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

[mattyprice4004]

I think I am too, menand my friends all have bets on just how badly it’ll fail...

Last MOT was one advisory - a front drop link. They look like something off a JCB!

 

[Nick1881]

Did it make it home? Or are you still waiting for the recovery?

 

[iamdjdz]

Love Phaetons. Would buy one but I'm semi sensible.

 

[GinG]

Guessing he broke down on the way home and still stranded with the lack of pics?

 

[danza]

It's not looking good so far, is it?!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Maybe it has Bhaeton him....

 

[Diddums]

Maybe it has Bhaeton him....

Maybe he drowned it in a ford

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Maybe he drowned it in a ford

It's happens the the best of us

 

[sigma]

Phaetoff?

 

[mattyprice4004]

Sorry all! Been mad busy as my business has just imported half a container of car parts...
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seats, memory function for everything (inc rear view mirror!), puddle and footwell lighting on all doors, fancy (but outdated) nav / entertainment system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!

 

[geekman]

If that really is all that’s wrong with it, I’d say you’ve done really well. The only thing that would concern me is that the previous owner obviously hasn’t cared for it, which particularly on a car like that can mean a constant stream of issues once you start putting miles on it.

Either way, if you’re willing to work on it yourself and get shot of it if/when it throws up major issues, I can’t see you losing much if anything on it.

 

[mattyprice4004]

I think that's the issue - I'd wager it's not had much love in recent years.
I'm not too bothered about the outside appearance - but the oily bits will be getting plenty of TLC over the next week or so.

 

[mattyprice4004]

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.

 

[mattyprice4004]

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.

 

[mattyprice4004]

Just a final update - sold back to the last owner for exactly what I paid, so a good few months of comfort for essentially free (save for a service, starter battery and cost of a relay).