2009 seat leon 1.9tdi ecomotive 'shed money' daily
Discussion
some of you may of read my readers ride on my yaris grmn (which needs some updates)
been mulling over the idea of getting a cheaper daily recently as much as i love the yaris just wanted to keep the miles down, try & retain some of its value. make it more of an occasion when i do get to drive it
id been looking at facebook marketplace for a month or so. only really wanted a vag diesel preferably pd130 but quickly realised the days of cheap mk4 golfs & boras are long gone.
seen the leon for sale. it was up for 1200 but id set a strict budget of no more than 1k. fired a message off asking if a deal could be done for 1k & didnt get a response. thought that was that. then got a message out of the blue asking was i still interested & if i was a deal could be done (message had gone into requests)
this is what ive bought 2009 seat leon 1.9tdi pd105 dpf with the infamous bls engine code which has been known to throw a leg out of bed
11 months mot
148k miles
no service history as such but plenty of work carried out to it over the years, timing belt & water pump done at 135k miles around 2 years ago
£30 a year tax
now theres a reason theres only a few pictures. i filled it up with diesel & saw 610 miles from my first tank full unfortunately on y way home from filling it with diesel for a second time the turbo decided enough was enough. although not a complete failure the blades were touching the housing so didnt want to risk driving it any more
2 options were either take £500 loss for 4 weeks of owning it, get shut & get something else or bite the bullet & repair it. ive decided to keep it whichever way i went i would of been spending another £1k either replacing it or repairing it
this happened the day after my clutch died on my grmn so a very expensive couple of days!
once its back my plan is to run upto 200k miles along side my grmn. hopefully adding some subtle upgrades to make it abit more modern
been mulling over the idea of getting a cheaper daily recently as much as i love the yaris just wanted to keep the miles down, try & retain some of its value. make it more of an occasion when i do get to drive it
id been looking at facebook marketplace for a month or so. only really wanted a vag diesel preferably pd130 but quickly realised the days of cheap mk4 golfs & boras are long gone.
seen the leon for sale. it was up for 1200 but id set a strict budget of no more than 1k. fired a message off asking if a deal could be done for 1k & didnt get a response. thought that was that. then got a message out of the blue asking was i still interested & if i was a deal could be done (message had gone into requests)
this is what ive bought 2009 seat leon 1.9tdi pd105 dpf with the infamous bls engine code which has been known to throw a leg out of bed
11 months mot
148k miles
no service history as such but plenty of work carried out to it over the years, timing belt & water pump done at 135k miles around 2 years ago
£30 a year tax
now theres a reason theres only a few pictures. i filled it up with diesel & saw 610 miles from my first tank full unfortunately on y way home from filling it with diesel for a second time the turbo decided enough was enough. although not a complete failure the blades were touching the housing so didnt want to risk driving it any more
2 options were either take £500 loss for 4 weeks of owning it, get shut & get something else or bite the bullet & repair it. ive decided to keep it whichever way i went i would of been spending another £1k either replacing it or repairing it
this happened the day after my clutch died on my grmn so a very expensive couple of days!
once its back my plan is to run upto 200k miles along side my grmn. hopefully adding some subtle upgrades to make it abit more modern
Unfortunately work commitments mean I can't do the work myself. It's having a brand new turbo on it, dpf & egr system solution & a remap to tie everything in.
I hate having to outsource work but needs must & I need it back sharpish so it can start to earn its keep
Hopefully it'll be back by end tomorrow!
Not the greatest start but it is what it is
I hate having to outsource work but needs must & I need it back sharpish so it can start to earn its keep
Hopefully it'll be back by end tomorrow!
Not the greatest start but it is what it is
another long overdue update
no pictures as it pretty much just looks like the first pic apart from i cleaned it for the first time this week. mileage is now upto 153k miles
i will probably never buy a car at 150k miles again as i feel this is the point of no return spend wise. yes there will be loads of cars out there in good nick at 150k but personally swing towards 100k next time
so where to start, got it back from having the turbo replaced, ended up having hybrid turbo, s3 intercooler, bigger injectors, dpf & egr solution, remap to tie everything in nicely
new feed and return lines, sump dropped and cleaned, oil and filter change
i could push it further tuning wise with a 4 bar map sensor however opted against it. its got the hardware to push 220+hp and a bucket load of torque. its running 180ish hp and wont be going any further certainly not under my ownership. still returns 700 miles to £70 worth of diesel
the spending didnt stop there though a wheel bearing, bottom ball joint, windscreen, wipers, two tyres and a new dmf & clutch kit followed not long after
would i do it again absolutely not!! ive ended up throwing good money after bad. i keep saying to myself nothing else can go wrong then something does! but i know if i sell up the next owner has had all the big bills done and the bloody thing will be totally reliable for them
no pictures as it pretty much just looks like the first pic apart from i cleaned it for the first time this week. mileage is now upto 153k miles
i will probably never buy a car at 150k miles again as i feel this is the point of no return spend wise. yes there will be loads of cars out there in good nick at 150k but personally swing towards 100k next time
so where to start, got it back from having the turbo replaced, ended up having hybrid turbo, s3 intercooler, bigger injectors, dpf & egr solution, remap to tie everything in nicely
new feed and return lines, sump dropped and cleaned, oil and filter change
i could push it further tuning wise with a 4 bar map sensor however opted against it. its got the hardware to push 220+hp and a bucket load of torque. its running 180ish hp and wont be going any further certainly not under my ownership. still returns 700 miles to £70 worth of diesel
the spending didnt stop there though a wheel bearing, bottom ball joint, windscreen, wipers, two tyres and a new dmf & clutch kit followed not long after
would i do it again absolutely not!! ive ended up throwing good money after bad. i keep saying to myself nothing else can go wrong then something does! but i know if i sell up the next owner has had all the big bills done and the bloody thing will be totally reliable for them
The longer you keep it the better value it will be.
