Its alive! (Leon is nearly repaired)
- Thread starter paradigm
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 11 Mar 2005
- Posts
- 32,250
- Location
- Leafy Cheshire
And thats why i broke down in Germany last ring trip, half way round the ring, 'STOP' in huge letters comes on the digi display.
Rolled it down the hill to the local VW garage who told me my top end sounded broken because my oil pickup had sludged up, 1 day later and 6 hours worth of VW's time a £8 part was changed and its been alright since.
Problem in the states is if the car is on a fixed 10k service interval they seem to use semi synth, this is the wrong oil to use if they had used fully synth things would have been much better.
Also the Passats small oil pan doesn't help, few things you can do to avoid the problem, Fully Synth being one and fitting a bigger oil filter being the other.
Its easy to check the condition of the pickup, look in the oil filler for deposits on the inside of the crank case, if its all gumed up walk away.
Oh and Vag-Com F T W
Shame about the timing, seems those two sensors arn't telling fibs after all, shame but least its and easy fix
Last edited:
Here's hoping.Shame about the timing, seems those two sensors arn't telling fibs after all, shame but least its and easy fix
It can't be in as bad a state as it was 3 days ago, at least this engine runs.
although... I suppose it is a low milleage engineThursday 05/06/08:
1st day off work since starting my new job, and it wasn't going to be spent lounging around! Out of the house at 8am, doing some final bits of prepwork on the car, unbolting everything I could get to, and removing the wiring loom. 10am and Derek arrives, ready to go get Mr Rental Van, and drive to Deeside to go get my engine!
The rental van, OMG, what an ultra-nail, £200 deposit, and £30 later I was in possesion of a SWB FIAT Ducato. With almost, but not quite enough power to actually accelerate, driving it on NSL and Motorways was... interesting. Will it get to 70mph? Yes, no? YES, about 8 miles later and indeed we did have 70MPH.
Arrived at Deeside around 1pm, with the worst directions ever given to someone over the phone, we eventually found the place within Deeside Industrial Estate and had the engine (on pallet) forklifted into the van. A nice slow drive home (with the performance now even worse!), and we had to find a way to get it out (engine hoist was unavailable till 6pm, but van had to be back by 3!). So we did what any pioneering idiots would do, we slid the pallet down a set of ladders to the floor
DRZ turned up around 2 hours later and we set to completely removing pumps, ancillaries, hoses, etc etc from both the donor and the old engine, removed the downpipe from the tubro (of the engine that was still in the car - ballache of a job, you couldn't actually reach anything, see anything, or put any torque onto anything). I then set about removing the driveshafts from the diff, and we finally removed the battery, battery tray from the engine bay.
Friday 06/06/08:
No-one else was available in the morning, due to work commitments, so I couldn't set about lifting the engine (as I needed to manoeuver things out of the way, pull the engine with rope, and guide it round random bits of chassis whilst it was being lifted), so cleaned up the new engine as best as possible, cleaned up the engine bay as best as possible, and went and got a few bits and bobs from halfords and the local motor factors (Oil, fluids, a flex-head ratchet spanner, hose clips, etc).
Derek arrived mid-afternoon, and we set about lifting the engine, and removing the bonnet in preperation. Removing the engine was a pain, as I wanted to keep the aircon loop intact, so it didn't need regassing, and so I had no problems with venting refridgerant everywhere. We tried to do the same with the PAS system, but this wasn't to be, you just couldn't get the lines round the gearbox, so reluctantly (and messily), I removed the reservoir and lines from the rack. And thar she blows, one removed engine!
After some food, and a much needed break, it was starting to get late, so we cracked on and got the new engine into the bay, this was (and never is) as simple as you would expect. I had to lie UNDER the car whilst the engine was dropped in (scary I can tell you), and had to guide the exhaust over the turbo bolts (sideways mounting exhaust, who in the name of all that is holy came up with that one
) bolted up the aircon compressor, and pushed the car back into the garage.
It was at this point we realised that we hadn't put the turbo coolant line back on (at the top-back of the engine, right where you couldn't see let alone get a hand (and tool) to. We feared the worst (that the engine needed to come back out), but thought we'd sleep on it and see how we got on on Saturday)
Saturday 07/06/08:
This was meant to be an early start, but (typically) Derek overslept by around 3 hours! Anyway, onto the problem of the turbo coolant line. Lying under the car, I could JUST about get a few fingers to the hole where the pipe had to get to, but was wondering just how I was going to get an 8mm allen key to it given that getting an allen key to the same place on the engine that was OUT of the car was hard enough! A bit of inginuity and a few dremel cutting disks later, we had the worlds stubbiest allen key. And after a LOT of swearing, a few grazed knuckles, and a lot of faffing, I had the line in, but not tight.
