rich83 - Edition 30..... Breaking

[rich83]

Spoke too soon. I think the pump is on its last legs. f*cking stupid thing.

[teo_parvu]

It is always a joy to see what's in front, Rich. 
I think you can get a cheap Febi, it is not critical like an oil pump: https://www.autodoc.co.uk/febi-bilstein/1871071

[rich83]

Nothings happened.... cars done 126K now. Need to fix an oil leak and get by BCS cat swapped over cos it keeps failing emissions tests 

[colesey]

Nothings happened.... cars done 126K now. Need to fix an oil leak and get by BCS cat swapped over cos it keeps failing emissions tests 

That isn't good to hear! How old was your cat and how many cells?

[rich83]

5 years this June.  It’s a 200cell cat. I’ve just got to take it back to nige at BCS and he’s gonna test it and replace it. Otherwise the system has been faultless.

[colesey]

I’m sure BCS will look after you well Rich, they have a great reputation. Out of interest, what sort of mileage had you covered over these 5 years and how close were your previous MOT readings? Reason for asking is that I quite wanted a BCS catted downpipe due to their using a top quality cat in the hope of avoiding MOT issues.

[rich83]

Its nearly failed the last 2 previous.. and then it failed last year in april-ish time. MOT tester had to rev it for about 5 minutes to get to it pass, cant remember what the figures were but I know when it eventually passed is was by a very small margin.

[colesey]

Thanks for sharing Rich - I think I can do without that drama every year!

[pudding]

Physics = 1
Crappy aftermarket cats = 0

I wish people wouldn't keep believing exhaust salesmen over science and common sense.

[Dan_FR]

So much for the sales pitch from BCS that their cats user a superior, thicker coating of precious metals and don't have the same issues that lesser products have.....

[pudding]

There's simply not enough substrate area, or heat under the car, for a 200 cell to be of any use.   The materials used are woefully sub par as well.  Not even close to OEM cat performance. 

The only 2 options for an easy life are: sticking with the OEM DP, or fitting the biggest aftermarket cat possible in the space available.....but it's a catch 22 is a super big cat will need even more heat to work than the smaller one!

[rich83]

There's simply not enough substrate area, or heat under the car, for a 200 cell to be of any use.   The materials used are woefully sub par as well.  Not even close to OEM cat performance. 

The only 2 options for an easy life are: sticking with the OEM DP, or fitting the biggest aftermarket cat possible in the space available.....but it's a catch 22 is a super big cat will need even more heat to work than the smaller one!

They do use biggish cats.... 5" if i remember. I dont really want to go back to OEM cat as that means loosing the stage 2 map and well.... wheres the fun in that 

[Shoduchi]

Mine has 3 years. Passed MOT tests this Monday. Oh well! It's the nature of this tuning game. Parts wear out... :/

[rich83]

Took the car down to JKM rolling road a few days ago just to check the map and a general health check of the car. Its running fine, not making as much power as it could but its on the safe side as its done 130K now. It did make 316 last time, but I am pretty sure that was on higher settings.



I think it could make about another 10-15bhp by increasing the boost, it's only running a shade over 1.2bar, and it could be ~1.4bar on higher settings.


Diagnostic did bring up one issue. An intermittent fault on the Lambda probe which had not seen before. JKM cleared it and I thought it was fine until last night when I came up again throwing a EML, which needs sorting as MOT time soon.

A quick trip to ECP in Harrow and a cheeky deal resulted in getting an OEM Bosch sensor for £135 instead of £170. VW wanted £200

Old sensor


New sensor






I picked up on of those cheapo ELM wifi OBD2 dongles just for clearing codes and for 14 quid you cant go wrong. I did have a genuine VCDS cable but stupidly sold it a few years back.


Touch wood thats the last I am going to see of that error.


Stupid f*cking car!

:-)

[rich83]

New flexi and cat....

Couple of pics of the fixed downpipe and flexi





MOT on wed..... fingers crossed.