Sics Consolidated Faded Moderns Thread - 2006 Golf Mk5 GTI & 2004 BMW Z4 2.2

[SiC]

Absolutely peeing it down tonight. I'm not sure why, but I decided to get going on this. 


Even my cat was watching on in bemusement as I worked out in the rain.


Anyway pulled the alternator out. Wasn't a bad job. I have just realised I didn't mark which way the aux belt went. Maybe I should replace it while I'm there now?


Alternator date code is 2006. Almost certainly original to the car. Impressive that it's lasted nearly 200k. However the one way clutch on the pulley is locked solid and not functioning. I don't know how important it is for a petrol?

I do have the tool somewhere to remove a one way pulley. Hell knows where it is. I think may even have a new pulley for a TDI A4. Probably the same as what is on this.

Anyway I'm going to pretend it's okay for now unless I find said pulley + tool. 

 
With the alternator out of the way, access really isn't that bad. 


Most difficult bit was trying not to round one of these stupid triple spline bolts. Found an M5 in my Rolson bit set that I bought from Maplins years ago. Not the best quality but far better than a cheap set I got off eBay a few years back. I reckon I need to invest in some better quality Triple Spline sockets. These stubby ratchets are very handy for getting into tight places too. 


With the thermostat visible, I pumped up the reservoir again. Pretty clear that the thermostat housing is fubar.



I'm really hoping that the Behr/Mahle will be better quality. This doesn't look that old a thermostat either.

No idea why it chose now to fail. I think it was just a bit of bad luck - especially considering where it failed. 

I carried on removing bits ready for a thermostat change when it arrives. The intake charge pipe hose was a bitch to remove. It would have been a lot easier if I jacked the car up to begin with and realised no amount of struggling would get over that I've missed a torx screw on the bottom.

 
While I had access to it, I removed the throttle body for a clean. I suspect this came off much easier than I'll get back on. It's mounted inverted on the intake manifold with the fixings not visible. Removing it does however give even more access to the thermostat area. 

I'll give this a good scrub tomorrow. Will have to remember to reset the adaptions on it too. It's date coded as original too, so possibly this has never been off or cleaned. I'm tempted to take the cover off the side and inspect for wear on the potentiometer resistive tracks. Given the mileage, I fully expect the tracks around the idle position to be very worn. 

 
Decided to start undeleting the PCV. 



Again while I had bits removed, it made replacing the main pcv cam cover to crank cover hose really easy. I wasn't intending to replace this as it was looking difficult access until I removed all these bits. However I'm glad I have, as the old had gone very brittle and snapped in half while moving it. 

Inside all this is NASTY. Stank pretty bad. I'm really not a fan of PCV deletes. All this should be sucked into the manifold and burnt off, rather than accumulating in the cam/crank case and oil. 




Removing the PCV delete plate was just a case of four torx.


Then replace the gasket as I have a new one.


You need to get the right pcv valve as there are two different setups on these engines. Get the wrong one and you'll have a big vac leak. Basically it comes down to whether there is a one was valve in this PCV or the one on the rear of the turbo. 

I'm not actually sure which I need, so I went with the one with. At least I can cut out the valve if I don't need it. The check valve on this is the blue thing on the left.


The rear pcv check valve is in this hose joiner with the Audi logos on in the middle of this picture. Thing is, I don't want to remove this hose as I don't want to break anything. So I'm assuming it doesn't have one. 


New pcv all bolted down with new screws supplied in the packet.

Looking at the engine, it did pass my mind that I was only £150 in parts and only an hour or so needed to go further in and replace the cambelt while I'm here...


It's tempting but I'd rather wait till spring (only a month away) when the weather warms up. 

Not least right now I'm absolutely soaking wet after working out in the rain all night...

[FatherJack]

Every day is a school day, a triple spline is the name for it ?
The Merkins also call it a triple square as it is a square drive on 30' rotations



The first and only time I have met with one was on the engine mounts on my Ford Galaxy, nothing would fit.
I took a picture and being a Sunday went out looking for a 12 sided torx like thing and found one on the shelf in a Motorists Discount centre.
So I am the proud owner of a set of 8 "12 sided bastard bolt drivers (half inch drive)" where seven are as new.

