What did you and your MKV do today?

[Aleksandar]

Clubsport and seat delete kit installed for what I think are awesome looks and saves me 38kg 🤩

[skkane]

Back up and running few days ago, albeit like total sh*t.

I have a cracked hose going from the camshaft cover to the turbo, it's part of the PCV system I believe. Also have a Knock sensor g61 signal too low error. I believe it is causing the rough running and random misfires. I have -12kw timing retardation on all cylinders when gently giving it some throttle past 2k rpms. Car is definately not making the right power and I have a hard time getting up to boost (it even spiked to 1.7bar in 4th when I was seeing 1.61bar tops on the previous engine). Fuel consumption has increased also.

Waiting for the hose to arrive and will hopefully get the knock sensor changed and torqued correctly (20nm) on Monday. It was probably torqued too tight or is just messed up. It is such a bitch to get at it, below the intake manifold and alternator 

[skkane]

Finally got the car sorted few days ago. The G61 knock sensor was not tightened up properly. Everything is now running great, no more errors, pulls nicely.

Had an issue with the downshift DSG paddle. It would randomly act out and not do anything 80% of the times. Couldn't enjoy the car properly in manual mode. A new one is like 180 eur or something crazy so we took it apart and cleaned the contact points below the microswitch. Instant response now, feels awesome having both working like they should.

[SANDEGTI]

Finally got the car sorted few days ago. The G61 knock sensor was not tightened up properly. Everything is now running great, no more errors, pulls nicely.

Had an issue with the downshift DSG paddle. It would randomly act out and not do anything 80% of the times. Couldn't enjoy the car properly in manual mode. A new one is like 180 eur or something crazy so we took it apart and cleaned the contact points below the microswitch. Instant response now, feels awesome having both working like they should.

That looks fiddly! Congrats on the rebuild and also that cheap fix! Awesome work.

[skkane]

That looks fiddly! Congrats on the rebuild and also that cheap fix! Awesome work.

Thanks! Yes, it was pretty fiddly removing all those small clips without breaking them. My friends shovel type hands did not help the matter also.

[skkane]

Got one of those Polar FIS, really liking it, sucks that it loses the layout you set if you disconnect the battery though. Also got some aluminium paddle extensions for 20$. Can't complain for that price, great feel to the touch, just hope that they stick on there. Some shots with a mate R32s also.

[ROH ECHT]

Back up and running few days ago, albeit like total sh*t.

I have a cracked hose going from the camshaft cover to the turbo, it's part of the PCV system I believe.  Car is definately not making the right power and I have a hard time getting up to boost (it even spiked to 1.7bar in 4th when I was seeing 1.61bar tops on the previous engine). Fuel consumption has increased also.

Waiting for the hose to arrive.


If the cracked hose is allowing un-metered air in, and causing those issues, then the PCV valve is flawed. Do you know if the rear vent tube, the corrugated metal tube the hose is connected to, is valved or not? Also, the Rev.-P PCV and Rev.-R PCV are meant to be paired to one of the two vent tubes.

This is their proper pairing;

[smilespergallon]

Spent the last 4 days doing a few jobs on the old Edition 30 that I've been wanting to do for a while:

1. Inlet Valve Clean
2. Injector Refurb
3. Thermostat
4. Air Con Condenser

The condenser was mostly just an excuse to take the front end off. I gave up on the valve clean and thermostat jobs in the past because I struggled to get the charge pipe off, and the throttle body bolts looked impossible.




1. Inlet Valve Clean

Taking the intake manifold off wasn't as hard as I expected. Just lots of bolts and pipes. I made a note of every bolt and pipe I removed so that I could check them off when refitting, and it helped a lot. Also using parts boxes to organise all the bolts made it less stressful.

I spent a good while cleaning these out. I used a combination of brass brushes, picks, carb cleaner, scotch brite, and cable ties (in that order). I didn't have an air compressor to blow the mess out, so I used a bicycle pump and that did the trick.

Part: Elring 655.840 (inlet manifold gasket)

Before:



During:



After:




2. Injector Refurb



I know it's probably best to send these off for proper testing and cleaning, but I didn't have 3-5 working days on my hands so I thought I'd try the DIY method in this video:

I was a bit nervous as a few comments suggested a 12V battery would fry the injectors. So I tried with a 9V battery first, but that didn't activate them at all. So I went for the 12V car battery and it worked like a charm.

I used carb cleaner at first. Then I came in thinking I was done for the night, but then read online that you don't want to leave carb cleaner sitting inside the injectors overnight as it can eat away at the rubber inside the injectors. So I ran back out and flushed them through with contact cleaner.

They all seem to be working fine now, so I'm glad that all went to plan.

I also replaced all the seals and o-rings and brackets. I went for Elring kit at £10 each.

Parts: Elring 938.230 x 4


3. Thermostat



Car has been struggling to get to 90 degress the last couple of months, so I suspected it was the thermostat (and it was). Not bad going really as the car is on 135,000 miles.

I have no idea how anyone manages to do this job with the front end on.

