JoeyEunos

Word on the street is that Rich loves the red fluid and is suspicious of the green OE stuff TBH one of the first jobs I do on any new VAG mobile I buy is to drop the old fluid via the low pressure hose on the pump and top up with green OE. Irrespective of VW's 'lifetime fill' nonsense it does thin down massively over time and IMO that's what leads to the leaking seals etc. @mscherryviolet,check your level and top up if needed, if top up is needed then the next task is to work out where the old stuff went

Very cheap car indeed. Someone needs to buy this before I'm forced to ?

I had the exact same issue about 2 months ago, I made the same assumption as you. I'll save you the ballache and wasted time that I went through... It's all on the same fuse, replace it ?

Or perhaps try Quantum Platinum 5W40 from your local TPS (Assuming they're prepared to play ball)? It's actually cheaper than most other oil at around £12.70p for 5l, it's fully synthetic and has the nod of approval from VW

Brothers in arms With hindsight screws work far better than trying to use picks... I assume you mean you plan to do it as part of a clutch job rather than a 'couch replace' If so then yes, the job will be a breeze with the 'box removed. Lying under a car on stands, torch in mouth with a steady drip of gear oil dribbling your face for hours on end is much less fun. Just make sure you don't score/or damage the the shaft or the housing that the seal sits in and all will be good.

^'Lol' is a term that gets banded about too often these days, that genuinely did make me chuckle. I took our SDI out yesterday purely to stretch it's legs (It's basically sat there for a week since we broke up for the holidays last Thursday) I never really drive it these days since passing it on to 'her indoors'.and I'd forgotten just how agricultural they are Both the seat and the steering wheel pulse fiercely and rhythmically at idle, the whole driving experience is somewhat akin to piloting a kind of large mobile pnuematic drill It's all part of their charm and with levels of economy/simplicity to maintain/£30 tax I'd forgive it just about anything. I really can't imagine any car tht would be cheaper to run. All that being said I'd imagine that polybushing one would have nightmarish consequences.

Having owned a couple of imported cars I'd say go for it Their non salted roads usually ensure wonderfully rust free undersides/bodywork and the Japanese MOT system known as the 'Shaken' is actually pretty tough/strict so cars are often in good knick too when compared to UK examples of the same age. As Rich mentioned rust potection is no different on JDM cars vs European counterparts, this is for the most part a myth banded about in the 90's as a slew of grey imports flooded the market. Jap radios operate on a different bandwidth so that's something you'll need to sort, also the flares are standard issue on cars over there

Test battery on a multimeter... Get someone to turn the car over whilst you're checking, if voltage dips anywhere below 9V when cranking then the battery has seen better days irrespective of whether it shows as 12.5V etc whilst it's doing nothing.... Test alternator on a multimeter... Start the car (Jump leads if needed) and make sure you're getting circa 14V under load (Lights/stereo/blowers on) As others have said, very much sounds like battery to me too.

I suppose on that level, yes, l can attest that our little SDI is superb in the snow. Can't argue with that.

They do warm the cabin quickly I suppose, but the rest of your sentiments are pretty subjective. I'm fairly tall etc (Read cuddly) and where-as leg room is ample it's nice to have more room either side of you, sound proofing isn't great, they're small and tend to feel pretty vulnerable on motorways (I'm getting on and now have a strong sense of my own mortality). Loving the image of you imagining you're in your own little snug space though You've got a Passat now? Wow, the Mazda 121 didn't last long then? I find mine heats up pretty quickly, and whilst I'm waiting for the blowers to do their thing the heated seats keep me nice and toasty! I'm trying hard to picture circumstances in which a Lupo owner in winter might look over at a Passat and think, "That must be a nightmare, bet he wishes he had one of these" but I'm struggling

As others have said, if car is running well with no issues then why not? It may be a bit cramped/uncomfortable being stuck in a Lupo for those kind of miles though! Whenever I have a longer trip planned I always pack a small toolkit and some consumables (Oil/coolant/bulbs etc). RAC or AA membership adds piece of mint too.

