MOT advisories

[miniyazz]

Hi guys,

As you may or may not remember, I passed my MOT about a month and a half ago needing just a replacement number plate light @ 29p (car in sig)

Anyway, I got a couple of advisories and am planning on sorting/getting them sorted at some point in the not too distant future. They are as follows:

1) n/s and o/s Front constant velocity joint gaiter deteriorated

2) Front brakes only just met the front brake imbalance requirments. It would appear that the braking system requires adjustment or repair.

So I was wondering - does anyone know how much I should be expecting to pay for each of these, so I get a ballpark figure for when I start ringing around? Also, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, but don't have a ramp available (and my Haynes is currently in my car, out in the cold) so presumably I won't be able to DIY the CV joint gaiters? At this stage I don't know what that involves so it may be a silly question.

Any suggestions/tips/insults (I'm waiting, JanesyB )/whatever also welcome.

Cheers

 

[miniyazz]

CV boots - ~£15 to buy and 30 minutes to fit.

Brakes will need freeing, lubricating and bleeding, next to no parts and about 45 minutes.

Assuming the car in your sig is accurate.

Yes, 1995/N reg 1.4l Pug 106 Aztec.

Good to hear it's nothing too expensive!

Is something like this what I'm after or is that just going to be too cheap and nasty?

Brakes will cost you £80 - £100 inc labour and parts. Halfords do a vehicle lifting kit which consists of axle stands, wheel chocks, body trolley, 2 ton jack for £60. Parts will cost you £20 - £30. So if you want to do the brakes, you'll save £10 or more or less break even with the advantage of having the lifting kit from Halfords.
CV gaitor can be replaced but I think it's advisable to replace the whole joint.

I take it I'll need the lifting kit then? Can't do it safely with the aid of a jack and some bricks, for example? Basically I'm in student accommodation and have nowhere to store an entire lifting kit, so I'd be better off getting it done at a garage if I can't do it without buying bulky equipment

I recall a thread a couple of months ago describing bleeding the braking system as a PITA - is it really that bad? And as above, really, can I do it without the whole axle stands fiasco?

Cheers for the advice.

 

[miniyazz]

Not sure why you're expecting an insult. I'd get the boots done as a matter of priority before the grease finds a way out and the joints nom themselves. As for the brakes, it could be anything from discs to the calipers needing a service/rebuild.

Oh, just a general lack-of-knowledge-therefore-silly-question insult
Yes, I heard bad things about dodgy CV joints; that's the main reason I'm doing something sooner rather than later.

AFAIK the discs/bads themselves are ok. I checked the pads before the MOT and they had a fair bit left on them, but I didn't check the discs particularly because I don't know how to tell if they're on the way out..

It takes a really long time leaking the grease out before you do any damage.

Hope you're right

 

[miniyazz]

I suppose you could use just the jack and hope it doesn't come back down and trap you under the car If you have no room to work, no real desire to do it and no tools then it's probably a job for a local garage.

Haha yep lol well in the past I've driven it up on bricks to get under it, but given that this involves disengaging the brakes I'm guessing that wouldn't be such a smart idea
There's a fairly deserted car park next door so room to work isn't a problem, and I've got a decent selection of regular tools, just not the bulky lifting/chocking stuff; and the experience would be good, but I'm starting to think I should indeed just get it done by a local garage instead of risking life and limb under a poorly chocked-mobile. Which I think leads me to the question, would I be alright replacing the CV gaiters with my limited lifting equipment, or should I get that done at the garage as well? I'd rather DIY if possible.

Cheers

 

[miniyazz]

A big ass jack and axle stands (and a big hammer) are usually the most important tools. Safety first and all that. Have a read through the Haynes manual and see if you reckon you could manage it on your own.

That I shall. And maybe persuade someone else they need use of them too so go halves on outlay, and persuade them they have somewhere to store the things too.

That kit should work for a while.

I usually use genuine parts on my car, but that's only because I can often get them at cost.

A while - as long as it's more than a couple of years - is exactly what I'm after

Thanks guys, I'll post back in a week or so with what I'm doing/done if anyone's interested.

 

[miniyazz]

OK I've had a gander at the Haynes, and will probably be taking it to a garage, unless they're looking to charge a considerable amount for labour in which case I'll be borrowing a mechanically-minded friend to give me a hand with it (I've not yet decided what would be too much for labour).

However, I remembered about the cam belt - I unfortunately have no service history and don't know when it was last done. Recommended is every 72k miles according to the Haynes, and I've had it since a couple of hundred miles under that (now on 77k ). So I was hoping for a bit of advice on how to tell if it's on its way out, if anyone has any? I've checked the belt and surroundings for any indication of if it's been changed (e.g. date of manufacture) but can't find anything. It's manufactured by Goodyear if that means anything to anyone (for example, are 106s stock-fitted with Goodyear timing belts?)
The only thing I can see is very slight *fraying* (not the right word - when rubber ages it develops cracks etc in it. There appear to be multiple, shallow (<0.5mm deep), thin (<0.5mm wide) cracks on the rubber over each of the 'spokes' holding the cam belt onto the cog, but they seem very minor and I don't know how long they take to appear.)

Also there seems quite a bit of oil in the engine bay, although my oil level doesn't drop particularly fast (topped up once, then fairly soon after changed the oil, in 5k miles) - thoughts?

A few photos will be forthcoming to help demonstrate what I mean, but will have to wait until I can persuade photobucket to accept my uploads.

Cheers again for any help.

Pics:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Timingbeltcrop_01.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Timingbeltcrop_02.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Timingbeltcrop_03.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Timingbeltcrop_04.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Oil_01.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/miniyazz/Oil_02.jpg

 

[miniyazz]

You cannot judge a cam belt. Replace as per the schedule, or when you see obvious damage, or when you're in doing a water pump anyway or something.