I have wondered if the PCV and EGR removal jobs are done to scrape a tired car through an emissions check.
If oil vapour from the crank case goes back into the engine to be burnt is there a risk of failing on what comes out of the exhaust ?

[Eddie Honda]

Every day is a school day, a triple spline is the name for it ?
The Merkins also call it a triple square as it is a square drive on 30' rotations

Just SiC calls it that.

A proper #dubberdick would have a full set.

XZN are what they are called, not to be confused with spline / double hex

[SiC]

Not much last night as I'm still waiting for this thermostat to arrive. Supposed to be today. 

Picked up the Merc, so I have wheels again now. Brakes feel the same, which is no surprise as the system is brake-by-wire in normal operation and the feel is artificial. Old pipes were hanging and definitely needed replacing asap. Annoying that whoever worked on the brakes previously busted the caliper bleed screw. Makes you wonder if they were trying to bleed it, broke it and then just ignored it. 

Anyhow I dug out my alternator clutch pulley tool and found this spare pulley. It came in the kit of pulleys that I bought for the 2006 A4 TDI I had for a few months. I couldn't get that one off and tbh it looked new while working perfectly. So I didn't change it. Luckily it's a direct swap and matches up part number wise with this alternator pulley too. 



Removal is a special tool that is a torx in the middle and then a splined bit on the outside. Took some figuring which way to turn what. The collet piece is the lefty loosey part. 

You're not allowed to use air tools on this as it smashes stuff. Brute force didn't work, so I trod on the spanner. Crack and it was off. Doing up was easy enough and just needed 85nm on the centre tool in reverse.



Replaced the pollen filter as it's an easy job and often neglected. This however has a fancy Mann one that filters PM as well as other materials. I use one in our Civic and can recommend if you have allergies and/or asthma while doing a lot of city driving. These are quite expensive filters! So again someone has spent money on this and it's not that dirty, so not that old. The replacement was a much cheaper Bosch carbon filter.



 
 
Removed one of the plugs to do a quick inspection. They've definitely been there a while. Wasn't easy to remove and took a bit of back+forth as I really didn't want to snap anything. I'm not a fan of Bosch plugs either and prefer NGK. I'll replace these in due course once I've put a few more miles on it. (Basically I've spent far too much on this so far this month).



 
Had a quick peer into the wheel arch as I noticed the springs looked new. Shock doesn't look that old either. Nice to see a quality Sachs damper than some random name rubbish.


 
Hopefully that thermostat will arrive today and I can get it fitted tomorrow sometime.

[Scruffy Bodger]

A bit of luck having that pulley and removal tool! I like the scrawl on the box too so you have some idea of what it is inside, always a good nudge of memory when you are looking for stuff or moving it around from time to time.

I tried getting the pulley off the alternator I bought the other month as it was the wrong size but I couldn't shift it with the stuff I had at home, a shorter belt cost me 20 quid and a 25 mile round trip to fetch it.

[Eddie Honda]

You can never have enough toolage.

[SiC]

The E320 is being a right little shit. 

Brake lines have now changed and bled. They work great and were urgently needing to be done.

Big snag where one of the calipers had a snapped bleed screw from someone else touching it previously. Calipers are only available as exchange from Merc and that set me back nearly £300 extra. Massive things too - proper fixed 4 pot calipers. 

I also had an engine oil change done while up on the ramp. However the brake lines took up all the time so there wasn't any time available left to do the transmission fluid/filter change or plug. Likewise no time left for the mounts. 

Less great is that it's now decided to nearly stall the engine when pulling up to lights. Happened twice today. Probably because I've lavished too much attention on the git. Noticed it did it when you're doing quite a hard stop to zero mph. So far it's at the early point of a journey where it's not warmed up. I don't think it's the crank sensor as I'd expect that to be an issue when hot and rough running during cruise. 

