A Polo that won't rust :)

Breather Pipe

So this took a while to sort out, mostly due to waiting on parts arriving, it appears that one of our favourte parts suppliers may or may not have neglected to stick some postage on the package! Anyway, at least it was just an honest mistake, and they have sorted it out on a subsequent parts order, so happy days!

In the picture I took of the breather pipe, I didn’t realise just how badly fitting the end was, there’s a good quarter-ish inch out - as can be seen from this expert examination of the problem...

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The replacement with it’s fitting on the end buts right up to the oil separator. Much more convincing fit!

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Seems to be a common failure point on these pipes, since a quick search on ebay for the part number reveals lists of them, missing the retaining ring on the end.

The difference this makes has been stark!

The car no longer struggles to start, it’ll run off the key every time now, hot or cold the thing starts well.

The idle went from a 2 to a 5 with the new injector and with this pipe it’s up to a 7 - on a scale where 1 is a washing machine with a brick in and 10 is as smooth as a w12 with a pound coin balanced on it.

So have driven the car around today, and it’s far better, the revs don’t drop like a stone when you sink the clutch anymore, the car is far more drivable. So a 50 mile round trip, the car drives better, but it’s still a touch lumpy.

Got home to the code scanner, and it’s still complaining about a leaky inlet... I can’t figure out where it could possibly be from.

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Everything I have read regarding code P0420, says to ignore it if there’s an inlet manifold leak, because that’s causing it!

I went around looking for this leak using carb cleaner tonight, and I think the only possible place is the oil filler cap thing, so I will replace it, an easy thing to do anyway, but there was no solid result from the spraying carb cleaner. I don’t have any way to run a smoke test on the inlet, so if anyone has any suggestions how, I’m all ears!

Getting to the point where it’s ready to use, even if not 100% it’s most of the way there.
 
Dipstick/tube? - Andy
Yea, I thought of that, I had to fix a leak from the oil filter - some dipstick had scraped a gouge out of the mating surface where the filter was, so I had to sand that down a bit. Obviously have to take the tube and dipstick out the way to get into it. Cleaned everything up, top to bottom before it went back on, same type of attachment as the breather hose on the ends of the pipes, but all good, all rubber seals still in place.

I didn't spray the carb cleaner on those bits though, because I forgot they would be a potential source of leak. I'll do that when I get home tonight.
 
Drove the wee car to work today via backroads on account of a crash on the motorway, it seems a lot happier nipping about A & B - roads than it is on major ones. Still not a rally car, but it felt a lot more at home. Could warm to that little car if it wasn't such a delicate engine!
 
This is such a good story. I like that you are getting to the bottom of it. I’ll be over with mine for you to fix next...


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I don’t think the problem is with the oil pipe, dipstick tube :confused: I’ll let it run for a bit, maybe the carbon buildup on these things will seal it for me?!!? :D
 
Small job but a pain to do. Make sure if you replace the hose for the windscreen washers you get the larger inner diameter hose. The existing plastic hose had become brittle and snapped when I looked at it.

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New Oil Filler Neck

Oil filler neck arrived today, another very easy part to fit, you can see the old one had a break around about the tab that stops it from rotating - no doubt when someone has forced it off, and the difference in the retaining spring is clear to see. Now I did try bending this spring back as well as I could, but the steels elasticity must have been affected by moving over the years, so even though I fixed it and it felt reasonably tight, it was never solid. By the time I took it off tonight it was very loose feeling. I think that under load it's been rattling about the place and potentially causing the vacuum leak I have been chasing.

This new one is rock solid. It also came with a new rubber seal for the breather pipe affair that sticks out the left, never considered that it might have worn also.

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I took it a drive and I'd now say the engine is 95% of the way to being absolutely perfect. The lumpiness that was fairly evident under load and acceleration is much improved, to the point where I'm not sure if I'm imagining it or not!

Not that I recommend it as a driving technique, but labouring the engine seems to highlight any unevenness. Now the engine runs smooth to way lower revs than you'd expect it to. The idle on my sale above:
The idle went from a 2 to a 5 with the new injector and with this pipe it’s up to a 7 - on a scale where 1 is a washing machine with a brick in and 10 is as smooth as a w12 with a pound coin balanced on it.
has gone from 7/10 to 8.5/10.

I didn't clear the intermittent vacuum fault code I was seeing before I took it for a spin, so no idea if it cleared it. I'll likely end up taking it another drive tomorrow, maybe a longer one and see if the code returns or not.

It's now at the point where it's a very good 14 year old car, and unless that code doesn't clear, I think it might just about be ready to hand over - well pending some tyres and fixing the wiring for the stupid Parrot hands free kit.
 
Oh yes, sorry. I forgot that. Well, once it’s handed over you wouldn’t want to get bored so I’m sure me, Cammy and others can give you things to keep you occupied... that also won’t rust.


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Breather Pipe - Part 2...

Still showing the inlet manifold leak. Not good. So noticed someone else on another thread reckon that both sides of the clip don’t always seat and it can work at way loose. So I jiggled the breather hose and sure enough one side was very, very slightly loose still, it hadn’t clicked in and no matter how much I pushed it wouldn’t click.

