Idiot buys car ( Octavia Mk1 Estate )

[bungz]

I am not really sure I should bother writing this up but as I find the more mundane blatherings on here really great reads I will do a bit of a partially structured dump of thoughts to make a bit of a log of it.

Around a year ago my "project" freebie shed 307 was just about finshed when some muppet of a woman T boned me at a junction, writing it off. I was gutted, spent alot of time getting it more or less spot on. Think the weekend before it was written off it had just had two new lower arms and a gear box oil change.

Still a bit gutted about it a year on! Such is life.

So I was in the market for a new shed as I had a new job at a hospital site and staff parking is a whopping 700 quid a year now. So id rather find some street parking and run a shed....

I do have a Mk1 ignis but there is a fair run on the M6 and it really isnt that suited to that. And it needs a gearbox rebuild.

So shed shopping I went. Used car prices around me are still a bit spicy, especially old Mk7 fiestas which I kinda wanted as my Mrs could drive it then.

One Saturday I was dealing with someone in regards to a local Fez, text speak slow replies then radio silence. It was like pulling teeth. So I messaged a guy about a absolute shed of a Mk1 Octavia.

Now he did message back. He was keen as fking mustard in fact at getting this heap of Czech made ste off his drive.

So X reg 2.0 8v Petrol Estate Octavia GLS with only 57K on it and one owner. Which would have been great if it was some old boys pride and joy I was about to buy. The bloke selling it gave me some story about it was a friends whos dad gave it him and he just " didn't care about cars".

I think that was a huge understatement! I had a quick look around the car and it was surprisingly solid for its age, sills are perfect and I cant see any rust anywhere.

Engine fires up, bit of a blow from somewhere but she runs. I ask to get in the car to give it a quick up and down of the road and immediately reach for the window switch as the car stinks of fags, its like sitting in a ashtray its grim, except none of the windows work and the drivers side has a bit of wood jammed in it. Car however drives very well, its tight as a drum infact.

Mrs is waiting in the car and she already knows im going to buy this heap so a bit of negotiation later I get it for £450, about 70 quid more than scrap. No risk in that is there!?

So I ferry the thing back and for about 15 minutes I am thinking ive got a great deal, needs a clean and some window regulators but it drives nicely.

Then I give it a bit of welly off a slip road near my house and theres a loud bong and the oil light comes on, then goes out. But then it does it again the next roundabout so I pulled over in a truckers layby about a mile from my home, popped the bonnet and there's nothing on the stick. Popped the oil cap and theres a shed ton of mayo and the mother of all blow by. What a penis

o I am now stranded with the choice to stand outside in the layby that aboutley stinks of stale trucker piss or sit in the car that smells of a thousand lambert and butlers. Awesome. HubNut has never documented this on a car collection caper has he?

Did I even check the oil? Who has the fking balls to sell a car with no oil? I cant even sell a car without a fresh magic tree.

Stones on that bloke. Fair play to him.

By now my Mrs has caught up with me and seen me parked up, I tell her to pop home and she brings me some oil to get me home.

It takes 2 litres to show on the stick.

Runs nice enough though!

Once parked up at home however I notice the large wet patch behind the car and the vapour coming out the exhuast....










So I am now at a bit of a dilema, realistically I could get 400 back by just scrapping it. Which is exactly what I should have done.

But I couldnt. A bit like a lame dog with a sob story I just felt a bit sorry for the fking thing (Incidently I already have a real stray dog with a sob story, I never learn). And it was a really nice shade of green. 57K in 23 years and it ended up in this state. And I really liked how it drove. I love the styling of it, the fact its a early car and it still has czech republic stamped on it in various places. The CD player worked ( most speakers don't). I can fix the dead dashboard, did I mention none of the guages worked? I have a soldering iron and youtube. Id just fixed the Dash in my late dads Mondeo. I'm pratically an auto electrician as long as I have internet access.
Anyways I presumed it had a head gasket failure as the only thing that looked like it had been changed recently was the gleeming fresh coolant in the header tank. I had a compression tester which came back as perfectly fine but thats not a great way to test for HG failure.

So I stripped it down (very basic engine as it happens the 2.0 8v and a huge engine bay in a 1U) got a gasket kit and some new head bolts and went about putting it all back together. No real evidence of a HG failure when apart and no "washed" cylinders either. Old oil didn't half smell burnt though, definately had had a "event" the owner had not let on about.






Started up first time but it did not fix the issue. Drat.

I presume there is a crack somewhere in the head though I couldnt see one when I cleaned it down and checked it over. Guess thats why there are people that know what they are doing in business for such things. Used a steel ruler that showed no bowing in the block or head? Meh.

Annoyed.