Agreed on the maintenance costs, although I looked at it on the basis that aside from possibly more expensive/complicated arms/drop links set up etc they share the same issues as the derv Mk4 Golfs, ie DMF and turbo woes, I've already got a Golf so why not try a Passat too? (That was my thinking at least) I've never been tempted by the B6's, as you say just a big Golf, also DPF's added to the mix and the 2.0 TDi engines don't seem to be nearly as strong as the earlier 1.9's. Good advice RE drain holes/doors/arches etc. Apparently the plenum drains block easily and flood the passenger footwell causing loads of jip inc CCM niggles etc For the time being it lives under the carport (The MX5's old home) and as such doesn't really get wet, none the less I'm on it I've already re-sealed the doors with a decent slub of silicone all round, the plan is after removing the battery and clearing all the drains the doors will be filled with Dynax S50, inner wing areas get an extra layer of paint (Usually Aldi's own brand chip resistant metal paint brushed on TBH) followed Dynax UB, I like to remove the wings completely and clean all round the mounting areas too for good measure. This should be standard practice for anyone buying VAG stuff of that era, I've done this a few times now on different cars and actually find it a pretty satisfying job.... SAM_5353 by SAM_5367 by SAM_5377 by

Yup, 'tis a lovely cosy/grown up place to be compared with the rattly base spec SDI's. The Passats seem to be stupidly cheap to buy now, maybe due to the bad press older diesels are getting at present? Either way, over the last few weekends I've fitted a new radiator and CTS, cleared codes, also fan switch sensor and so far (Touch would) about 500 miles deep with no more engine warning lights or issues, just a case of cleaning the plenum drains, a good service and general tidying up now. I'd initially bought it to repair to sell, but it's so rare to find one these days without the usual taxi mileage and rotten front wings, I'm going to admit I've become slightly smitten with it and settled myself it's a 'keeper'

Long time without updates here... Suffice to say the selector shaft oil seal and also the rocker cover gasket were both worthwhile as the drive remains spotless. The Lupo is still trundling around and also starting/running without any dramas despite the recent cold snap, same goes for the Golf SDI. The only real news on the car front is that I've added another to the fleet, this time a 2004 Passat TDi 130 Highline on 136k... The car has some standard old car issues that I'm working through at present, the intention is that it will serve as a more luxurious family barge for weekend trips etc whilst the Golf and Lupo SDI's will continue to be used as hacks for the weekly grind It's a very comfortable/lovely place to be with heated leather seats, aircon, electric everything etc. It feels fairly fast when compared to the week-day NA dervs yet still manages to deliver 50+ mpg It really is lovely to drive and it's easy to see how people managed to cover big miles in these in relative comfort... SAM_6011 by

Yup, shameful I know *Hangs head* Must've been having an off day yesterday, why I didn't think to check that first I'll never know

OK, after some investigation this morning it turns out screenwash/front wipers/rear wiper are all on the same fuse after all. 50p later and all is sorted For anyone else who finds themselves in this position (I'm sure most of you would anyway), don't make assumptions as I did, do the sensible thing and rule out fuses first!

PM sent

Am I correct in thinking that it must be the stalk as opposed to relay etc, Wipers front and back are on a different relay to the screenwash, right?

Lucky you Ah well, time is of the essence. Looks like Euro's £25 'HAAS' jobbie then

As per the title chaps... Mrs Eunos emerged back into the house this morning less than 5 mins after having left complaining of wipers not working Having checked the front wipers/rear wipers/ screen wash are all inoperable.... I'm assuming these are all on different fuses and as such I'm looking at replacing the stalk rather than delving into the fuse box? As it stands I've had to allow her to use my Golf to get into work today (Not cool) Also, does anyone in the NE area have a spare stalk hanging about to test this...? @Rich perhaps?

Also, could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the bearings are to all intents and purposes 'sealed in' and can't be got at with WD40 and the like.

Bearings recently went in the pump on mine, no leaking to mention but the noise it made during operation by the end was like a bag of nails going through an industrial blender, and sure enough once the pump was off there was lots of play in the shaft. I ended up fitting @Skezza's old pump bought on a whim 6 months earlier (Good move on my part as my pump was fine at the time) FWIW mine failed at 134K where-as I believe Skezza's had done around 170k(?) so age has no 'bearing' on life expectancy (See what I did there?)

Perhaps they don't recommend using glue when replacing the gasket but that doesn't necessarily mean the factory didn't glue/bond them in the first time round... Probably makes life eaier on a production line for the robots to just whack the covers on without a loose gasket flapping around, but who knows? Certainly looked original and was far too neat to have been done by hand. RE Elsa, I bought one of the 3xCD sets from Ebay but getting it installed on my Windows 10 OS desktop is like trying to nail jelly to a cieling, gave up in the end

I had my suspicions

I think this was the first time it'd been off TBH but hard to be sure. The gasket was old/OEM and had pretty much chemically bonded with the cover, but meh, all's well that ends well.