The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[skywalker001]

Salmonofdoubt said:

Amazing what £1000 buys.

I saw a 2008 460 advertised at £10k yesterday and it looks no better than this.

Cheap motoring,with all the mod cons.

[Salmonofdoubt]

Because going into places and asking for help is still banned what tool do I need to buy to remove glow plugs?

[Jimmy Recard]

Plenty of penetrating fluid, in my experience

[W00DY]

Jimmy Recard said:

Plenty of penetrating fluid, in my experience

I used none since the first one was so easy to remove and then rounded off the second. Don't be like me.

I'd also go for a 6 point socket since you're less likely to round it than with a 12 like I used.

[M4cruiser]

W00DY said:

I'd also go for a 6 point socket since you're less likely to round it than with a 12 like I used.

^^ I find this on most shed stuff, and yes I've made the double-hex mistake many times.
Another useful addition is a long breaker bar. So many times (not just plugs I mean, but anything needing undoing) the standard 10-inch one in the socket set can't do it and I almost give up, then remember about my 30-inch bar and it moves straight away.

[mercedeslimos]

Any joy since W00DY?

I got fed up of not having right sockets, so a couple of months ago ordered some deep, narrow 1/2" sockets, and the same in 3/8" and 1/4".

Makes a huge difference having exactly the right sockets, having everything in short and long, and 6 hex and 12 hex. Some things you need a 12-hex for, like outer CV hub nuts.

[W00DY]

mercedeslimos said:

Any joy since W00DY?

I got fed up of not having right sockets, so a couple of months ago ordered some deep, narrow 1/2" sockets, and the same in 3/8" and 1/4".

Makes a huge difference having exactly the right sockets, having everything in short and long, and 6 hex and 12 hex. Some things you need a 12-hex for, like outer CV hub nuts.

Plugs didn't arrive so hopefully today. Just need to decide whether to buy the Erbauer bolt and nut remover at Screwfix and chop the top off the rounded plug rendering it useless, but hopefully getting nice fresh plugs or to just leave it since it tested ok and worry about it later.

[Jimmy Recard]

I think I’d worry about it later. It’s not a six month old car - that plug might outlast the car itself. I know they say it’s best practice to replace them all at once, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that.

Number 3 (of 5) has been dead on my car since before I bought it but I’ve just left it for that reason

[StescoG66]

When I did my glow plugs I sprayed them with releasing fluid for about a week before that. They came out dead easy and no drama

[LukeyP_]

Hit 173k on the old Octavia the other night, took it for a 30 mile drive after BoJo lifted the driving rule.

Noticing a few more spots on oil lately, which I can see around the turbo area but not sure if it's worth trying to find the leak and sort it given age/mileage of the engine.

[CX53]

LukeyP_ said:

Hit 173k on the old Octavia the other night, took it for a 30 mile drive after BoJo lifted the driving rule.

Noticing a few more spots on oil lately, which I can see around the turbo area but not sure if it's worth trying to find the leak and sort it given age/mileage of the engine.

It could still have over a quarter of a million miles left in it yet if the car throttle Octavia is anythint to go by

[anonymous-user]

W00DY said:

mercedeslimos said:

2 possible causes here, on the BKC/BXE, etc MK5 platform. Glow plugs are dead (open circuit/short to ground) or relay.

Plugs are easy. Pull off the plug wiring on the front of the engine, plugs there in front of you. Deep 1/4" socket, pull out and check resistance. 1.0 to 1.5 ohms checked between the centre pin and the body of the glow plug. anything out of that showing a failing or dead plug. Good hot plugs should have slight white ash on the tip showing burning off. Any oil or residue shows they are not working.

I would check these first.

The relay sits inside the engine bay fuse box on the right of the bay. Pull the cover with the 2 slide clips, the relay is numbered 461 on the top.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-Golf-Mk5-Glow-Plug-R...

These very very rarely give trouble though, so I would check the plugs first. they don't last forever. The eBay ones are junk too. Bosch or Beru only.

Big thanks, you always seem to help me out!

One plug had very high resistance, whipped it out, bought a 4 pack of Bosch (hopefully here tomorrow) since they weren't too much money then rounded off the next one and have been too scared to touch the others although they ll had nicely in spec resistances. Do you reckon one bad plug could put it into limp mode?

It had a couple of DPF codes too, so I'm guessing it wanted to use the plugs to do a re-gen which failed.

