New-ish MG5s going cheap

[Rat Catcher]

I read every word, it will be a good comparison to mine when It gets to the total Kms on each maintenance job.

Probably worth drawing your attention to the brake caliper replacement in the MKII just after the end of it's taxi life. That was a direct result of never changing the brake fluid throughout it's taxi life. Since that, I have followed manufacturer specs and replaced the fluid every two years... probably something you do anyway but there are consequences when it's neglected! In fact the consequences had consequences with the MKII... some 5 years later an eagle eyed NCTS inspector noticed some tape on the steel brake line where the coating had got slightly damaged during the caliper repair and deemed it an "inadequate repair" - without mention of the adequacy or otherwise of the 5 inspectors who didn't agree with him since it was repaired! Anywaysanall, when I removed the tape the line underneath it was still in perfect condition so the tape had done it's job in preventing rust. Still, I replaced the steel line with a copper/nickel one at a cost of €58 (inc. tools) to keep them happy.

[Rat Catcher]

I didn't.
I scrolled to the end to post a comment. Any time.

You must have pressed quote to reproduce the content in a similar way as you frequently reproduce other published material from the internet... although one would assume you do that to let us know you were interested in it whereas in this case you felt a need to let us know you weren't interested. Reminds me of a bloke in a bookies asking an acquaintance of mine to write a bet for him as he couldn't read or write. My acquaintance obliged while commenting that he couldn't play the piano but felt no need to broadcast that fact.

[silverbullet]

I didn't.
I scrolled to the end to post a comment. Any time.

You must have pressed quote to reproduce the content in a similar way as you frequently reproduce other published material from the internet... although one would assume you do that to let us know you were interested in it whereas in this case you felt a need to let us know you weren't interested. Reminds me of a bloke in a bookies asking an acquaintance of mine to write a bet for him as he couldn't read or write. My acquaintance obliged while commenting that he couldn't play the piano but felt no need to broadcast that fact.

It's just weird you recall such insignificant minutiae over decades, without being able to remember the badge number around your neck, or on the dash of the car you drove 24/7/365 (as Tommy Gormless was wont to say). you were presented with on joining the fleet.

Please tell us you don't have a cash book for Mrs. Catcher.

Anyway, it was quite endearing seeing you recall all the stuff you spent on your Skoda. Is Rain man your favourite movie?

[Rat Catcher]

It wasn't typed from memory. It was copied from my maintenance records. Copying and pasting is hardly a procedure with which you are unfamiliar!

Thanks to a break in the weather I got the MKII gearbox/clutch finished this afternoon. Filling the oil in accordance with the manual as previously posted turned out to be something of an ordeal. The little L shaped locking lever was missing from the once new box I acquired, apparently with the piece that sticks out snapped off... not sure if that happened before or after I took possession. Anyway I removed the relevant bearing pin with it in first gear having first checked that it came out and went back in without issue on the old box. Then filling through the reverse switch bore was taking an age with the funnel and tube I had to hand so I ended up using my pressure bleeding bottle. Even at 13psi it wasn't a quick process, taking a good 15 mins to complete.

I'll have to consult the manual to see if the broken lever can be easily transplanted from the old box and add that to the next service's TODO list. Assuming it lasts till then (c.1,500 kilos away) I might change the gearbox oil again to be sure to be sure and I'll also change a CV boot that most likely got torn during the gearbox operation. It could also do with a set of glow plugs.

Glow plugs... Now there's another VAG oddity. One has been faulty since I bought the car in 2014 and another has joined it since. I never replaced the first one because the manual states that you must remove the cylinder head (I kid you not!) if the plug doesn't loosen with a force not exceeding 20nm. Given that the car was ill anyway I decided to throw caution to the wind and removed all 4 plugs using whatever force was necessary to shift them prior to undertaking the gearbox project. All 4 came out intact so I just tightened them to 17nm pending replacement.

Only other thing of note is the solid flywheel conversion. It's supposed to be noisier than the dual mass original. There's no difference to my ear. The pedal has got lighter but that always happens with a new clutch so I fully expect it to get heavy again. I did read something about that in the manual when it was last done. As far as I recall it said something along the lines of advise customer that it's normal for the clutch to get considerably heavier within a relatively short timeframe.

