So, where am I up to?

 

Happy with the rear end. Back brakes rebuilt, couple of good tyres on there. Brakes adjusted up nicely.

 

Big jobs under the bonnet done, but I do need to tidy up some missing and broken bits of plastic. 

 

Nothing obvious on the front end. 

 

Next steps.... change the brake fluid, because that's something that you can guarantee hasn't been done in years on most cars. Go for an MOT and if that's all good, do some tidying round. 

Edited 6 October, 20223 yr by Yeti

A couple of people have asked about me using cheapo o rings on the fuel returns.

 

There's times when I wouldn't use anything but a quality branded part, there's other times when I don't think it matters so much. 

 

If it were a main seal on an injector, subject to 20:1 compression and a few thousand psi of fuel pressure, I'd be using the proper seals.

 

As we can see from the leakdown testing, the return lines deal with far lower pressures and volumes, so there's no real worry about injury or damage if they fail, just a bit of wasted fuel sitting on the engine. 

 

They're not a perfect fit, compared to an OEM ring which is measured to +/- 0.1mm, but there's no discernible play in the plugs, so I'm happy at that. They also don't cost £3 each like they would from VW. 

Today I fucked up....

 

 

I forgot I'd changed the fuel filter but not primed it. Then I started the engine and ran the injectors dry, so I had to go a little old-fashioned to get some fuel back into the system. 

 

Quick change of brake fluid, which was definitely about due

 

 

Just know a project's getting near done when you're changing the wipers

 

 

 

You may recall the undertray was a home of many, many tek screws, so I got my bag of engine tray screws and stainless steel speed fasteners out and went to work refitting it properly.

 

15 minutes later, it became pretty clear to me that things weren't working out, but I couldn't quite figure out why. I thought I was trying to clip the front of it on the wrong place because the clips didn't line on one side or the other, then I stopped and had a think about it. I was fairly sure that I'd taken it off this car, but I lined it up with the other one I'd got in the workshop (the spare one off my Octavia), then it dawned on me that they were exactly the same part. Like, utterly, down to the part number, which doesn't sound right, I know VAG like to share parts between models, but the Octavias bigger than the Polo, quite a lot bigger. The part number on both of these was 1K..... (so mk5 Golf platform).

 

 

I got onto 7zap and looked up what the Polo's supposed to have on, and found 2 alternatives, a 6Q part number for cars up to 2010, and a 6R part number for 2010 onwards. This is a 2010, so I hedged my bets on the 6Q part number, which would be 9n/3 Polo, Mk1 Fabia, and 6L Ibiza/Cordoba.

 

 

And as luck would have it, I happen to own a spares Ibiza

 

 

The tray looked like a much more likely candidate, so I gave it a try and it was a perfect fit. 

 

 

Tray on and back on it's wheels

 

 

Booked an MOT, and had a little test drive. I'm not jumping to conclusions, but I think I need to pump the tyres up. 

 

Edited 17 April, 20224 yr by Yeti

Good progress.

 

I found a very high mileage Skoda Octavia mk1 TDI had better mileage without the middle under tray, though a bit noisier, and some more oily drips as no longer caught by the tray.

 

No idea why this would be the case.

 

Thanks for that. Yeah, I can believe that about the tray. They do keep the engine bay a lot cleaner though. 

 

I cancelled the test because the rear shocks are really, really bad, so there's a little job for in the week. I ordered up a set of Bilstein B4's - partly because Demon Tweeks had them on clearance, and partly because they'll be ok if I do lower it a bit in the future. I also found out that Eurocarparts are really cheap on 9n/3/6R rear bump stops and shock covers (they're about £9 a set for Sachs, part number 634440220). 

 

Also, speaking of Octavias, the Polo came back to mine from the shed last night, so it's sharing a parking space with the daily..... I'm glad I didn't choose a longer project car. 

 

 

Next jobs:

 

Rear shocks

Get a valeter on it (if you know me, you know cleaning cars isn't my thing)

MOT and whatever that turns up

Scrapyard trip for a load of random plastics. 

Maybe another set of wheels, I've got the Leon multispokes that I've had on my last 3 cars, I do like them, it's just a question of if it's a keeper. . 

Looking on the bright side.... next door's a valetter.

 

 

In less happy news, The steering lock broke, so now I can't turn the key in the lock. 

Sunday's jobs.....

 

Change the rear shocks

Have a good listen to the injectors and check the wiring back. Although they looked ok on the leakdown, there's a misfire when you get about about half revs. 