Wrapped a cable tie round it and heard it click when I tightened the cable tie.

Took it a drive and it finally feels like it might be there. Reset the codes and drove to work.

I’m guessing when the breather hose was originally destroyed, it took a wee bit of the oil separator with it so the clip no longer seats without the cable tie. Not ideal but it’ll do for now.

After a good run the intake vacuum leak has finally cleared from the codes! However....
 
F...ing Flaps and NOX sensor

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Dreaded set point not reached error for the manifold flaps. No way. There’s hee haw wrong with them!

So ran the engine actuator test where it loops round all the engine functions and you can hear them go. So it sets the flaps going on and off every second or two. So you hear a regular clunk, clunk, clunk... I let it run for about 30 seconds or so. Had a look at it while it went, then it suddenly missed one clunk, for some reason it didn’t activate once.... Very odd. I’ll monitor. I don’t believe it’s a big issue but it’s frustrating that it’s come back.

The NOX sensor one is entirely new. I had a look at the control unit under the passenger seat, popped the connector out and back in just in case there’s a poor connection.

I however suspect that the issues the car has had, the stratified mode has only just started working. Hence why the NOX error is new? I reset the codes and will put a few more miles on it and see what happens. I get the impression a new sensor is near £200. But grim to be spending on yet another bigish cost item.
 
Gutted Out!

Last weekend a good friend of mine helped me to gut the car out, all the carpets out, all the seats deep cleaned and the dash cleaned up. She has brushed up not bad I must say....

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The pictures don’t do it any justice, mostly because they do not convey the change in how fresh it smells, no longer are you hit with a stale old musty smell with a tinge of fags.

Also got another wee job done, didn’t take a front picture of before, but it was as bad as the back. Unfortunately Arnold Clark like to throw these plates on and not really bother with where the actual screw holes are!

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It looks like I put the plate on squit but it’s just the angle of the photo!
 
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F...ing Flaps and NOX sensor

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Dreaded set point not reached error for the manifold flaps. No way. There’s hee haw wrong with them!

So ran the engine actuator test where it loops round all the engine functions and you can hear them go. So it sets the flaps going on and off every second or two. So you hear a regular clunk, clunk, clunk... I let it run for about 30 seconds or so. Had a look at it while it went, then it suddenly missed one clunk, for some reason it didn’t activate once.... Very odd. I’ll monitor. I don’t believe it’s a big issue but it’s frustrating that it’s come back.

The NOX sensor one is entirely new. I had a look at the control unit under the passenger seat, popped the connector out and back in just in case there’s a poor connection.

I however suspect that the issues the car has had, the stratified mode has only just started working. Hence why the NOX error is new? I reset the codes and will put a few more miles on it and see what happens. I get the impression a new sensor is near £200. But grim to be spending on yet another bigish cost item.
Sorry to read the notorious FSI flap problem has reappeared but I had a hunch it might and nearly said something earlier.

You are not alone, I have have read several posts of gutted owners who have had the flap issue professionally "repaired", often a great expense, typically £800+ and the fault reappears after a short time, as little as a week or two. Dread to think what Audi would charge who replace everything with new parts including the lower inlet manifold with flaps which itself was £400 a few years ago. As you know such a labour intensive job.

I have a suggestion/theory as to why it comes back so soon, gleaned from many years of reading posts on here about 'set point not reached'. I am no real mechanic and I may be about to talk rubbish. The flaps are not straight but curved and after a lifetime of being blasted by very high pressure fiuel mix they start to straighten out which makes them longer, with a small increase in their radius of rotation. Sitting immediately behind each flap on the main block as you no doubt noticed are two horizontal fins, apparently there to add to the swirl effect. The elongonated flaps begin to stick/ catch on these fins and the problem is back.

I know of two reports of this happening and two different approachs to cure it. First, a member posted this scenario, it might have been member Steaman who simply bent the flaps back into shape. Second, in a conversation with Nige(TDIQuattro), he told me he found this to be the problem and used a dremmel to cut 1mm off the bottom of the flaps!!.

Food for thought.

Andy

PS. It has just struck me with an EML now an MOT fail and high cost of repairs for 'Set point not reached', it will wipe out hundreds of FSI's this coming year
 
One thing that nobody has said yet is that you need to stick a very small Allen key into the actuator end of the flap shaft. It is very hard to describe and I’m too tired to describe it properly, but effectively you open the flaps until two holes lineup on the left hand side as you’re looking into the engine bay. You then need to stick a 2 mm drillbit or allen key into it to keep open, otherwise you will break the flaps when you screw it all back together again.
 
In response, here is a pic of my new flaps £440 from Audi replaced 2 months ago but 2.5k miles covered and now running like a dream, they are not curved but are completely straight. For comparison here's another pic of the lower flaps manifold that came of the car and they look identical ie straight except the original is carbonned up. It wasn't a baked on carbon more like a thin layer of gunge/goo type substance that very easily came of with careful light scrapping.

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