[silverbullet]

It wasn't typed from memory. It was copied from my maintenance records. Copying and pasting is hardly a procedure with which you are unfamiliar!

Thanks to a break in the weather I got the MKII gearbox/clutch finished this afternoon. Filling the oil in accordance with the manual as previously posted turned out to be something of an ordeal. The little L shaped locking lever was missing from the once new box I acquired, apparently with the piece that sticks out snapped off... not sure if that happened before or after I took possession. Anyway I removed the relevant bearing pin with it in first gear having first checked that it came out and went back in without issue on the old box. Then filling through the reverse switch bore was taking an age with the funnel and tube I had to hand so I ended up using my pressure bleeding bottle. Even at 13psi it wasn't a quick process, taking a good 15 mins to complete.

I'll have to consult the manual to see if the broken lever can be easily transplanted from the old box and add that to the next service's TODO list. Assuming it lasts till then (c.1,500 kilos away) I might change the gearbox oil again to be sure to be sure and I'll also change a CV boot that most likely got torn during the gearbox operation. It could also do with a set of glow plugs.

Glow plugs... Now there's another VAG oddity. One has been faulty since I bought the car in 2014 and another has joined it since. I never replaced the first one because the manual states that you must remove the cylinder head (I kid you not!) if the plug doesn't loosen with a force not exceeding 20nm. Given that the car was ill anyway I decided to throw caution to the wind and removed all 4 plugs using whatever force was necessary to shift them prior to undertaking the gearbox project. All 4 came out intact so I just tightened them to 17nm pending replacement.

Only other thing of note is the solid flywheel conversion. It's supposed to be noisier than the dual mass original. There's no difference to my ear. The pedal has got lighter but that always happens with a new clutch so I fully expect it to get heavy again. I did read something about that in the manual when it was last done. As far as I recall it said something along the lines of advise customer that it's normal for the clutch to get considerably heavier within a relatively short timeframe.

Like having a dog but barking yourself.

[Rat Catcher]

Indeed but you were on vacation. Next time I want something copying and pasting I'll let you know.

[Rat Catcher]

Back to matters DPF.

I've had a look at a couple of the O'reilly videos as mentioned by C5. Jimmy seems to concentrate on the air pressure differential and getting that below 10, ideally below 5 at idle. With that in mind I done a forced regen (using the while driving option) and I've taken a few more screenshots:

The first is c.3 kilos after the forced regen completed. The measured and calculated soot figures are considerably lower than they were 3 kilos after the last automatic regen which I guess is encouraging. However the air pressure figure is up at 12.6 at idle.



The next shot is taken c.15 kilos after the forced regen. The interesting / concerning thing here is the difference between the calculated and measured soot levels with the measured one increasing at a far higher rate than the calculated one... and that was predominately in traffic free conditions. The pressure figure has come down to 8.2 which, I guess, isn't too bad.



The third is from VAG DPF... I just wanted to ascertain how it calculates the soot % as I don't see that anywhere in OBD Eleven. It seems that it's based on the calculated figure rather than the measured figure which suggests automatic regens are also based on the calculated figure.



Anywaysanall... having digested the above I'm far less concerned about the ash level as that seems to be entirely calculated. It's deviation from the 320,000 expiry rate is probably relevant, suggesting my car is doing too many automatic regens. However, I'd have no qualms about resetting that figure to zero as the fire risk is associated with the soot figure. Conveniently there does appear to be an option to reset the ash figure independent of the soot figure so I'll probably do that soon enough... certainly before it gets to the 80.00g full level.

I think the next logical step in trying to reduce the number of regens and narrow the gap between calculated and measured soot levels will be pretty much as prescribed by the good doctor i.e. a bottle of diptane combined with another forced regen but I'll let the soot levels build up a bit first, probably!