I'm pretty sure it's the torque converter lockup sticking. Likely solenoid or electrically.

I've just done a bit of driving with the scantool connected on live data to see what's going on.

When cruising along, it's in a "slipping" state - this is normal for this box. They only lockup at motorway and faster cruise speeds. Newer boxes lockup fully for best economy but these slip in most scenarios as it reduces engine vibration through the car. Fuel was cheaper back then....

At idle or coming to idle it transitions back to open as expected. However I've heard it before where it's made a weird vibration noise at slow speeds when accelerating and turning. I heard it again earlier and it was in the transitioning intermediate stage going from open to slipping.

My strong suspicion is that if I come to a halt quickly, the gearbox isn't always quick enough (mechanically) to open the lockup solenoid due to it being sticky or a electrical fault.

Shifts generally seem flawless but it does sometimes noticeably clunk into gears a tad harder occasionally. I originally put this all down to potentially the engine mounts transmitting more shock into the chassis.

Perhaps it's the connector on the gearbox or maybe a fluid change and that connector will sort/help it? I have that in the kit of bits already. Need to find time to jack it up and do that job though. Especially haven't when I have the GTI in bits currently.

Oil level at 80c (well 79c on the scantool to be exact, but 1c isn't going to make any difference) is bob on max on the dipstick in that 80c section. The ATF smells fine and not burnt.

 
Googling suggests that Torque Converter Lockup sticking is an issue with these boxes. Fixes vary from fluid to solenoid to torque converter (including integrated TCC clutch packs) changes.

Bastard cars. It must have noticed I've sold my TT and the Golf is broken. 

[FhakeConcern]

Liked not because I enjoy seeing you have problems, but because I love that you've taken the trouble to show us all this stuff you do to cars and taking pics while you work must be a total PIA!

[SiC]

Went down for a walk in Brean today and took this. 

These boots are incredibly handy to sit on while putting your walking boots on 


Started out clear but it got more misty/foggy as we progressed, so didn't see much!



 


 
Anyway it drove absolutely fine with no hint of stalling. One big difference is that I took it easy, put the box in comfort and didn't boot it everywhere. MPG figures show that story


Could well be that it's an elderly 148k gearbox and just doesn't appreciate being rushed - mostly when coming to a stop. My current plan of action will be to change the fluid+filter+connector plus stuff a new lockup solenoid and maybe even a conductor plate on it (I think that's fine though). Basically full parts darts as I have most of that already. If it gets worse and plays up more often then I'll have to throw the towel in. I hope/suspect it may solve the problem if the solenoid is a bit sticky. Then can go like that if the fluid isn't changed often enough.

There is a receipt in the paperwork from a few years ago now and about 12k miles of a gearbox service. So likely fluid change. Makes me wonder why that might have been done now?

Extremely frustrating that it's played up as it's the first car in a long while that I really like and enjoy driving. It may well be completely fine from now on and a brief blip. But I think it makes sense to throw those parts on it to be fully sure. Especially that connector as they're prone to filling with oil and causing shift issues. 

I mean all I can do now is keep driving it as it's basically be unsellable now on here.

[SiC]

Just come in for tea but half way through buttoning the Golf back up. Boost pipe, alternator, belt and coolant refill to go. Tensioner pulley bearings aren't the most silent. I might regret not replacing it. But that's another £55 and I've spent way too fricking much on cars this month. Tempted to reuse the old serpentine belt but can't remember which way it came off, so risk it might snap. I do have a new belt but that then loads up that tensioner pulley more and might finish it off! Decisions decisions.

One good decision I made was this:


Currently sat on 18psi which is the VAG test pressure. Been sat for 40mins without moving and probably be an hour and half when I go back out to recheck. Gives many, many times more confidence that it's not going to piss fresh coolant all back out once together. I'll give the vacuum fill a go later too. Hopefully it won't be too noisy doing it outside. 


Definitely I should have got one years ago.