It's really awkward to get the pipes off. The clips are in awkward positions, and the pipes can be incredibly stiff. If I had to do it again I'd find an excuse to take the front end off first (e.g. replace intercooler or radiator or something). I'd rather spend an extra 2-3 hours making room than spend the same amount of time cutting up my hands, dropping bolts, and swearing like a sailor. I salute anyone who has managed to do this job at home without taking the front end off; you're a better man/woman than me.

Part: Mahle TI 6 80


4. Air Con Condenser

As I say, this was just an excuse to take the front end off.

The old one was absolutely battered to death. It still worked though, so if nothing else the new one looks tidier.

I haven't had chance to test it out yet as I don't want to regas the aircon until I'm confident I haven't got any leaks anywhere (probably give it a week or so), plus it's sub-zero outside at the moment so turning the air con on while I'm in the car wouldn't make my life any more enjoyable.

Before:



After:



Part: Denso DCN32032


Summary:

The whole process took about 4 full days. I'm pretty slow though, and I spent a long time cleaning out the inlet valves. I also meticulously took pictures and wrote everything down, because I've never taken a car apart this much before.

This video was massively helpful throughout the process:

I was nervous as hell starting the car up for the first time after putting it back together, and I fully expected it not to work.

But she fired up first time, is getting up to temperature in a few minutes, and is running as smooth as I remember when I first bought the car 11 years ago.

Would highly recommend.

[smilespergallon]

Cleaned out the oil sump and oil pickup today.

Thought it was going to be a quick 3 hour job, but I spent about 7 hours on it in total. There were more bolts than I expected; had to take the front right wheel arch lining off to disconnect the intercooler pipe bracket, and also another bolt for the charge pipe. But cleaning the sump and removing the old gasket took the most time.

Anyway, the sump and pickup looked pretty clean considering it's not been done for 135,000 miles. Seemed like a bit of a waste of time in hindsight, but reassuring to know that everything is looking okay nonetheless.

Sump before:



Sump after:



Pickup before:



Pickup after:



And this is the bead I ran on the sump:



I erred on the side of too much rather than too little. I've never fitted an oil sump before, so I knew I wasn't going to get a perfect 2mm bead all the way around. I left it about 2 hours before adding the oil, and then another hour before taking it for a drive. So hopefully I haven't blocked up the otherwise perfectly fine pickup with a fresh dose of Dirko.

The tricky 2 x hidden bolts weren't too hard to get off using a round-head allen key (with some box spanners for leverage):



I've read that when reinstalling the sump, it's best to do the tricky hidden bolts last. However, one of them ended up being a little snug (despite every other bolt threading in perfectly fine), and I wasn't happy with how comfortably it went in. Considering I'd already offered up the sump to the engine and threaded in all of the other bolts, I ended up "persuading" it in as I really didn't want to spent another hour cleaning, re-gasketing, and refitting the sump. It wasn't awful, but threading it in didn't feel great.

I wouldn't be enthusiastic about taking the sump off again.

If I was to do it again, I'd probably just thread in 2 screws to get the sump semi-attached, then tackle the awkward angular bolts early on rather than have to fight them at the end in the event that the sump is already sealing in place and there's little room left for manoeuvre.

Nonetheless, doesn't appear to be any leaks. And I'll let you know if I run in to any oil pressure issues to my liberal use of Dirko.

[mjmallia]

Good work there.  Do not forget about the inline stat above the alternator as that had caused me a lot of slow warm ups in the morning with it being stuck open and gets overlooked a lot.  DSG's have another for the gearbox.

[terrier]

MOT today. She'll be fine    Failed 2 in 15 years 1st for an alignment issue with headlight/bulb
                                                                                  2nd for a dangling smelly on the mirror
 

Bumpin myself.Early MOT to avoid holidays.  She passed of course no advisories 120000 careful miles by one careful owner
 
 

[jacksosi]

She's just hit 100,000 miles, so 3x preventative items as recommended on here  , plus front lower ball joints which were an MOT advisory

·         Cam follower - £45 + vat
·         Diverter valve- £62 + vat
·         PCV valve - £51 + vat
·         Ball joints- £50 + vat
·         Labour – £187 + vat.
= £475 all in

[probedb]

I washed it for the first time in 2/3 months (bad owner, United Grey hides dirt very well  ). Two hours later a gull shat all over it, like, not a single hit, carpet bombed the bonnet, windscreen and down the side of the car. Maybe I'll just never wash it.

[pudding]

I washed it for the first time in 2/3 months (bad owner, United Grey hides dirt very well  ). Two hours later a gull shat all over it, like, not a single hit, carpet bombed the bonnet, windscreen and down the side of the car. Maybe I'll just never wash it.

Ha, same thing happened to me recently. The damn birds even shat on the door handle 

I never wash the car over winter as it's kind of pointless if used every day and stored outside. I just whack a load of wax on it October sort of time for protection and then wait until spring to clean it 

I like dirty cars anyhoo. The filthier the better 

[Kontiki]

Car passed its mot today, wasn’t too worried but really chuffed no advisories and the tester said for the age 2008 it’s one off the cleanest he’s seen 😁