[StephenTazz]

Okay, we've all been there - what was your first car?

To cut a long story short, we let our eldest loose in the car - a 2002 Seat Leon 1.6 16V (not the GTI, mercifully) - after he passed his test. It's our own fault, but a week last Friday at about 10.30pm I got a mayday call - the car has broken down...

"Have you been ragging it?" I asked when I eventually turned up - the engine still glowing red hot.

"No" came the reply...

Anyway the front Lambda sensor (the expensive one) was fried, the inlet manifold, throttle body and air cleaner caked in oil (new MAP sensor required) and the downpipe was in two halves.

Cleaned out the throttle body and reset the basic settings, cleaned out the air cleaner and replaced the air filter. Luckily I had recently changed the cambelt and tensioners (and it's still spot on), but still the car has a lumpy tickover and won't start when it is hot - no faults are logged in the OBD...

I'm wondering, am I faced with 16 burnt out/bent valves (although the compressions are high and even)?

Not to mention the cracked seat frame I've just welded up, the half worn month old front tyres and the metal on metal front pads (discs and pads fitted last November)...

Given the evidence, I think our car is a wreck...

Pimp my ride? - in your dreams No. 1 son...

 

[ahay!]

Knowing your propensity for technical posts. I sat back, clicked the thread, and prepared myself for a detailed thread on how new drivers sit to close to the wheel, and consequently ride the clutch. Leading to premature clutch death etc etc.

Once I realised the thread was about Seat (as in say-at), rather than seat (as in something to sit on), the scales fell from my eyes, and all became clear.


However having read the post again. I see now that it is about sitting to close to the wheel Y: In this case No 1 son sitting way to close to the wheel. #

I suggest he sits in the back from now on

 

[muddyhell]

He'll learn..daughter has wrote off her Polo.....heavy foot at a junction and poor eyesight!!I:

after payout and excess..and paying off insurance she got about £18 in her pocket..not even enough for some new walking shoes!!LOL

 

[StephenTazz]

He'll learn..daughter has wrote off her Polo.....heavy foot at a junction and poor eyesight!!I:

I forgot to mention the reshaped front bumper, the dent in the sill (and the slightly bent rear beam - "Dad, I think the tracking is out") which mysteriously appeared one day...

I don't know which is worse, No 1 Son at the wheel or as a back seat driver :jd

I had toyed with buying another car, but a £300 Golf would be too good for him, and it's a shame the Seat isn't ten years old - it would be worth more I:

 

[StephenTazz]

Out came the dart board, again - still no faults logged on the OBD - and some googling - I even bought a Golf MK4 Haynes manual R:...

Next thing to try was the EGR valve - again caked in oil and gummed up solid. So, on went a new EGR valve today...

Guess what, the car runs sweeter than ever:wzd...

Apparantly the Marelli engine ECU is a bit hit and miss for logging faults, so for anyone in the same predicament Detective Steve reckons this is the chain of events...

Engine management light comes on two weeks beforehand - fault logged as EGR valve - fault erases and does not come back...

Car difficult to start from cold (sometimes) - service light comes on (last serviced in Feb 09, 10K miles ago :jd ) - so, it needs a service, that's cool :ILU:

Then the breakdown - the RAC says it's an ignition fault - or possibly an ECU...

Recharge flat battery - engine management light is on - stored fault now linear (broadband) lambda sensor short circuit to battery positive - the front lambda is switched by the ECU - is it the sensor or the ECU at fault?

It was at this point the dart board made it's first appearance...

Meanwhile, I've been doing the school runs in the GTI and making up the 2-3 hours lost daily after hours on an MGB rebuild (that's another story).

To cut a long story short the oil content in the exhaust and the fractured downpipe poisoned the front lambda sensor throwing the ECU into limp home mode - the caked throttle body, MAP sensor and EGR were just too much to cope with...

Now fully serviced, back on the road and £400 poorer (that's just for the parts), we're giving No.1 Son a second chance - are we mad?

 

[StephenTazz]

It's happened again - just like before (fault code P1183 Linear Lambda short to battery +) - except lots of new parts - oil is down though, considering I changed it last Saturday (Jamie? :no - have you been ragging it again - is the new Lambda poisoned)..

Have just read a few reports that there could be a bad earth on the scuttle panel - will try that before I send the ECU (Marelli 4MV) away for checking is the Lambda tracking back to ECU because of bad earth?...

Blanked off the new EGR valve with a piece of card - at least it starts now and doesn't sound like the exhaust is blowing. Is it switching = ECU / bad earth?

At least the engine management and EPC light are on this time.