Long time since I did an update on this, other stuff going on and the bike and works' van have been on daily duty..

 

 

The shocks went straight on, nice and easy with the rears not being coilover. Although plusgas and the impact gun probably made it a lot quicker. 

 

I'm still not happy with at least one injector, so it's time to pull the lot out and get them tested. 

 

So with everything loosened up, I couldn't find my slide hammer, so I cleaned the fuel rail out instead. I think there's a special tool for that, but I'd only got a shotgun brush, but, some brake cleaner and the airline that worked well. 

 

Edited 13 June, 20224 yr by Yeti

Yeah, shocks not inside springs is brilliant. I suppose modern cars are heavier so they need changing more frequently? 

 

Mk2 Polo 140,000? miles (completely shot).

Skoda Rapid 62,000 miles (weeping).

 

To be fair, it's done 175k, so I'll stand putting a pair of shocks on. 

As ever, this one's been lurking while paying cars have been in. There's always been a definite fluttering misfire, I gave it a scan and two injectors weren't amazing. So I got a refurbed set from German ebay for less than it would cost to get 2 refurbed in the UK, which gives me two in hand that should be OK. 

 

I went back to self employment, and the Octavia is dying (although Steel Seal is amazing stuff), so the weekend's job is drop the injectors in and see where I'm up to. 

Just sat them in with some gentle pressure on the clamps for the moment in case they want to slide in any further overnight, because I can't find my little torque wrench, and I don't trust myself to be 6Nm by feel.

 

Seems that VW like to cross injector lines over just to confuse people. That took a bit of headscratching before I realised it's commonrail, so it wouldn't make any difference if they were in the wrong order. 

 

 

So yeah, I'm worse on car's I'm emotionally involved in.

 

And it's a none-starter. Coded 3 injectors (more on that later). Cranks over great, so I nipped the injectors off a bit expectting 2 million PSI of common rail hell to unleash and take my arm off or something. Well, there's fuel there, but it's not pressurised anything like it should be. So I pop the return line off and there's fuel there, low pressure like it should be, so there's not a high pressure there that the injectors are sending straight back. 

 

Now, I'd be alright with saying I screwed the injection pump when I forgot to fill the filter, but it doesn't quite smell right. To me, if a high pressure pump's failed, it fails dead, not fails a bit. Yeah, it might just blow straight through from the lift pump, but, this just isn't sitting right. 

 

At this point, I've got VCDS running, priming fuel pumps, running a dozen different live datas, and I look up and see the works I have written really big on the shed wall. "DON'T OVERCOMPLICATE"

 

It's a diesel, there's only 5 things

Fuel

Injection

Suck

Squeeze

(forget bang, if all of the above is there, it bangs)

Blow

 

Work it backwards:

Blow's ok, there's exhaust there. DPF isn't saying bad things.

It ran previously so there's no reason to doubt the squeeze

Suck - hand over the intake, it's pulling air

Injection - new injectors, pretty much saying the right things on VCDS, I have no reason to doubt you, but no reason to confirm.

Fuel... fuel..... How could that be wrong?

 

So, work it forwards and prove it.

 

Fuel, test run the lift pump, click, whirrr.... That's right isn't it?

 

Simplicity, Take the inlet pipe off the filter, stick it in a coke can, run the lift pump for 30 seconds and it should be all over the floor. Nope, 10mm in the bottom of the can. 

 

 

 

 

Haven't done an update on this one in a while. The Octavia died, and loads of French vans got in the way (but it's a living). 

 

First step was to lift the back seat up and see what the lift pump was putting out, and it was a nice strong output. So I hooked that back up and went round the front to see what was cracking. Then I spotted the f'n obvious that I hadn't seen. Someone had messed the fuel lines up and it had been running off it's return line. 

 

But the parts cannon got fired up some time ago, so I've got to fill that crater in...

 

I put my laptop away, got my bits of clear pipe out and started following the system round. Long and short of it is the fuel pressure regulator was dumping all the fuel back to the return rather than sending it to the HP pump. 

 

And then I noticed a flashing Glow Plug light that I didn't have before I changed the injectors. So, one at a time I unplugged the injectors and plugged one of the old ones in. When I got to injector 4, the glow plug went away. So, I have a fully refurbished, tested, faulty injector. 

Next steps:

 

I've refitted the old injector. 

Return the faulty one.

Prime the system and see if the fuel's running the right way, or still dumping back through the regulator.