Project "Runaround"

[PeteB]

So I just got an MOT pass today after having the car for 9 months.

I have had so much help from searching the forum for answers and from members services, I thought I would do a write up of the things I have done and where I got help/information.

I must apologise from the off - I am the worst at taking photos at the best of times, let alone up to my eyeballs in oil, so there will be very few pictures.

So why an A2?

When I bought the car, I was planning retirement, and have many DIY projects on the go, so was looking for a small cheap car to run around, fetching and carrying things, so small, cheap to run, versatile were the watchwords. Just so happened a good friend of mine had recently bought an A2 and I saw its virtues, so off I went to buy one. Not a minter you understand, just something that I would use and (lightly) abuse every day (sorry to the purists)

Now, I also enjoy spannering, and have the idea that I could run projects while I am retired, to keep myself busy and maybe make a little money, or at least have experience of interesting cars. So what better place to start? buy a run down A2 and save it. Hmmm...

So I found a cheap 1.4 2002 on Evil Bay that had stood for a couple of years, with just over 100k miles. Seemed like the perfect challenge. I spoke to the guy and all seemed genuine, so I bought it sight unseen (I won't do that again) and had it delivered.

When it arrived, it was worse than described, but not too far off the photos and description, and I thought 'I'm up for the challenge, how hard can it be?" So the project started.

 

[audifan]

First thing to do is bring the servicing up to date and any consumables or time sensitive items need to be checked against the history or if none done the sooner the better.

2002 car could have the pressed steel wishbones or the earlier cast wishbones so this is an area to carefully check.



Loads of information on here so do your own research then if unsure ask for our guidance and we will help you.

 

[PeteB]

Arrival and Cleaning:

So when it arrived, it was clear that it had sat for a while and the undercarriage had rusted, as was evident by the seized OSR wheel.

First job was to free the brake drum rust from the backing plate rust so I could get the car onto the drive. It looked alot worse than it really was, but nonetheless, this was not a good start. Freeing it off didn't take too long and we were back on track. Add rear brake refurb to the list

The next fright was the state of the interior. Wow.

The car had sat for a couple of years and clearly had some moisture inside it for some reason. No leaks that I could see, it was dry; but there was lost of dried mould and staining all over. So all seats out, get the carpet cleaner fired up and get cracking (well, the wife did )

It worked out well, and the car looked and smelled a lot better. Still to sort out is the headlining and various bits of worn knobs etc. But on to electrics...

 

[PeteB]

First thing to do is bring the servicing up to date and any consumables or time sensitive items need to be checked against the history or if none done the sooner the better.

2002 car could have the pressed steel wishbones or the earlier cast wishbones so this is an area to carefully check.



Loads of information on here so do your own research then if unsure ask for our guidance and we will help you.

Thanks Audifan - I've done lots already based on info on the forum - it's been a great source of help. I'll continue with the story and you will see how much help it's been along the way

 

[PeteB]

First things first:
Oil change and basic service. - the engine had a tappet noise on startup (they all do I've since learned) but would return on low revs. As it's been sat for so long, an urgent oil change was done, and things have improved significantly. I'll revisit this now the car has an MOT and look at replacing belts (cambelt done at 30k miles ago, but some years ago) tensioners etc.

Electrics:

So first off was to get a registered copy of VCDS in the armoury - soooo glad I did that, it's been so much help diagnosing the body electrics (in the main). Not so much in the way of engine codes yet (crosses fingers).

The main thing I noticed (once the battery was charged) was that the door locks were cycling every 30 seconds or so, and so looked at the CCCU trouble codes and it was all about doors not able to de-safe, doors not locking etc,. Off to the forum and I found loads of info, so I set about stripping the door locks and cleaning microswitches. I followed the video in this thread: https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/door-lock-microswitch-repair.24153/

It's a real knack getting the door lock out, but I am becoming an expert, especially as I had to do two of them twice as I hadn't put them back correctly so they wouldn't lock even though the switches were OK (making sure the lever is in the right place while re-joining the two halves of the lock)

I also managed to break one of the front door lock to handle mechanisms, as I thought the same disassembly procedure applied to rear and front doors Lesson Learned.

I cleared the door codes, but still the locks were cycling - back to the forum.... Also the alarm was triggering, but not going off (code for no alarm communication) and the hazards were flashing (I assumed due to the alarm trigger)

So before changing the CCCU, I thought I would clear the rest of the codes (AND make sure I had a good battery of course, before anyone says it )

Cue a new alarm unit from @A2Steve, one down (thanks Steve) The original had corroded over time...