 

[StephenTazz]

The latest is that this ECU cannot be checked - although I have seen reconditioned ones listed on the internet for £245 + VAT :dunno:

I checked all the earths in the engine bay - the one on the scuttle panel was finger tight and corroded - cleaned off the rusty eye connectors - still no joy...

Engine power is cut when the footbrake is applied - this is triggered from the O/S/F ABS speed sensor, which shares the same earth point (why no ABS light then?).

Apparantly if the air conditioning is on as well, bad earths can cause the ECU to default to limp home mode - if the front Linear Lambda sensor circuit can't earth properly then the circuit tracks back to positive as the ECU modulates it's wave form - that's my theory, anyway...

Still, the EGR is not switching so I'm left with little option - reset the basic settings and try another EGR valve (there is a chance that the new one could be faulty, after all)...

If that fails then I see no alternative - a new ECU (ouch)...

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[StephenTazz]

The latest - I appear to have been supplied the wrong EGR valve (the right one according to Pierburg's listing, but no one elses)...

Collecting the other one tomorrow...

 

[StephenTazz]

Well a big thanks to Euro Car Parts for swopping the Pierburg EGR valve (for a spurious one), today - new one is on the car now...

... and all is well,; the EPC light has gone out, and the tickover is sweet :mw.

I've also changed the battery for one of my favourite Yuasa deep cycle ones as a precaution (the old one has been run flat so many times in the last month from trying to start the car, among other things).

Also, I have an EGR blanking plate coming from VW for tomorrow to isolate the non-gen EGR valve, which should richen up the mixture slightly at part throttle (it is a bit gutless on the hills, but then we did come out of a diesel Touran into this car)...

All that is left is to erase the fault memory, and update the basic settings after the blanking plate has been fitted...

... and wait for the saga to start all over again :gl.

 

[golddust]

Well we've all had cars that were probably Friday afternoon on the production line.

Just my opinion but while it's running might be worth popping along to look at trade-ins.... First car a 1.6 16v? Insurance must be high mustn't it?

 

[StephenTazz]

Well we've all had cars that were probably Friday afternoon on the production line.

Just my opinion but while it's running might be worth popping along to look at trade-ins.... First car a 1.6 16v? Insurance must be high mustn't it?

Believe me, it passed the trade-in stage within weeks of him taking it on, but that car ran faultlessly in the two years we had it.

It's a complex story, my Wife gave up child minding, and was looking for a job. She then got a job, but couldn't find a child minder, so No.1 son had been doing the school runs and after school care for his brother and sister, in return for use of the car...

The kids hated it by-the-way (said he was too fast), but loved it when I ended up doing it in the GTI T:.

He's a big lad (6'6", size 16 feet, 25+ stone), and no it's not his car - his insurance though, which is just as well because he wrote it off (let's hope so) last Friday night - after I just put another new set of tyres on it...

By the way to put him on our insurance would have been an extra £1500 - his insurance is £2200 fully comp, and it will remain so for quite sometime...

He wants a Lexus IS200 - in your dreams, son - looks like he'll be mopping up all the old 1.4 Nissan Sunny's for the foreseeable future (if that don't teach him, nothing will)...

Oh, and that spurious EGR valve Eurocar Parts sold me (they won't credit the wrong one they supplied me because I threw the box away) kept bringing the light back on - fault EGR valve / mixture too lean (car ran fine though, but never did get round to trying that blanking plate I bought from VW).

Last word - he's been given a Ford Ka loan car - he's virtually sitting in the back seat, and can't lift his foot off the clutch pedal. He took his Mum out for a spin early this evening...

Quote of the day - "you used to do night rallies together, and it never scared her"...

pssssst - it did LOL:...

 

[StephenTazz]

Not content with recking his Mum's car, I come home from a weekend away, to find my GTI has been moved - get in it to go to work and find it's chuffing it's head off...

No compression at all on No 1 cylinder and clouds of blue smoke...

Basically my car was nicked and ragged...

Who wants a three cylinder Golf GTI?

 

[BOARD PAUL]

I think its the son you should be trying to get rid of not the Golf!

 

[StephenTazz]

I think its the son you should be trying to get rid of not the Golf!

LOL - he's looking for a place, right now!

But, he's probably done us a favour, in an abstract kind of way...

this...

plus...

this...

equals a sizeable deposit for...

this - a Leon Emocion...

... which is about £2K cheaper than the equivalent Golf and £3K cheaper than the equivalent A3...

But in 3 years time I reckon it'll be worth only a grand less than the other two.

Only a week to go before the £4K Scrappage deal expires - www.seat.co.uk ...