Stuff like wheel bearings and ball joints can go on any older car despite mileage.
I have a car with 100K on it at the moment and while the engine is great the rest is toast and has cost a fair whack, the price you pay for not paying for a shiny lease deal with a asthmatic 3 pot in it
Stuff like wheel bearings and ball joints can go on any older car despite mileage.
I have a car with 100K on it at the moment and while the engine is great the rest is toast and has cost a fair whack, the price you pay for not paying for a shiny lease deal with a asthmatic 3 pot in it
So this will start to earn it's keep full time now. I've opted to sell my Yaris grmn whilst prices are sky high
It's due a service now so I'll be ordering the bits to do that.
I've got what sounds like the start of another wheel bearing going so that'll need investigation
Having cruise control fitted to it aswell
I'm that far in with this car now realistically it'll be staying till it's fit for the scrap yard. I'd like to see 200k out of it but don't really do the miles anymore
It's due a service now so I'll be ordering the bits to do that.
I've got what sounds like the start of another wheel bearing going so that'll need investigation
Having cruise control fitted to it aswell
I'm that far in with this car now realistically it'll be staying till it's fit for the scrap yard. I'd like to see 200k out of it but don't really do the miles anymore
boring no pics update
156k mile update
osf coil spring has broken and top mount is toast. the suspension has been groaning and knocking for last few months so ive decided to treat it to some new bilstein shocks and some lowering springs, drop links etc...
3 out of 4 door locks stopped working i tried the wd40 trick and to my surprise they all started working again so that was a good fix
backbox baffles have collapsed aswell so currently looking at options there
rear lights are leaking into the bootlid aswell which will need rectifying shortly
mot is due 19th jan so a little list to get sorted before it goes for mot
its nice to have a car that has marks, scratches laquer peel, i am growing quite attached to it lately but equally not particularly bothered if its gets a knock etc...
156k mile update
osf coil spring has broken and top mount is toast. the suspension has been groaning and knocking for last few months so ive decided to treat it to some new bilstein shocks and some lowering springs, drop links etc...
3 out of 4 door locks stopped working i tried the wd40 trick and to my surprise they all started working again so that was a good fix
backbox baffles have collapsed aswell so currently looking at options there
rear lights are leaking into the bootlid aswell which will need rectifying shortly
mot is due 19th jan so a little list to get sorted before it goes for mot
its nice to have a car that has marks, scratches laquer peel, i am growing quite attached to it lately but equally not particularly bothered if its gets a knock etc...
THE END
this was sold on at end of January after bleeding more money off me. I'd finally decided enough is enough.
I had brand new shocks, lowering springs and top mounts fitted
A dpf replacement exhaust and hard cut limiter added on.
It subsequently broke down as soon as it got home!
The tuning company came and picked it up for free, fixed it and even got it motd for me even though it was unrelated to anything that has been worked on. Properly impressed with them. I'd just put it down to playing with 160k mile cars with little to no history!
By the time it had come back. I already had it's replacement lined up.
Sold for £1100 probably was a 2k loss roughly for a years motoring. Sods law will mean the next owner probably won't have any issues to deal with but I just wanted rid in the end as there were various issues that if left untreated now would result in a hefty bill down the line
this was sold on at end of January after bleeding more money off me. I'd finally decided enough is enough.
I had brand new shocks, lowering springs and top mounts fitted
A dpf replacement exhaust and hard cut limiter added on.
It subsequently broke down as soon as it got home!
The tuning company came and picked it up for free, fixed it and even got it motd for me even though it was unrelated to anything that has been worked on. Properly impressed with them. I'd just put it down to playing with 160k mile cars with little to no history!
By the time it had come back. I already had it's replacement lined up.
Sold for £1100 probably was a 2k loss roughly for a years motoring. Sods law will mean the next owner probably won't have any issues to deal with but I just wanted rid in the end as there were various issues that if left untreated now would result in a hefty bill down the line
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