had done has made the car a real pleasure to drive now, everything just feels right. And the icing on the cake is the rattle I was getting from the rear of the car has been silenced by the anti rattle tape I fitted to the parcel shelf supports-finally no more rattles! Just the beat of the AAA up front   

Edited November 17, 2014 by Therusterman