2005 MK5 Golf TDI GT Shed
Discussion
I've had my mk5 Golf since August last year now and it just refuses to die, so I thought I should share my experience.
Bought on a whim on eBay as fuel saving transport to keep miles of my SL, it was listed as trade sales only with no MOT. Having called the dealer prior to bidding and him saying 'theres absolutely nothing wrong with the car, its ready to drive away' I ended up getting it for £1400.
Upon collection it was much worse than advertised!
Seats torn to sheds, balding mismatched budget tyres and worst of all a severe coolant leak as I got out of the dealers gates, resulting in 2 litres of water before I could get to the nearest halfords for some coolant and 2 bottles of radweld.
Some good about it though, it drove really well. It had recently had a clutch and DMF, battery, front discs & pads and had a full service history & bundles of invoices. The last owner had covered about 30k per year in it. I also gave mind blowing economy for the performance of mid 60s mpg.
It was on 167k
To get it through the mot it took 2 headlights, 2 front lower arms and rear pads - I also stitched the seats up and it started to look decent. Around £200 spent.
Once back on the road, I gave it 4 new goodyear eco tyres and did 1000 miles a week in it. Averaging 60mpg.
4 wheel alignment (it was way out) after chewing through the fronts within a month another new pair of goodyears.
Unfortunately in november the water pump seized at 176k and stripped the cambelt. I thought it was it for the car, so sold it on ebay over christmas. Buyer didnt show, so I threw a pump and cambelt on, timed by eye and it ran!
After leaving it a week until my timing tools arrived the dash died. So I sold it again on ebay, another no show. the car sat for a month and sprung back into life! Ive been using it ever since with no issues and started to play with the cam timing to regain its old economy. So far ive got it borderline fast but averaging 40mpg, slow but near 70mpg and now at vw specs (torsion at 0, idle fuel consumption at 0.4 l/h) and giving good economy and performance, although not quite as extreme as before. VCDS is showing torque reaching 355nm though so its all there!
Ive just given it its first full service too in 25k, with fully synth 5w30 and the fuel filter.
Im going to scientifically experiment with the intake and exhaust cam timings to optimise for performance or economy.
Yesterday I managed to get the idle fuel consumption down to 0.3 and idle torque from 24-26 to 18-22 by the addition of some extralube zx1. I dont particuarly care whats in it, ive used it to good effect for years and the car is a test bed for me now. Initial performance gains and smoothness are promising, with what seems like better economy.
To come: remap, cosmetic tidying, more fiddling
All this without having to top up the coolant since the radweld...(ok a little for the water pump)
Bought on a whim on eBay as fuel saving transport to keep miles of my SL, it was listed as trade sales only with no MOT. Having called the dealer prior to bidding and him saying 'theres absolutely nothing wrong with the car, its ready to drive away' I ended up getting it for £1400.
Upon collection it was much worse than advertised!
Seats torn to sheds, balding mismatched budget tyres and worst of all a severe coolant leak as I got out of the dealers gates, resulting in 2 litres of water before I could get to the nearest halfords for some coolant and 2 bottles of radweld.
Some good about it though, it drove really well. It had recently had a clutch and DMF, battery, front discs & pads and had a full service history & bundles of invoices. The last owner had covered about 30k per year in it. I also gave mind blowing economy for the performance of mid 60s mpg.
It was on 167k
To get it through the mot it took 2 headlights, 2 front lower arms and rear pads - I also stitched the seats up and it started to look decent. Around £200 spent.
Once back on the road, I gave it 4 new goodyear eco tyres and did 1000 miles a week in it. Averaging 60mpg.
4 wheel alignment (it was way out) after chewing through the fronts within a month another new pair of goodyears.
Unfortunately in november the water pump seized at 176k and stripped the cambelt. I thought it was it for the car, so sold it on ebay over christmas. Buyer didnt show, so I threw a pump and cambelt on, timed by eye and it ran!
After leaving it a week until my timing tools arrived the dash died. So I sold it again on ebay, another no show. the car sat for a month and sprung back into life! Ive been using it ever since with no issues and started to play with the cam timing to regain its old economy. So far ive got it borderline fast but averaging 40mpg, slow but near 70mpg and now at vw specs (torsion at 0, idle fuel consumption at 0.4 l/h) and giving good economy and performance, although not quite as extreme as before. VCDS is showing torque reaching 355nm though so its all there!
Ive just given it its first full service too in 25k, with fully synth 5w30 and the fuel filter.
Im going to scientifically experiment with the intake and exhaust cam timings to optimise for performance or economy.
Yesterday I managed to get the idle fuel consumption down to 0.3 and idle torque from 24-26 to 18-22 by the addition of some extralube zx1. I dont particuarly care whats in it, ive used it to good effect for years and the car is a test bed for me now. Initial performance gains and smoothness are promising, with what seems like better economy.
To come: remap, cosmetic tidying, more fiddling
All this without having to top up the coolant since the radweld...(ok a little for the water pump)
sounds like a company i almost bought from once nr blackburn/ackrington
rang up and it was described as "mint with no issues at all" so put deposit
when i got there, seats were ripped, carpet cut up, every panel had bad scratches/damage, it only had 1 windscreen wiper (other missing although it just passed an mot), key wouldn't unlock the car etc etc etc!!
glad yours worked out..... we walked away after a 4 hour drive and 4 hours back
i do like tdi vag - great torque
JJ
rang up and it was described as "mint with no issues at all" so put deposit
when i got there, seats were ripped, carpet cut up, every panel had bad scratches/damage, it only had 1 windscreen wiper (other missing although it just passed an mot), key wouldn't unlock the car etc etc etc!!
glad yours worked out..... we walked away after a 4 hour drive and 4 hours back
i do like tdi vag - great torque
JJ
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