Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Yeah my thinking too re. Pizza. Also useful for making beer. I'm a potter too, although getting one that goes to the temperatures I fire pots at is super expensive!

I'll run car with cap off tomorrow. What am I looking for? For how long?

Yeah my thinking too re header tank.

Fitted my new Continental head unit this afternoon. The whole process was wonderfully straightforward aside from the fact that apparently the Continental unit has the live and switch live the opposite way around so I've sadly no power yet as I hadn't any connectors or a crimping tool in my rudimentary on the go toolkit.

I'll have to stop by an audio shop and get them to rectify it on Monday but doesn't it look lovely and OEM+ sat there!

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what are those red pubes at the top?

Hasn't been to beauticians since before lockdown...

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The IR thermometer is the cheapest I found off the shelf and over the counter, alot of the cheap ones top out at about 350 or so.

Running the car with the cap off will hopefully 'burp' out any trapped air. Hopefully not just throw out all the water, hopefully running at tickover will stop that. Am trying to remember if the diesel had a temperature guage or not, if it has keep an eye on the guage and should sit around the middle of the scale, if guage has got to about 2/3 on the scale the rad fan hasn't operated then I'd think there is an issue. But simple things first.

Stupid question is the car running alright? Sometimes mistimed diesel pumps can cause issues. But then would the car run well..

Oh I want one.

Yeah running fine and I say no longer seems to be overheating which is weird. Up until a month or so ago going up a steepish hill would blow the guage right up to nearly the top. Now doesn't seem to bothered at all.

Ok I'll leave it on tickover tomorrow until it's fully warm and see if it overheats. I can check fan switch at the same time and see if that's ok.

On the radiator / cooling system topic. I once saw a hose which looked fine but when the engine was running a weakness in it caused the pipe to almost seal - like it sucked itself inwards. It was relatively easy to spot with the bonnet up. Might be worth a look but it’s unlikely to be the cause of loss of fluid.

No fluid loss just severe pressure build up. Cheers I'll check that.

Ah ok. Worth a look then. I cannot clearly remember but I’d guess if you squeeze the hoses you may feel a weakness. It was on a large hose - maybe an inch or more diameter.

That is one of the things that can happen too. But first to see if the water is circulating.

Can you reach the front of the radiator to see if there are any noted cold spots.

Hahaha Anything overnight with a baby (especially if less than at least 5 days not including travel) always feels like a giant waste of time/energy/money/patience/etc. The amount of crap you have to take with you cannot be overstated.

I preferred to barely leave my back yard unless on foot.

That said, I'm not the only one in my family and so I've done trips like this a lot. The only way I've managed to make it reasonable is with a roof cargo box and a Tiguan.

New grille purchased, should be winging its way over from North Carolina soon...

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I'll check that too. Tipping it down ATM so don't really want to go check just yet! O for a garage to work on the car in.

Brother’s Seat. Any ideas?

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• IMG_8288.MP4

Some hydraulic issue, would say fluid has leaked and there's a vacuum in the system pulling the pedal down? Need to inspect master & slave cylinder for fluid levels

Is it hydraulic or cable?

Just saw this 505 gti and am amazed no one mentioned it on here https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/561076224574322/

Had another look at the last invoice from Dodgy Mechanic No.1 and he mentions that the coolant fan isn't working, so that is definitely a good place to start. Also that guage was in the red but no overheating warning light was coming on. What would possibly cause that? Could the two be linked?

Hydraulic.

Hello,

So the guage went high and no fan cut in.
Mechanic sounds like an utter cnut for not telling you or fixing the issue even after getting the car back to replace the water pump.

I'd check that the fan motor still turns, with the ignition off, so you can see if its free and not seized. Then if it free look at the thermoswitch. Looking at the photos here the thermoswitch is at the opposite of the water pipes, unplug the connecter and short the two terminals with a cable and see if the fan operates. If the fan operates then the thermoswitch has failed. If nothing happens so check the fuse isn't blown.

Does the clutch still operate when the pedal is down?

Is it a normal linear slave cylinder or concentric? Parts search should tell you.

Have had this happen and the clutch was disengage and that was a flexi pipe that collapsed internally so was stopping the fluid returning..

Always fancied one of these. How much of a money pit would this likely be? Think someone had one of these on here but can’t remember who?

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Nice. Does it have two seats in the back like the old Volvo 740? Those were on the sides if I remember correctly. Remember bouncy around in one of them as a kid.

@bq had one.

They look amazing.