After that I'd be inclined to think about pumping the aerosol version of the stuff panel uses into the air sensor tube. I don't think my pressure bleeding bottle would provide enough pressure to use the liquid stuff Jimmy uses in his videos. I do have access to a compressor i.e. there's one in my sisters garage so I guess I could look into getting a bottle to work with that. Unfortunately the cheaper aerosol from AutoDoc isn't an option... they don't ship them to rip off Ireland!

I'll post updates if and when I do any more, regardless... if only for my own record... I haven't got round to setting up a spreadsheet for it yet!

[silverbullet]

Back to matters DPF.

I've had a look at a couple of the O'reilly videos as mentioned by C5. Jimmy seems to concentrate on the air pressure differential and getting that below 10, ideally below 5 at idle. With that in mind I done a forced regen (using the while driving option) and I've taken a few more screenshots:

The first is c.3 kilos after the forced regen completed. The measured and calculated soot figures are considerably lower than they were 3 kilos after the last automatic regen which I guess is encouraging. However the air pressure figure is up at 12.6 at idle.



The next shot is taken c.15 kilos after the forced regen. The interesting / concerning thing here is the difference between the calculated and measured soot levels with the measured one increasing at a far higher rate than the calculated one... and that was predominately in traffic free conditions. The pressure figure has come down to 8.2 which, I guess, isn't too bad.



The third is from VAG DPF... I just wanted to ascertain how it calculates the soot % as I don't see that anywhere in OBD Eleven. It seems that it's based on the calculated figure rather than the measured figure which suggests automatic regens are also based on the calculated figure.



Anywaysanall... having digested the above I'm far less concerned about the ash level as that seems to be entirely calculated. It's deviation from the 320,000 expiry rate is probably relevant, suggesting my car is doing too many automatic regens. However, I'd have no qualms about resetting that figure to zero as the fire risk is associated with the soot figure. Conveniently there does appear to be an option to reset the ash figure independent of the soot figure so I'll probably do that soon enough... certainly before it gets to the 80.00g full level.

I think the next logical step in trying to reduce the number of regens and narrow the gap between calculated and measured soot levels will be pretty much as prescribed by the good doctor i.e. a bottle of diptane combined with another forced regen but I'll let the soot levels build up a bit first, probably!

After that I'd be inclined to think about pumping the aerosol version of the stuff panel uses into the air sensor tube. I don't think my pressure bleeding bottle would provide enough pressure to use the liquid stuff Jimmy uses in his videos. I do have access to a compressor i.e. there's one in my sisters garage so I guess I could look into getting a bottle to work with that. Unfortunately the cheaper aerosol from AutoDoc isn't an option... they don't ship them to rip off Ireland!

I'll post updates if and when I do any more, regardless... if only for my own record... I haven't got round to setting up a spreadsheet for it yet!

What does a thread concerning BEVs have to do with Czech oil burners?

[Rat Catcher]

Just the way the conversation progressed.

I guess one could also ask why a BEV report wasn't filed in the Hybrid/Electric Vehicle section.

[silverbullet]

Just the way the conversation progressed.

I guess one could also ask why a BEV report wasn't filed in the Hybrid/Electric Vehicle section.

If you like I can start a thread in the members' section entitled "If you can't access Mogadon, here are some tales about DPF filters"

[watty]

Just "report to moderator" and let the admin sort it out 

[Rat Catcher]

Really... You really want to deviate from copying and pasting the internet to composing your own material? Knock yourself out!

[silverbullet]

Really... You really want to deviate from copying and pasting the internet to composing your own material? Knock yourself out!

Do you really want to try do a mechanic's job when you could be out earning money?

Here, fix this:


Back in the 90s, I think it was...we had these, could be the thread title:

[Rat Catcher]

If I didn't want to I wouldn't.

Similarly, Im guessing you wouldn't spend time you could spend working copying and pasting the internet if you didn't want to.

[C5]

By doing your own maintenance your saving money and doing a better job, plus you spot stuff that might be wearing out, like I spotted a leak on the driver side drive shaft while I was doing a oil change, a seal that cost less than 15 euro plus gearbox oil top up around 10 euro takes about 1.5 hours. How much would you make in 2 hours in the middle of the day, it cost 25 euro a mechanic would be over 200 and it would be in there for a few hours while it waits it's turn to be worked on.