My Daily Drive - 6 pot Smoothie

[vw_singh 10]

Thanks James. I prefer to maintain all my cars myself. Garage costs can be high and I like to know what gets fitted. Agree it was a painful process but replacing the clutch was always going to be the worst job out of the options available.

 

Mileage wise, I don't think I exceed 6-8k miles in a year and the car is mostly driven locally for commuting and the school run which is all 30-40mph back roads and junctions. It's not great on fuel with anything between 22-26mpg achieved depending on the climate or how my right foot felt at the time but with such a large fuel tank it gets through 3 weeks without a visit to the petrol pump. The car itself is a gem and I really do enjoy driving it, even my daughter enjoys being dropped off to school in it. The only gripe is that it's not the easiest car to get in/out of if parked a little close to the adjacent car. In my ownership I have only had to replace a water pump, a fuel pump and now the clutch. Suspension was an upgrade I did at my own choice. Given that the mileage is over 100k, I don't think that's bad.

 

Gurds

[vw_singh 10]

Been a while since I've updated this thread but tbh the old girl has been chuggin' along well. Most of my efforts have been focused on preparing the mk1 Golf but the time had come to give the daily some much needed attention.

 

The head gasket leak had become increasingly worse and I was having to top up the coolant more frequently. It was starting to form a nice crust by cylinder 1.

 

 

So I did the necessary and removed the head and associated parts. It all came undone without any drama.

 

 

 

The head gasket had a little leak....

 

 

I was quite surprised that it wasn't ****ing out coolant or overheating. The head and block were undamaged so these were cleaned up as they were.

 

The plastic guide was broken in two so that needed to be replaced.

 

 

But even worse, the tensioner guide was very worn too.

 

 

 

I had to do what I was dreading. The gearbox and flywheel had to come off to replace the worn parts.

 

Oh well, at least it should keep going for a long time yet. All the worn parts were replaced and the engine reassembled. The only other part that needed attention was the crack pipe as it fell apart during removal and new oil cooler seals as these had started weeping.

 

 

The car is back in service and purring like a big lazy cat should. Happy days.

 

Gurds

[vw_singh 10]

With summer months approaching, the faulty sunroof was calling me. I had purchased a replacement mechanism from Corrado.net anticipating a broken system.

 

 

I checked power to the motor and that was fully operational so a sunroof strip out was started.

 

 

 

The large metal bracket had snapped and the mechanism was dry and seized. So I gave the runners a clean up and used PTFE dry lubrication on the replacement moving parts. Everything went back in easily enough and slides very well by hand now. The cloth on the inside of the sunroof panel was very dirty so I gave it a wash with some vanish powder and a brush. Worked a treat!

 

 

 

Woohoo! That's better. The system works smoothly now. There is still one hiccup in which the motor occasionally clicks and doesn't work so I think that might be on it's last legs too. But for now, I am a happy bunny.

 

Gurds