Tightening the line was easier from above, so derek got on with that, using a combination of contortion, tools, and "the force" to get the bolt tightened, less than 1/8th of a turn at a time! I meanwhile stayed under the car and bolted up the 12 bolts on the two driveshafts, replaced a few heat shields, and got the exhaust bolts back on (well I say on, one isn't, as the nut is ruined - i'm awaiting a replacment).
Mechanically now, the engine was in, complete, just hoses and electronics to go! What an absolute mess of randomness the loom and pipework on this car actually is, I swear half of the vac pipes are utterly redundant, useless, and a waste of weight, but alas they were going back in so we set to it.
Using nothing more than my memory for a reference point, we replaced all of the hoses and the loom (loom was 60% labled up, hoses weren't at all), and we were left with a few straggling cables that we were unsure of their destination, although this turned out to be nothing more than being unable to see the knock sensors due to having the intake manifold already in place, so more contortion needed to actually get these ******** on!
Just the battery tray, box and battery to fit, a little cable management to tidy up, and to refit the engine covers and she was done, in, complete! With the car at this stage, I drained the oil, and left it to drip as we went and took a break.
Upon return, we filled the vital systems with fluid (vital being engine oil and coolant), only to discover the one sodding pipe we hadn't put back on, was the bottom of the headder tank for the coolant! Oh well, one mistake in the whole project wasn't exactly a bad outcome!
Time to fire it!
I gingerly got into the car, moved the mass of interior trim out of the way (interior is in bits due to swapping the audio equipment into the beemer), and placed the key into the ignition, then turned to just before the starting position. I was greeted by only one warning light (brake fluid), so all seemed good to go! I gritted my teeth, and keyed it over. Less than 5 seconds later, it spluttered into life, kicking out a good dose of smoke from the back, but soon cleared up (thank god). It was left to idle for 5 mins or so, then the throttle blipped. I was greeted by a rough running sound, so the engine was shut off and VAG-COM fired up (cheers Mark) to find that the CPS (CAM Position Sensor) was showing an error reading
Oh well, just the timing to get sorted at the local specialist, and then it will be back to its former glory
1st day off work since starting my new job, and it wasn't going to be spent lounging around! Out of the house at 8am, doing some final bits of prepwork on the car, unbolting everything I could get to, and removing the wiring loom. 10am and Derek arrives, ready to go get Mr Rental Van, and drive to Deeside to go get my engine!
The rental van, OMG, what an ultra-nail, £200 deposit, and £30 later I was in possesion of a SWB FIAT Ducato. With almost, but not quite enough power to actually accelerate, driving it on NSL and Motorways was... interesting. Will it get to 70mph? Yes, no? YES, about 8 miles later and indeed we did have 70MPH.
Arrived at Deeside around 1pm, with the worst directions ever given to someone over the phone, we eventually found the place within Deeside Industrial Estate and had the engine (on pallet) forklifted into the van. A nice slow drive home (with the performance now even worse!), and we had to find a way to get it out (engine hoist was unavailable till 6pm, but van had to be back by 3!). So we did what any pioneering idiots would do, we slid the pallet down a set of ladders to the floor
DRZ turned up around 2 hours later and we set to completely removing pumps, ancillaries, hoses, etc etc from both the donor and the old engine, removed the downpipe from the tubro (of the engine that was still in the car - ballache of a job, you couldn't actually reach anything, see anything, or put any torque onto anything). I then set about removing the driveshafts from the diff, and we finally removed the battery, battery tray from the engine bay.
Friday 06/06/08:
No-one else was available in the morning, due to work commitments, so I couldn't set about lifting the engine (as I needed to manoeuver things out of the way, pull the engine with rope, and guide it round random bits of chassis whilst it was being lifted), so cleaned up the new engine as best as possible, cleaned up the engine bay as best as possible, and went and got a few bits and bobs from halfords and the local motor factors (Oil, fluids, a flex-head ratchet spanner, hose clips, etc).
Derek arrived mid-afternoon, and we set about lifting the engine, and removing the bonnet in preperation. Removing the engine was a pain, as I wanted to keep the aircon loop intact, so it didn't need regassing, and so I had no problems with venting refridgerant everywhere. We tried to do the same with the PAS system, but this wasn't to be, you just couldn't get the lines round the gearbox, so reluctantly (and messily), I removed the reservoir and lines from the rack. And thar she blows, one removed engine!