That's a shame I guess I'll have to get it done when I get the CV gaiters done too then.

Oh, and - the front braking imbalance. That is presumably an imbalance between the two sides, and actually not too much to worry about until it actually fails its MOT? Since I'm not going to be using it for track use or anything! (12% imbalance IIRC)

 

[miniyazz]

Its not a shame.

Driving along happily listening to radio 2, then BANG all of a sudden you start getting a stutter then clunking noises and death to the engine follows with all valves gone potentially is way more of a shame than needing to service an engine.

Well yes, but replacing a fairly new belt (how much do they cost, by the way?) is also a shame just for lack of a service history

Also, that belt looks old and past it but isn't original but don't hold me to that. Oil over it corrodes the rubber, making it weak. I would change that, not a hard job. You get a look at bearings too then.

Get the oil mopped off everything, and sort out rocker cover gasket, tighten up bolts or new gasket. a couple of quid.

Sorry, not quite up to speed with fancy engine terms Is the rocker cover gasket the thing around the big oil reservoir thing (where one checks for mayo)? And just any bolts I can see? And what gasket do you suggest replacing? Sorry for all the questions!

Also I had a look in the Haynes about changing the cam belt and it rated it as a 5-spanner job is it really that easy? Mentions me needing to be able to tighten it to the correct tension etc etc!

 

[miniyazz]

LOL, yes, and it's not an oil reservoir.

All of them, although I think that needs a new seal.

Rocker cover gasket/seal.

I know, the sump is the oil reservoir, just couldn't think of anything else to call it and it has oil in it so.. lol

its not for piece of mind. and by the looks of it I would replace that, as its covered in oil, manky and I can't even see the lobes yet. a new belt is what 30 quid for that? you are not sure of age that should be enough reason ontop of the oil imo.

Fair enough, yes I'll be replacing that then for definite. But this confuses me:

Cam belt replacement overdue (meant to be after 4 years or 30000 miles, whichever comes earlier, if i remember correctly, this has never been done) £300 ish, or closer to £500 at VW

If the belt costs £30, how does it cost £300ish? Surely there's not 5 hours' labour involved?

as this is metal bolts onto metal it needs a gasket to seal, and your rocker cover has come a little lose or the gasket between that and the cyclinder head has aged and come away.

Right so new rocker cover gasket, bit of tightening, and replacement cam belt (which I'm reluctant to do myself, unless you suggest fitting it roughly right tensionwise (Haynes explains how to do this) then taking to garage asap to do the fine-tweaking?), along with replacement CV gaiters (reluctant to do myself just because I don't have equipment to work underneath), but not bothering with the braking imbalance?
Couple of hundred quid all in at a garage (fitting rocker cover gasket myself, ofc)?

 

[miniyazz]

Cam belt - I think its not that hard a job on the 1.4 but still needs some knowledge and seeing that you don't know what a rocker cover is then I think you should take it to a garage

This is my thinking

Rocker cover - clean all the oil away and see if it is leaking or was a spillage when filling, if it isnt a spillage then get a new rocker cover seal and replace it, peice of cake!

Brakes - do them yourself if your confident but check them THOROUGHLY before you go out.

My question is really - do I need to do the brakes at all?

And yes, I'll do that. Petrol btw.

 

[miniyazz]

OK cheers guys. I get what you're all saying.. and I'll get these things sorted before a) my engine self-destructs, or b) I die.

 

[miniyazz]

the 106 is dangerous for hard braking, mine fishtails all over the place

Guess I'll try to avoid hard braking then
TBH I don't suppose many cars of this calibre are going to be spectacular really!

Just a little update, since the thread's been bumped, I'll be changing the CV gaiters myself - just ordered the parts off eBay yesterday - but as above I'll be getting the cam belt done at a garage. The braking imbalance - I intend to go for a short drive, find an empty road, brake hard from 50ish without holding the wheel firmly and see if I'm concerned about veering off to one side. If I am, I'll do something about the braking, otherwise I'll probably be meh, and change discs/pads when required.

 

[miniyazz]

A little update, in case anyone's interested -

Had the cam belt done at the Lodge Tyre Co (recommended to me a few months ago on this forum) for £184 inc, and I'd use them again - they put a plastic sheet over the driving seat for when they moved it around, which I thought was a nice touch.

Did the CV gaiters over the last couple of days. Was planning on getting them all done on Sunday; rather than go through the hassle of taking off the driveshaft I bought a pair of split gaiters to glue together around the driveshaft. Funnily enough, the first one went fine, but the second was a bit more of a chore, the stupid thing kept splitting after glueing, for some reason. Anyway with some more CV grease and several tubes of superglue (having used up the original supplies), we got it sealed the day before yesterday. I gave it 24 hours to properly harden, just in case, before driving it anywhere and gave it a more thorough test-drive today when I took it to Shrewsbury, and it's stayed patent.
I also replaced the rocker cover gasket on Sunday but still need to clean the engine/check it's sealed properly.

Oh and the braking imbalance - quite obvious with the car on axle stands aka spare wheels. Putting it into first and idling (c. 4mph I guess, if it were on the road), the nearside brakes are clearly effecting the wheel - the offside wheel turns fairly rapidly whereas the nearside barely moves (courtesy of the diff, I presume). I may reseat the brakes but tbh my thinking is that it should really just wear down the nearside brake pads until the braking imbalance cancels out? Anyway, I like the luxury of often not needing to use the handbrake/footbrake to stop myself from rolling backwards at lights etc on slight hills, which is bad of me but hey.

Cheers for the advice.

 

[miniyazz]

I'll keep my ears open and incorporate gaiters into my weekly check then.