Hi all, thought it was about time to add Velle (how original - I hear you say) to the forum after purchasing her back in June last year (2009).
The reason why we purchased Velle was purely to transport the troops - aka - the kids + dog. At the time we had mondeo estate, 3 kids but needed something bigger as the wife had another bun in the oven . And after having a Sharan for year I thought it would be best to get something bigger and decided to look at T4's, as budget was limited (very limited!).
Anyhow, after a few months on the look on the World Wide Web we found this one in Southampton:
1993 2.5i Petrol (AAF) Automatic LWB (124K on the clock)
Apparently Velle had been standing for over 12 months (comes with MOT - which passed in May but had only covered 3K miles in the last 2 years - according to old MOT's), started every other month etc but suffered from a bladder problem - leaking water . At the time, I knew that if you filled her up with water, from the expansion tank, she would lose it within 2/3 of running. Also, at the time when we went to see Velle I couldn't see where the water was leaking from.
So, I decided to take a gamble and buy her for a set price of £530 A:A: . Arranged a company from Shiply.com to come and pick her up and drop off at my house (50 odd miles) for £54.00 (the guy even came from Slough - how on earth did he make any money on that job??).
Velle arriving at her new home
After a quick investigation on the water leak:
And removal of engine belly pan noticed that the water was leaking from the engine flange:
Crack either side of fixing holes:
After a quick visit to GSF, this broke my bank - £5.00 odd for water flange and rubbers:
New Flange:
Brilliant, I thought. Water leak had stopped, fill her up with water & coolant and turn her on. See how she goes........well, whilst running her for about 2 mins, I turned the heater on and noticed that water was still leaking out and it was coming from the back of the engine . Turned out to be the front heater matrix.....
And yes, it’s located behind the dash board:
You will notice as well that I took the carpet out as this got socked from leaking coolant, but it gave me the opportunity to clean the Velle inside.....(previous owner smoked and used the Velle as work van (paint and decorator) - clean it was not!):
Jet washed the carpets:
Cleaned the dash:
Should have sprayed the dash but decided to keep it the same colour and try and restore it by using a leather restoring product.
Cleaned the seats:
From:
To:
Washing powder, warm water, nail brush, elbow grease and VAX (but ours is a Hoover).
This is about 2 weeks after owning Velle and we still have not got her on the road, but it doesn't matter as the new arrival is not due till August (2009), he says......
Will add some more history tomorrow
The reason why we purchased Velle was purely to transport the troops - aka - the kids + dog. At the time we had mondeo estate, 3 kids but needed something bigger as the wife had another bun in the oven . And after having a Sharan for year I thought it would be best to get something bigger and decided to look at T4's, as budget was limited (very limited!).
Anyhow, after a few months on the look on the World Wide Web we found this one in Southampton:
1993 2.5i Petrol (AAF) Automatic LWB (124K on the clock)
Apparently Velle had been standing for over 12 months (comes with MOT - which passed in May but had only covered 3K miles in the last 2 years - according to old MOT's), started every other month etc but suffered from a bladder problem - leaking water . At the time, I knew that if you filled her up with water, from the expansion tank, she would lose it within 2/3 of running. Also, at the time when we went to see Velle I couldn't see where the water was leaking from.
So, I decided to take a gamble and buy her for a set price of £530 A:A: . Arranged a company from Shiply.com to come and pick her up and drop off at my house (50 odd miles) for £54.00 (the guy even came from Slough - how on earth did he make any money on that job??).
Velle arriving at her new home
After a quick investigation on the water leak:
And removal of engine belly pan noticed that the water was leaking from the engine flange:
Crack either side of fixing holes:
After a quick visit to GSF, this broke my bank - £5.00 odd for water flange and rubbers:
New Flange:
Brilliant, I thought. Water leak had stopped, fill her up with water & coolant and turn her on. See how she goes........well, whilst running her for about 2 mins, I turned the heater on and noticed that water was still leaking out and it was coming from the back of the engine . Turned out to be the front heater matrix.....
And yes, it’s located behind the dash board:
You will notice as well that I took the carpet out as this got socked from leaking coolant, but it gave me the opportunity to clean the Velle inside.....(previous owner smoked and used the Velle as work van (paint and decorator) - clean it was not!):
Jet washed the carpets:
Cleaned the dash:
Should have sprayed the dash but decided to keep it the same colour and try and restore it by using a leather restoring product.
Cleaned the seats:
From:
To:
Washing powder, warm water, nail brush, elbow grease and VAX (but ours is a Hoover).
This is about 2 weeks after owning Velle and we still have not got her on the road, but it doesn't matter as the new arrival is not due till August (2009), he says......
Will add some more history tomorrow