The radio didn't work, another error code to do with the aerial not connected. Turned out the radio aerial module in the boot was corroded, so another was sourced and replaced. All good.

Still the door lock cycling thing was going on. So I contacted @timmus who helped diagnose the CCCU, so he supplied me with a 'AF' suffix module with a new key fob ( the AF is a different frequency to the Q model I had in the car).

The new CCCU cured the lock cycling, so I can now trust the car to lock and unlock as it should, and I can trust it won't flatten my (new) battery

Next: Suspension and brakes

 

[Proghound]

You've been busy - welcome aboard Good luck with this, sounds like it will be very thoroughly reconditioned and should hopefully allow you to enjoy it for everything the A2 is. Looking forward to reading some more

 

[Riba]

What I like about the A2 is the all-aluminium chassis. Everything else can be tackled by a seasoned enthusiast given enough time and money, but corroded and rotten bodywork is not something that I'd enjoy to deal with or even have a means to.

 

[dj_efk]

Love hearing some “back from the brink” stories like this.

With a bit of time and effort and some financially-driven first aid there’s no reason why an A2 with mechanical life in it should be scrapped these days, given the shell doesn’t corrode.

 

[PeteB]

What I like about the A2 is the all-aluminium chassis. Everything else can be tackled by a seasoned enthusiast given enough time and money, but corroded and rotten bodywork is not something that I'd enjoy to deal with or even have a means to.

Spot on! Now I come to think of it - it's also a real attraction of the A2. I'm comfortable dealing with mechanicals, but (although I can weld a little) bodywork is beyond me (at least, getting a good finish)

 

[murdo]

Nice thread, look forward to reading more about the car

 

[PeteB]

Suspension & Brakes:

So the car was pretty crusty underneath, and everything had a coat of surface rust, so it needed tidying up and sorting through to make sure there were no big issues.

The front springs were rusty enough so they needed to be taken off and refurbished. Note that at this point, all repairs / tidying was to be done without spending big money, as I didn't know if I had serious problems with the engine (emissions wise) until the MOT (as I don't have emissions test equipment). So with that in mind:

Struts came off and apart, wire brush over everything, rust inhibitor and a light covering of black paint. The only issues of note were the pinch bolt that holds the bottom of the strut to the knuckle/wheel bearing housing broke and needed drilling out on the OS, so new bolts installed.

The only things to note were a torn track rod end boot (replaced) and a split in the NSF lower ball joint. Now, as the car has the cast lower control arm, I decided to go through MOT first, and replace it once everything else proved to be OK (more on this when I come t the MOT)

As for the front brakes, they were crusty, but it was clear that the disks and pads had very little use, and could be cleaned up. So out with the wire brush and they came up well, and would get me through the MOT. Even the rear cover plates were OK to refurbish and put back on (with a few replacement bolts). However, the NSF caliper guide pins were stiff and once I removed them, I realised that the threads in the mounting holes in the knuckle/wheel bearing housing had rusted out. So back to the forum searching for solutions and this is what I did: Guide pin repair


So to the rear. The same story as far as rust was concerned, the rear beam axle was sound, just very untidy, so it got the same treatment. Wire brush, rust inhibitor and a dusting of black paint. I did this in situ. I could have removed the axle following a guide on the forum but I was convinced I could get it to MOT standard without removal. All went well (albeit dirty work) except I found the brake pipes corroded both before and after the flexible hose between body and axle.

So I decided to replace the brake pipes on the rear axle, the flexible hoses and a short section of the fixed pipe going forwards to the ABS pump. I read a few articles on the forum about this - the main issue being how to replace a portion of pipe. So I learned that the best type of flaring tool is this type (I bought a cheap version off the internet which worked well with the steel pipes) . I put a short section from where the brake pipe emerge from under the sills, added a joiner, a short section of pipe to the flexible hose. Really fiddly and not easy on axle stands. Note that not all brake pipe unions are the same quality - the first ones I tried (cheap internet versions) were made of cheese and not suitable or safe, so I bought some more substantial ones

The rest of the brake pipes on the rear axle were straight forward to replace.

Oh, new shocks on the rear, as the old ones were a definite MOT failure...

The rear brakes themselves were in pretty much the same state as the fronts, had done little work since installation, so were cleaned up and re-used.

Next: Bleeding Brakes!

