What are you doing?

pengers

Member
Were my thoughts whilst driving away in a slightly unloved red ’04 1.4 tdi sport.

It allegedly did have some new parts on (brakes and shocks) but whilst viewing I knew it wasn’t well looked after; no evidence of any regular maintenance, everything tired, lots of broken items and a boot used as dog transport or a bin for used parts/ broken mobile phones and old receipts. An okay spec yes (skyroof, 4 x windows, winter pack) - but undoubtedly an unloved workhorse.

My other thoughts were, ‘you should really walk away, it’s going to end up being a project, it needs loads of work, and will cost loads and take ages (which you don’t have the time for), and it’s not even cheap’.

But there we are, a deal was done, certainly 127k is not particularly high mileage, I see plenty for sale at 160k. But it’s not exactly low mileage either and all of those miles are unknown in terms of maintenance and servicing quality, but still some potential I felt.

The immediate job list was quite long: both cambelt + auxiliary belts, both tensioners and pulleys, water pump, thermostat and temperature sensor (gauge inoperative), full service with oil, air, fuel and cabin filters, coolant flush, wiper blade, fuel flap release switch, air con control panel buttons, fit a set of seats that I had already bought (thanks Steve and Ian).

The interior got a full valet, declutter (cameras and cables everywhere) and some new mats and after all that I am much happier (as, I imagine, is the car; it certainly runs smoother and quieter – the aux belt tensioner was particularly noisy).

Some observations on doing the work – during previous belt replacement the crankshaft pulley had been reinstalled with the original allen-head bolts and were rounded so getting them out was a rpita. I used a combination of the tapping-in-an-oversized-torx-socket trick and drilling out..carefully. So, buy new bolts from audi (now T50 head). I used a transmission jack to support and position the engine up/down to get the engine mount and crankshaft pulley bolts out. Getting the spring clips holding the air mass meter in place back on was ridiculously hard so consider buying the right tool for this.. Also if you can hear what sounds like a radio interference type noise coming from the back of the cabin somewhere then change your fuel filter asap. This is dead easy, I used a single hose clamp to prevent fuel draining, undid the 2 x plastic nuts and out it comes.

It’s been quite a learning curve and some of the design features of the pd engine are not brilliant for access and maintenance. Replacing the temperature sensor was the most fiddly job ever, not great design - I put some grease on the ends of the plastic clip to get it to slide on easier, which I think helped. But do check as it’s easy to misalign the ‘blind side’ of the plastic clip and lose your coolant (twice in fact..) so make sure it’s well pushed in there and is a solid fit after the clip is in. The lower thermostat bolt is also very very fiddly to get off - and even harder to get back on.

More recently I have also installed a false floor (thanks Ian) which by default replaced all the rear carpets, after which the car felt much fresher. I also had the steering wheel recovered which makes the driving experience much nicer. 4 new all-weather tyres has meant that the traction control light comes on much less frequently when exiting junctions (but front end still seems 'bouncy').

Otherwise I need to fix or replace the stereo (symphony II with broken cd player/ changer) and fit a nicer handbrake lever.

Also just recently on way home from work one day, the sunroof imploded with a very loud bang and I received a shower of black glass, not a pleasant experience which took a lot of cleaning out. But thanks to great member support on here (cheers Paul, top bloke), I was able to get a replacement panel when I feared it was almost a write-off or at least a v. expensive (full roof) replacement.

So I thought I’d introduce myself and post story so far, I have met a few of you already - there is so much great information and help from this forum, thanks to all past members and present for the advice and posts you have made, I'm pleased to keep this one going, and actually significantly improved, for a few more miles yet - good that they are becoming cheap enthusiast cars not cheap neglected cars, I just like it because it's a bit different and fun to work on with available spares network..and excellent forum..

Pengers.
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Great read. Yes the clip holding the temperature sender on is not very confidence inspiring but seems to.do the job.

I've got a mint symphony 2 here. No wear to any of the buttons at all but it's currently locker in safe mode. There's a procedure for unlocking it. I was going to advertise it for around £40 when it's unlocked and going, but if you want to do the work yourself you can have it for £12.50.
 
Also just recently on way home from work one day, the sunroof imploded with a very loud bang and I received a shower of black glass, not a pleasant experience which took a lot of cleaning out. But thanks to great member support on here (cheers Paul, top bloke), I was able to get a replacement panel when I feared it was almost a write-off or at least a v. expensive (full roof) replacement.



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That should have been covered by the "glass" aspect of your Insurance policy? By that, I mean windscreen cover. My complete roof was replaced under my Insurance at a cost of £2200. I had to pay a £100 excess but my no-claim bonus was unaffected. A really good outcome!

David
 
I didn't think of that and that is a good outcome BUT, getting all that done through insurance would have maybe taken weeks, I managed to get it sorted it in a few days and back in action. Thankfully the roof works so popping it open revealed the 4 bolts it's attached with, so pleased just to get it fixed.
 
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