I bought one of those £6 ELM327 ODB2 blue tooth adapters on eBay to play with, and on running a fault code check was surprised to see a few errors related to glow plugs, from the errors it looks like two of them are open circuit. It's a Megane DCI 1.5 and it's occasionally taken a bit more cranking over when cold with a bit of smoke once started so that definitely makes sense but no lights on the dash.

Just bought a set of 4 on eBay for £22 and on checking the codes with the bosch online checker they are definitely original. The annoying thing is I don't have a long 10mm socket to fit them and to be honest I am scared of snapping them in the block. My dad is actually a mechanic so I guess I will need to wait until I can see him and get him to swap them over.

If this fixes the occasional slightly rough running when cold then I will be very pleased.

[StescoG66]

Joey Deacon said:

I bought one of those £6 ELM327 ODB2 blue tooth adapters on eBay to play with, and on running a fault code check was surprised to see a few errors related to glow plugs, from the errors it looks like two of them are open circuit. It's a Megane DCI 1.5 and it's occasionally taken a bit more cranking over when cold with a bit of smoke once started so that definitely makes sense but no lights on the dash.

Just bought a set of 4 on eBay for £22 and on checking the codes with the bosch online checker they are definitely original. The annoying thing is I don't have a long 10mm socket to fit them and to be honest I am scared of snapping them in the block. My dad is actually a mechanic so I guess I will need to wait until I can see him and get him to swap them over.

If this fixes the occasional slightly rough running when cold then I will be very pleased.

Soak them in releasing agent once a day for the next week or so. Doddle to remove after that

[W00DY]

Exciting Golf update.

Plugs still haven't arrived, so I went to GSF this morning to get a single plug to replace the bad one. Pop it in and now I only have 3 glow plug codes. So they must be bad despite testing ok I guess. Bolt extractor kit purchased. Wish me luck.

Edit: I have successfully sheared off the glow plug, leaving just the threaded section in the block. FFFFUUUU...

Edited by W00DY on Saturday 16th May 18:36

[Rocket Ricardo]

W00DY said:

Exciting Golf update.

Plugs still haven't arrived, so I went to GSF this morning to get a single plug to replace the bad one. Pop it in and now I only have 3 glow plug codes. So they must be bad despite testing ok I guess. Bolt extractor kit purchased. Wish me luck.

Edit: I have successfully sheared off the glow plug, leaving just the threaded section in the block. FFFFUUUU...

Edited by W00DY on Saturday 16th May 18:36

All the very best!

[mercedeslimos]

Oh bks...

Is there any protrusion beyond the head?

Good to know that the plugs are at fault, but bad times.

Send a pic, might be able to figure out a solution

[Salmonofdoubt]

I'm definitely not touching my own glow plugs after following this.

[STIfree]

E91 shed went this afternoon.

After picking up the Lexus the other day I realised I had 3 sheds that all did the same job. So it was a choice between the Mondeo and the 318 as to which to go. I've done more miles and put more effort into the Mondeo and feel confident that it will continue to reward me in the future so it was time for the BMW to go.

Put it on FB & Gumtree about 6pm at £1250. Had about 5 or 6 messages and by 1pm today a chap asked to come view. Turns out he was the father of an old school friend. Anyway, he wasn't phased by any of its shed flaws such as the misfire etc. Took about 7 seconds of negotiating to settle on £900.

Totted up the total costs. £350 purchase price, £35 in parts. £385 total.

Sold for £900, leaving a profit of £515 to subtract from the cost of buying the Lexus, bringing that to £485. Happy days!

Some times this shedding thing works rather well.

One last pic of the E91 before she went (literally around the corner so I'll still see it on a near daily basis )

[rich12]

I'd still love to know how you managed to get that lexus so cheap.
I've looked everywhere for one and the cheapest local to me is £2k and ropey.

I want a big old lpg V8 tank for a grand!!

[STIfree]

rich12 said:

I'd still love to know how you managed to get that lexus so cheap.
I've looked everywhere for one and the cheapest local to me is £2k and ropey.

I want a big old lpg V8 tank for a grand!!

I still wonder that too. The seller did say he had plenty of messages in the 2 hours he had it online but as I was the first one who contacted I got first offer.

Oh just to add a cherry on top of the Lexus, I got 2 rear air struts and a compressor with the sale. A quick Google and eBay shows I could get 2-300 back by selling those on, making the total investment for the Lexus, bugger all!

I'm a serial bargain hunter though. Doesn't matter what it is, if its a bargain I can't help buying it and working out what I'm going to do with it later. It usually works out but then I do have 12 BMW wheels in the shed but no BMW