 

[PeteB]

Brake Bleeding:

So I had the brakes and new lines in the rear installed, and thought "Oh, easy, I've done lots of brake bleeding in the past, this will be a doddle!"

Damn, I was wrong. I think the fact that I disconnected the rear brake pipes for a while while I was trying to source a good quality joiner meant that the fluid flowed out of the pipes and let a lot of air in could have made it all the harder (maybe?) The fluid that was in the car was an evil looking colour, and I was worried about damage to the ABS pump looking at the state of it (very dark and a green colour)

So firstly I tried the one man bleed kit from halfords (basically a one way valve) that I have used before with great success (not on an A2 of course) and could not get the fluid flowing to the rear at all. Had to resort to the old two man 'down, up' method which did finally get fluid to the rear. I ran the VCDS ABS bleed procedure as per this thread which got fluid through the fronts. But still a very soft pedal. So I thought, I'll get a vacuum bleeder like this one , but again a cheap internet version. It seemed to create a good vacuum, but wouldn't get fluid flowing to the rear.

Back to two man bleeding again with the wife ("what again? Didn't we already do that?) running more fluid through the rear, then running the ABS routine again, and finally a hard pedal. By far and away the longest bleed I have ever done, but now works. And the added bonus is that I know the ABS pump works at least

I still need to remember to bleed the clutch too, as that will have some of the nasty fluid in it.

So under that car was 'finished' (for my purposes) and I needed to put the wheels back on. The tyres were pretty shonky, and well cracked, so I had no choice but to replace them. But the wheels were badly corroded and looked nasty. They were the shiny alloy finish - almost looked like diamond cut:

So I wondered, what would be a cheap way to get these cleaned up, not perfect, but less crusty, with a view to getting the properly refurbished later? So I set about them with stripper, scrapers, sand paper, then escalating to angle grinder with sanding disk. Then lighter sanding and polishing compound, finally protected by a silicon polish I had on the shelf. Well, it was a lot of work, and they turned out 'better' but are not perfect, and need to be refurbed properly at some point in the future. But from a few feet back, if you squint a little, they look OK(ish)

So then off to get new tyres.

Next: Other issues I found along the way to resolve

 

[bye_bye_alfa]

I feel quite cheered up about mine now I’ve read your posts. I can’t find the time to work on mine at the moment, but there is along list of things to do/wants.

I will be having to sort out new lines etc… not looking forward to it, but might investigate the flaring tool you’ve used.

Thanks.

 

[PeteB]

I feel quite cheered up about mine now I’ve read your posts. I can’t find the time to work on mine at the moment, but there is along list of things to do/wants.

I will be having to sort out new lines etc… not looking forward to it, but might investigate the flaring tool you’ve used.

Thanks.

Keep at it. It is sometimes difficult to get motivated (especially over winter when the garage is cold ), but keep chipping away

 

[simon martyn]

Very impressed Pete, think you're doing a cracking job. Looking forward to hearing more.

Best of luck,

Simon

 

[PeteB]

Lights:

So I checked around the car and a few bulbs were out and were replaced, all easy stuff. Headlights working OK (reminder set to check aim before MOT) The biggest challenge I had was to sort out the number plate lights. Both lenses were broken, and as I undid the screws, they all broke because they were so corroded.

What to do? I took the rear door apart to get the light assemblies out (forum to the rescue again for instructions and more instructions) and try as I could, I couldn't remove the remains of the screws without ruining the light itself. They were scrap. So having looked at the price of new lamps* I decided to try a different route.

As I had to replace the whole unit I looked for some cheap LED lights that might work. I found these for an A8 and I made a plastic backing plate that slides into the same place as the originals do. With an appropriate cut out and screw holes, the new unit inserted and screwed in from the outside (like the original lens) and it works well. [I'm sure my badly made brackets could be designed and 3D printed for a professional job in the future. ]

The plugs match the A2 wiring and for around £7.50 each, seems a good budget solution. However, I'm not too keen on the look when they are turned on - they are quite bright.

Jumping forward to the MOT while on the subject of lights.... I totally forgot to align the headlights until the day of the MOT, when it was bright sunlight and I couldn't see the headlight beam on the garage door . So all I could do was to hope they were nearly there and guess ... So guess what? I got what i deserved, and they failed. Now, I had one of the headlights apart before to put a new sidelight bulb in, and the assembly was not in good shape - the dip bulb was held in by cable ties. So I re-worked that to make sure it was sound and it all looked OK. So off with the other one, as that was more misaligned and I found the problem. The motor that adjusts the aim controlled by the thumbwheel in the cabin was not connected to the headlamp at all. The motor also did not seem to be working. So I took it apart and cleaned it and it came back to life (albeit noisily) and I re-fitted it correctly.