After some food, and a much needed break, it was starting to get late, so we cracked on and got the new engine into the bay, this was (and never is) as simple as you would expect. I had to lie UNDER the car whilst the engine was dropped in (scary I can tell you), and had to guide the exhaust over the turbo bolts (sideways mounting exhaust, who in the name of all that is holy came up with that one
) bolted up the aircon compressor, and pushed the car back into the garage.It was at this point we realised that we hadn't put the turbo coolant line back on (at the top-back of the engine, right where you couldn't see let alone get a hand (and tool) to. We feared the worst (that the engine needed to come back out), but thought we'd sleep on it and see how we got on on Saturday)
Saturday 07/06/08:
This was meant to be an early start, but (typically) Derek overslept by around 3 hours! Anyway, onto the problem of the turbo coolant line. Lying under the car, I could JUST about get a few fingers to the hole where the pipe had to get to, but was wondering just how I was going to get an 8mm allen key to it given that getting an allen key to the same place on the engine that was OUT of the car was hard enough! A bit of inginuity and a few dremel cutting disks later, we had the worlds stubbiest allen key. And after a LOT of swearing, a few grazed knuckles, and a lot of faffing, I had the line in, but not tight.
Tightening the line was easier from above, so derek got on with that, using a combination of contortion, tools, and "the force" to get the bolt tightened, less than 1/8th of a turn at a time! I meanwhile stayed under the car and bolted up the 12 bolts on the two driveshafts, replaced a few heat shields, and got the exhaust bolts back on (well I say on, one isn't, as the nut is ruined - i'm awaiting a replacment).
Mechanically now, the engine was in, complete, just hoses and electronics to go! What an absolute mess of randomness the loom and pipework on this car actually is, I swear half of the vac pipes are utterly redundant, useless, and a waste of weight, but alas they were going back in so we set to it.
Using nothing more than my memory for a reference point, we replaced all of the hoses and the loom (loom was 60% labled up, hoses weren't at all), and we were left with a few straggling cables that we were unsure of their destination, although this turned out to be nothing more than being unable to see the knock sensors due to having the intake manifold already in place, so more contortion needed to actually get these ******** on!
Just the battery tray, box and battery to fit, a little cable management to tidy up, and to refit the engine covers and she was done, in, complete! With the car at this stage, I drained the oil, and left it to drip as we went and took a break.
Upon return, we filled the vital systems with fluid (vital being engine oil and coolant), only to discover the one sodding pipe we hadn't put back on, was the bottom of the headder tank for the coolant! Oh well, one mistake in the whole project wasn't exactly a bad outcome!
Time to fire it!
I gingerly got into the car, moved the mass of interior trim out of the way (interior is in bits due to swapping the audio equipment into the beemer), and placed the key into the ignition, then turned to just before the starting position. I was greeted by only one warning light (brake fluid), so all seemed good to go! I gritted my teeth, and keyed it over. Less than 5 seconds later, it spluttered into life, kicking out a good dose of smoke from the back, but soon cleared up (thank god). It was left to idle for 5 mins or so, then the throttle blipped. I was greeted by a rough running sound, so the engine was shut off and VAG-COM fired up (cheers Mark) to find that the CPS (CAM Position Sensor) was showing an error reading
Oh well, just the timing to get sorted at the local specialist, and then it will be back to its former glory
Last edited:
Aye, its going to be brought back to excellent condition, then sold on. Still unsure of the replacement vehicle, but we shall see.
big kudos for doing it yourself
(after having a poke round my bay playing wth BOV's and some samcos i salute you, its ne of the nastiest engine bays i'ver ever seen for working in
Yep, its a bloody nightmare, absolute rats nest of crud everywhere!
now get some more power
Nope, because as I replied to -Westy-, its going shortly!
Excellent write up mate. I had fun reading that
Glad someone read it
Might be an idea in the future to get a baffled sump if you go on further track days! Nice to see its coming back together though
Separate track car is on the list, with all the necessary precautionary upgrades!
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 8,259
I want something new, mainly due to boredom, slightly due to being annoyed at the thing
Don't blame you
I want something new, mainly due to boredom, slightly due to being annoyed at the thing
Lead (as with all other scrap metal it would seem) is increasing in value at the moment
Will pop back over at some point in the week when its all timed up and see the finished article