Winter barge purchased - apparently I don't learn from my mistakes...

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

mattyprice4004

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*skip to here for full details: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/32256479/ *

Well, that time of year is upon us - and being out in the sticks I thought I'd go hunting for something AWD to get me through the cold months.
The 330d needs some TLC, so I thought I'd capitalise on the empty garage at my old house to get it done - and in the meantime, I have bought...

...another VW Phaeton!
I sold the last one as it being LWB was proving quite annoying - the driveway on that particular house wasn't long enough for it, and parking on the road was a no-go as several cars had been vandalised.
I've just moved to a nicer area, have a 4 car driveway and thought that 4Motion would be quite handy in the colder months.

Truth be told, this is just stupid 'man logic' as I only bought it due to the insanely low price - around £2k.
It's a 3.0 TDI SWB, bought totally blind and I'm off to Port Talbot in Wales to pick it up tomorrow.
What I know so far - it's black, reg in 2006, has done around 140,000 miles... and that's it.
Short MOT, stupidly high road tax and 35MPG on a good day.

Wish me luck! Pics and more details incoming once I'm home tomorrow night. :D
 
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Thank you!
With stupidly high levels of electronics, two batteries, notoriously grumpy systems.... it's a safe bet right? :p

In all honesty, if it's a nail I could break it for spares and make the money back. I bought it in the hope it'll see me through winter, anything else is a bonus!
 
Not driveable? It’s still fine to drive :) just needs a few engine mounts changing, centre prop bearing noise needs looking into (again), some interior trim replacing and going to fit the spare turbo I have while it’s in bits.
Old one is still OK (for now!) but a fair bit of shaft play and tiny blue haze. Makes sense as the spare was pennies and us sat doing nothing :)
I enjoy tinkering, so it’s more of a hobby than ‘oh balls, the shed is broken again’!

I have to admit, this is probably more for fun than actual solid logic... but why not. Road trip! :D
 
Sorry all! Been mad busy as my business has just imported half a container of car parts... :D
Back to the Phaeton.

Some basic details:
139,000 miles
2006 (private plate going back to original owner shortly)
6 speed ZF 6HP-19 transmission with full-time 4WD
Lots of silly toys - 4 power sockets, massage front seats, heated and cooled front seats, memory function for everything (inc rear view mirror!), puddle and footwell lighting on all doors, fancy (but outdated) nav / entertainment system

First observations - FANTASTIC. What a car, in every way. It's quick (for the weight, these weigh over 2T!), relatively nimble for something this size and so, so comfy. Massage seats with heating and cooling in the front really made the trip home fly by.

Some pictures:











I'm amazed it got me home, but everything major is working as it should. :)

Outlay so far:
Car (inc spare front bumper, we'll get to that) - £2100
Bits for aux in wiring - £3
Paint etc for replacement front bumper - £20
Wipers, cabin filters, air filter, oil filter, oil, transmission oil (not much history with it) - £70
Just under £2200 all in - can't be too bad!


Issues to sort after a good going over, and with the help of VAG COM:
Faint smell of exhaust in the car - going to get her up on the ramp and see what's what. Engine bay is free from soot etc.
Fault code for upstream lambda is present - not put the EML on, but I'll change it shortly. Cost ~£70 for Bosch.
Front driver's bass speaker doesn't work. Quite a common issue - tinsel leads are weak but can be resoldered.
Front bumper has quite significant damage to the passenger side - bought a replacement for £25 but needs respraying (wrong colour).
The gearbox oil needs changing - feels much more sluggish to shift than my last 3.0TDI Phaeton, which had fresh fluid.
All 4 tyres are the wrong size (and are made of Chinese flip flops) - 245 rather than 255.
MOT due in a month - existing advisory for front drop links, so they'll be changed shortly.
Bulb warning is for a fog light that's been damaged on the passenger front (but there was a replacement in the boot! Score).
Spare wheel completely missing.

Looking forward to getting stuck in. She's going to Krov in Germany shortly, so needs to be tickety boo! :)
 
Update time!
Well, rather predictably I've uncovered a few issues...
- Car is still on the original starter battery, so a little slow to turn over on cold mornings
- Blower stopped working yesterday
- The larger battery for the rest of the electronics seemed quite low sometimes, even though it's fairly new

First things first, the starter battery. I'm going to order the Varta OE replacement from Tanya tomorrow - so fingers crossed that'll take the worry out of starting over winter.
They're cheap enough, and it's not worth the worry should it decide to not start one morning.

The blower was more interesting - yesterday it decided that a blower wasn't needed in the middle of a rainy spell and packed up completely.
I do remember seeing a code for a blower fault on VCDS, so thought it may be on its last legs - so set to work testing if it was the transistor pack, Climatronic unit (gulp!) or the blower itself.
Luckily you can fish the power connectors for the blower out from between the fresh air vents without removing anything other than the scuttle panel:



It was then a case of connecting up the trusty bench power supply to see if the thing spins or not.
At full chat they draw around 120-200w depending on the car - the power supply tops out at 10A, but this was more than enough to show the fan was healthy and not drawing too much power:



I thought I'd try the easy fix of contact cleaner first - and would you believe it, the fan sprung back into life once all was cleaned up and re-connected. We'll see if it's just a glitch, but hopefully that's the end of this issue.

Finally, I used the bench power supply to give it a good, solid recharge up to 14.4v until the current drain dropped off - the battery is relatively new, so I'm hoping the issue of it being rather down on power is just because the car was sat for a while before I bought it.
 
Just a quick update - MOT passed today, no advisories. Tester was very impressed with overall condition - and rightly so, I was invited for a look underneath and it's like new.

One year's ticket on the thing, and apart from a new starter battery she's been behaving. :)
 
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