After a few beers I was sat browsing my phone and by luck a old boy was stripping down a rotted out old beetle of the same year as my Octavia, with the same boat anchor 2.0 with same engine code. For a whopping 80 quid. And he was local.



I took this as a sign from the gods and went for it, as a new head and a gasket kit would be more than that.
So I went to collect that in my trusty Ignis ( lovely wide hatch and flat boot with no lip ) and soon had it walked out into my garage via a wooden plank. A quick look about on FB and I found a guy local to hire a engine hoist from.

Never swapped a engine before and I would have no help.

Edited by bungz on Wednesday 7th June 00:06

[bungz]

Right didn't expect so much intrest in this snotter so I better continue the story.

But first up I will mention that this all happened over a period of a few weeks so I had a bit of time to diagnose the issue, this old boat anchor doesn't have anything fancy like a PCV valve and although the symptons were a bit weird it definately was burning coolant.



Still don't know what is the issue, wasnt washing a particular cylinder or set of valves to point me in a direction but was definately chucking it out. And the coolant system would never build any pressure, a sure fire sign of a leak.

Car had had some sort of no coolant / overheating event leading to some heat and munching some oil, how or why I don't know.

Anyway moving on!

So I needed to get the existing lump out of the car, having had a quick look about I reckoned I could just drop it through the bottom of the engine bay. No significant subframe was going to be a godsend for this engine swap.



So much room!

So I drained all the oil and using a cheap furniture dolly and a load of wood I made a ramp to slide it out, came out a treat.







I don't think there are many cars you can still remove the engine on with the gearbox in situ, saved me a lot of work.

Turning my attention to the new engine I built it back up using the parts I had put on the old engine, namely a water pump, timing belt and a few seals.

Did I mention a timing belt kit was 11 quid from ECP?! bargain eh?

The clutch was also a bit worn so I looked how much a new kit was, a whopping 17 quid. So I slapped one of those on!

I found a really sound lad to rent a hoist off and while I was a bit suspect of wether I would ever see my 150 quid deposit again all in all for the 24 hours it cost me £20, was tempted to buy one but it would be cluttering up my already crowded garage.

Now I wasn't entirely sure the new engine would go in from the top and it was a tight fit, did involve a bit of swearing and the assistance of my Mrs but the input eventually went into the clutch and I could do up the bell housing. Then I had to leave it for a while!

I think I had a few things on and one of them was going to America for a week or so.

Odd place is America but the Udvar-Hazy Center is a geeks wet dream, amazing!



Then I started little by little building the car back up as the evenings got longer, Aux side, all the cooling lines and the intakes and exhaust.

Then one night I got to the point where I could give it a turn of the key





Bit of the normal condensation youd expect no clouds of sweet tasting pink vapour. Yes I did taste it I was that paranoid!

Now there was still a bit to do, I changed the original fuel filter for a start..



Few other bits.

Now it runs fairly well but not perfectly, has this odd problem of a bit of hesitation if provoked, not so bad when hot but I don't think its running quite as it should. The old engine displayed similar issues so there is some sensor prehaps a miss somewhere? I changed the intake valve for a cheap chinese one and that didnt change things, all vac lines have been replaced. Leaves the usual suspects of the MAF and maybe exhaust sensors? Will run a code reader on it at some stage.

Now before I continue I did mention about the dead dash and non working windows?

Well the dash issue it turns out is a common issue, the typical lead free solder causing issues with a particular regulator and some resistors cuasing the dash dials to not work. Not ideal for a car that now has no MOT!





Some reflowing of connections and it sprung into life, super!

The other thing that wasn't going to cut it was all the windows not working, the Octavia uses the crappy cable regulators and ALL FOUR had failed.

Now how long ago these had failed is anyones guess but what I hadnt quite grasped untill I came to put the new regulators in was

SOME tt HAD SILICONED ALL THE WINDOWS UP

Which ruins the window seals which are 2 or three times the price of a new regulator.

Seriously the effort that has gone into penny pinching the car is unreal, a new regulator is about 15-20 quid.





Yep I was fixing windows ( in the rain at night by the looks of it) and a dashboard on a car that at the time had a dead engine in it.

From one extreme to the other with this cars ownership.

I also swapped out the front door speakers for some cheapo JVC ones. They are st wish I had spent more.

Anyway where was I.

Thats it, engine in and working so I thought fk it take it for a MOT and see what comes back.

Spent the day hammering F5 on the MOT website...





Urgh, I figured a cable had come away when I was messing with the window regulator. No worry the garage will surely pop the door card off and sort it to send it through?

Would they fk had to wait till the following week to retest it.

Now that annoyed me! More so as if I had left it full of silicone it would have passed!

Anyway 15 mins work on the drive later I put the cable sleeve back into its recess and the door unlocks.