Guess what? I could now adjust the aim correctly and it was ready for retest. Also picked up in the MOT was a rear indicator bulb that had lost too much 'orange' so it looked white - easy fix

Lights... Done.

[new headlight bulb clips on the to do list ]

(* note I should have posted on the forum for availability, and I didn't )

 

[PeteB]

Getting Close - Seriously???!!

So a few last jobs to sort, then off for the MOT (to tell me if there are nasty engine emissions gremlins I need to know about)

I mentioned previously that the alarm kept going off and the flashers kept flashing and the door locks kept cycling. well, the new CCCU cured the door lock cycling, and the alarm settled down. but the flashers were still going off randomly, and consistently. I had thought that this was caused by errors in the door locks; I works through all those (but OSR faults came back, so took it out again and tried again) but to no avail.

So back on to the forum and there are several posts about the flasher unit possibly being at fault. So I took the flasher unit out and took it apart - looked clean enough, no dry joints etc. I replaced it, cleaned the contacts and used liberal amounts of contact cleaner, and lo and behold, it works as it should. I will try to pick up a replacement as I'm sure it will come back, but for now, that's a win!

Fuel Cap switch:
I had tried to open the fuel cap previously and it worked fine, but now had stopped working. So I took the switch out and took it apart (carefully) as it was not making any contact when pressed. I discovered that a small part of plastic had lodged behind the button preventing it from being depressed all the way. (it was part of the button itself, that clips it in, that had detached) I removed it, re-assembled and all was well.

What else could go wrong? I was ready for MOT.... but no, out of the blue, the EPC light was on and a brake warning appeared..

EPC light? What's that? Straight to my favourite forum, and there were several posts pointing to the brake light switch. (now I can't remember exactly, but i *think* did see a brake light switch fault logged in the engine? module. My VCDS doesn't talk well to my engine module, but my old snap-on scanner does, so maybe that's where I saw it) So new switch and hey presto! no EPC light

[I have to say at this point that replacing the brake light switch is not easy for a 6'2" 60 year old... AND it's not on the brake pedal, but offset to the left... easy enough when you find it]

Brake warning - this was a brake warning on the matrix display, not the ABS light. I also scanned to make sure there were no ABS fault codes - all clear. For the brake warning on the matrix display, according to the experts, the most likely fault was low brake fluid level, but knew that was OK as I'd bled the brakes etc... One easy way to test is to disconnect the level sensor connector from the reservoir, and the warning goes away . So I tried to remove the reservoir filter to free the float, but I couldn't see how to do it without damaging it. in the end a swift tap to the outside of the reservoir freed the float, and fault has gone away!

So off to the MOT! Results in next post

 

[PeteB]

So on to the MOT

It failed

There were the lights that I covered above (misaligned headlights and non-orange indicator) so they were fixed ready for the retest

And the lower ball joint boot split that I knew about (advisory), but they also failed it due to wear (I couldn't detect any, but unless you pry at it the right way, it's difficult to tell I guess)

And... nothing else.

The emissions were all well within tolerance and my refurbished brakes all passed OK.

So it's now worth doing that lower control arm, which I did. I didn't remove the console, just removed and replaced on the car, which, to be honest is a difficult job.

Went back for retest (I was cutting it fine as I had to work away for a few days and was waiting for the arm to arrive) and it was raining. On the way there, the wiper was performing well. I forgot to mention that I had the wiper arm re-furbished by @depronman as it was flippy-floppy and almost scratching the windscreen. He did a great job.

Anyway, about a mile from the test centre, the blade started to disintegrate !! I couldn't Adam and Eve it !

The guys at the test centre drew my attention to is and passed it with an advisory, Phew!

Back home, Road tax paid and off to get a new wiper.

I've done about 100 miles so far (since Wednesday) and the car goes better than I thought it would, and I've done a tip run already so it's already earning its keep. It's more comfortable than I thought it would be, a nice place to be (even though it is still tatty in places)

Now to create a to do list, starting with cam belt, headliner shortly after..

Happy Days

I'd best tot up how much I have spent, but to be honest, the biggest expense was tyres, so that can't be bad

 

[mtl]

it is really nice to read that another A2 was rescued. Keep up the good work.