And the following week.....



Much rejoicing.

So I was aware the rear breaks were sticking on, so immeadiately after getting it's MOT I stripped down the brakes to sort that, pads rusted solid into the carriers.





Wire wheel on a angle grinder soon saw to that.

Yeah not great, got new disc and pads in the post but for now this will stop my wheels setting on fire.

So I used the car today for work, prob covered around 70 miles or so. Drives great nice and comfy just need to sort that odd bit of lethargy from the engine, don't think its pulling quite as it should though sometimes you catch it through the gears and it goes quite well.

Will sort it!

Edited by bungz on Thursday 8th June 00:08

[bungz]

Spinakerr said:

This was a great read, thanks for posting it up - practical fixes on simple cars are definitely some of my favourites!

The 'plank slide' made me chuckle - how many cars made after 1990 could do that I wonder? Onwards and upwards, looks like a straightforward engine but kudos for the significant work required to get stuck in.

Not too many would be my guess, had it been more complicated to remove it might never have got swapped! Gravity was a great help.

Ran a Code reader on it and have a code for injector 1 and 4 so will replace those, have them on my desk but its far too hot to mess with it today

Also have some seals and a new air con drier to go in, slightly podgy middle age man cannot survive without AC.

[bungz]

Swapped the 2 suspect injectors.

No codes have come back but it still hesitates now and then.

Hmmm, anyone with any experience of these?

And the only way I could get tickets for the festival for the unexceptional was to take a pre 2003 car.

This is my only 2003 with a MOT so it will be there somewhere

[bungz]

Gallons Per Mile said:

Fantastic! Love these cars and I owned one for about four hours once. Paid £350, went to pub to celebrate buying my cheap shed and sold it to the landlord for £1000 on the promise I'd give it 12 months MOT and a service. I'd have another in a flash. Good solid cars, these, and it's great to see a bit of effort going in to keeping this one running.

Think you made a far more financially sound decision than I have

[bungz]

Aaaaaaaand it st the bed.



Mid last week we had a brown trousers incident mid rush hour in a huge line of cars. Car died, not a hint of it restarting.

Not one rotten bd stopped to help me push the thing across the junction either.

But then again I do look a bit of a scruffy oik in it so hey ho.

So I actively collared a couple of lads in a yard of a closed garage opposite and they helped me push the heap into it. Good lads they said I could keep the car there long as I wanted.

Engine just died, I feared it was the timing belt and I was right, the tensioner was roasting and the back of the belt had clearly been run against something that wasnt moving. It was all red hot.








So, luckily the engine stopped as soon as it slipped a single tooth meaning timing it back up with the old tensioner ( always hoard old parts ) and no damage done, and limped it home. Not a fun way to spend a few hours on a Wednesday evening but I would have been pretty sad if I nerfed the engine after 400 miles. Its annoyed me as I had a bit of faith in the car, don't now! I drive it to work a couple of times on a smart section of the M6, will not be doing that for a while.

The new kit was made by SKF which is the OEM for the car ( tensioner is identical for the audi stamped original off the donar engine).

Thing is the tensioner is behaving now its off, its not jammed. Not sure what happened and a bit scared now, I wont get that lucky twice.

One thing that is obvious is how "sprung out" the tensioner is, though once bolted up not sure how this would effect things.





New kit ordered and will stick it on the weekend, got to get it kind of fettled for the run to Fest of Unexceptional, it will cover alot of ground that weekend.

[bungz]

Some time has passed and I learnt a few things.

It died again leaving me stranded again On a round about in Chelmsley Wood

Was on the way to a Mrs friends house, this time I knew it wasn't the belt. Stuck a scanner I had in the glove box on it no crank sensor signal.

I imagine thats what it was last time but I just had it timed a tooth out from the start and just panicked at worst case senario (nothing to lock this engine its a bit st to see the timing mark the gear box end, the new belt still looked odd so glad I changed it again).

Went and had a beer came back a couple of hours later and it fired up, got home and ordered a new sensor.

The sensor that failed was from the donor engine, wasnt even from the original car was a bit unlucky. It was also causing some of my rough running issues, was breaking up at lower rpm causing hesitation. That and the wrong maf had really cause me some head scratching.

So correct MAF now on the car, new crank sensor and its driving well, trust it enough to take it to work for a couple of days and it starts flagging a P0172 code for running rich just when I think its sorted.

Swapped a few parts back and forth which I wont go into and while I think I still suspect have a bad fuel trim she is running well enough.

There is a slight exhaust leak which needs attention, that prob isnt the cause of the code but it wont help.

Anyway like a pheonix from a blazing pile of turd she made it to the Festival of the Unexceptional without issue, ran quite well infact! I had a boot full of tools as well!

Was a great event.

There was a rather long queue in hot weather to get in which made me a touch nervous. We followed a rather sickly Hyundai Lantra that seemed to be chuffing a bit of oil ( it stunk!) and none of its windows seemed to work as they kept wafting the doors open.

Obviously the lad handn't spent his cold wet winter evenings with a torch sorting his windows out like moi

Got in, parked up and had a great day with my old boss who loved all the older 70's stuff, being from Brum he was quite at home with all the Milands made stuff ( ste ) there.

Only blot on the day was there really wasn't enough facilities for the amount of people, the food stalls all ran out of food by 1pm or so which was a bit ridculous.

We stopped off at a pub on the way home, was starving!

Edited by bungz on Monday 31st July 00:12

[bungz]

Mercdriver said:

10/10 for perseverance! I would have scrapped it a long time ago, hope it keeps going OK though, lang May it’s lum reek

Absolutely, though I was quite glad I didnt on Saturday was quite satisfying taking somthing nobody else on this earth would have saved

Tyrell Corp said:

puzzling, is it possible the cambelt tension was wrong?

Thinking about it when it did stop the first time the tensioner was too tight, wasn't like that when I set it so maybe somthing was a miss.

Will never know, will keep check of it.

[bungz]

Mercdriver said:

Oops must have read it wrong, I hope you are right, quite pleased with the gearbox, nice and smooth

Keep up with the servicing I am sure they are decent enough, plenty of them about.

What age is it?

Box in this is brilliant, shifts like new.

[bungz]

Sport220 said:

I use an indie specialist a stone’s throw away from there and once ended up going to the Greggs in their shopping centre after dropping off the car. fking hell hole. Think I was in a continuous state of panic until I got to the nearest train station

Ha ha yeah its a bit grim

That said there are faaaaaaar worse places in brum I could have conked out in

[bungz]

Quick update on this.

Lots of time spent trying to get the bottom of the exhaust leak, I have two different manidolfd and it turns out they were both cracked.

Got one repaired after I found a local guy who was happy to test it as I went along ( I made a load of blanks and using a shop vac and soapy water we could then tell if it leaked!)

All together, still a bit of blow from the join to the cat but enough to keep the engine light off.









All welded up and ready to go back on.




I drove the car for a while and it was happy enough, decided to drop the oil when it got to around the 60K mark

Was nice to see it roll over to 60K, a very unlikely milestone!




I decided to see what the £2 ebay special oil filter had found in the £80 donor engine.













Loads of carbon ( head was pretty full of it!). Some small amounts of sparkles but on a 90-100K engine I guess thats to be expected, will see how it looks with the next change!

Cheap filters and Mannol 05w-30 means a service is about £12, cant grumble.



She continues to be a handy addition to the fleet, currently many trips to the tip with a new kitchen and lounge revamp.

[bungz]

Mercdriver said:

Not an idiot then bungz! Sounds like you got value for money, hope it keeps going for you, keep posting about it.

I am jealous, at 77 I can no longer work on cars, knees and back are shot the days of rebuilding cars are over for me unfortunately.

Im 41 and at times I dont feel so hot after a day under cars, definately no more exhaust work on the drive I will ship that off to someone else in future!

Had ithe Octavia a year last week! Thats flown by. Rolled over 61K too.

Since the oil change the sump plug was leaking and when I went to use fresh plug it became aparent that some muppet had stripped it and used a oversize plug.. Easily done on the alloy pan I guess...

New pans are dirt cheap on ebay so went with one of those.

And while the pan was off ordered a new oil pump as they are under £30, the original was a bit whiny but i didnt know if thats just a characteristic of them.

This is what I found in the pick up





All the old sump threads and some silicone from when the sump may have been off before in a past life as it has had a crack welded. Why you would do that when a pan is £19 delivered with a tube of silicone and a new plug god knows.




Sump off sans oil pump. Easier to keep the old sprocket for the pump in situ so just swapped it off the new pump.



New pan!

Sorry no picture of the new pump in situ.



New pan and new dogbone mount while I was at it. Fun fact the dogbone bolt that goes through into the gearbox will piss fluid out unexpectedly as its not a blind hole!

Drained all the fluid ( was new a few K ago ) and used some loctite thread sealer on the bolt.

That made a huge difference to how the gear change felt, the old dog bone had gone really soft.

Fluid was quite dark, will prob change that again in a few K was only cheap stuff.

While I was waiting for the sump RTV to cure I did the front brakes too.



The original discs came off it, impressive at 61K but they were warped but sported brand new pagid pads on them...

Next job is to change the thermostat as this one isnt closing all the way, not getting upto temp on cold days and that effects MPG.

And a couple of tyres.

Then maybe give the AC system some attention for the summer!

Getting there tho!