MoT time again
 

Well, it's time for the old girl to go in for another MoT. Let's hope she does ok this year. I just went around and did a few obvious things on the weekend, sorted out a rear light cluster earth problem and replaced number plate lamps. I also did the auxiliary belts. I think I put on the previous ones in 2013 5-6 years was a relatively good run. The old ones were pretty cracked and the PAS made quite a squeal at full lock.

Part numbers if it's useful (without air con only)
Gates 6364MC - Alternator
Gates 6375MC - PAS

Had a look underneath and confirmed my suspicions - hole blown right out the arse end of the cat. I've never replaced it and have no reason to doubt that it's the original factory cat and downpipe. Ordered new cat and fitting kit, just hope they arrive before I need to take it to the MoT on Thursday...

Again part numbers if they're useful:
BM90170H - catalytic converter
FK90170B - fitting kit

Flange plates and bolts that link to the downpipe are rusted to absolute buggery. Hopefully the old cat can be cut off and the downpipe saved.

Still on the look out for a solution to leaking heater valve, I might just have to bypass the whole thing for summer if I can't get a valve.

Fingers crossed MoT doesn't throw up anything else...

940 tdi auto 1995
 

good luck with M.O.T.james sure you will sort any problems out

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heater-Co...A/153097832582

Rumour has it that fits and works James, i believe Bob (bob12) knows the exact one if it isn't that one.

Good luck with the MoT as well! :thumbs_up:

Got through the MoT ok in the end thankfully.

Sadly a bit of rigmarole this year because of the hole in the cat, the replacement cat I got (from BM Catalysts) was fine, correct size and fittings but be aware that it's obviously quite cheaply and hastily put together. The bent corners are quite creased and narrowed which is probably quite restrictive. Unfortunately the triangular bracket on the end of the downpipe was too rusty to be saved so it was all strung together for the MoT and I've just been back today and had a new BM Catalysts downpipe installed as well. The downpipe also isn't great and actually narrows by about 5mm diameter at the point where the turbo flange is welded on. All in all the system is probably a bit more restrictive now which is a shame considering I've got a stainless Jetex cat back...

Downpipe + cat cost me £120 all in plus about that again for fitting across two sessions.

Tyres are down to legal limit and on inspection we found them to actually be deteriorating quite a lot, cracking inside the tread and small bulges in the side walls. My advice - don't by Dunlop Sport Blue Response! They were fitted August 2014 and have done about 30,500 miles in that time. I'll definitely be looking at Conti/Goodyear/Pirelli instead next time.

I'm going to order some heater valves on eBay and see how I get on - I'll make a post about it, but maybe when it's a little warmer...

Thanks!

Dunlop and Goodyear are out of the same stable James so i wouldn't bother with Dunlop, Conti - be very careful, they're a popular tyre and there are a lot of fakes out there! Not so much these days but when i found i had a pair of fake Contis on my car (bought secondhand from ebay) and mentioned it to a friend, i discovered the firm he worked for were having to re-tyre their whole fleet because every one of their vehicles had fake Contis on, from the factory no less! :err: :eek:

They were lorry tractor units as well so that's a lot of tyres per vehicle!

Pirelli in a lot of ways have fallen from favour with the general buying public which means there are fewer fakes around, i've always found them to be a good tyre but i've also found that regional variations because of the road surfaces used have changed peoples perceptions of them.

However, back to the Goodyears. There was a thread last year about them cracking up and it turns out they should be guaranteed for 5 years - worth digging out your receipt and maybe invoking the guarantee. I'll try and find that thread and post a link to it, the OP of that thread did in fact get his money back from the supplier - no explanation though so we never found out why they had cracked up!

Also consider Falken Ziex ZE-914 Ecorun tyres for your beast, not the cheapest but a very good tyre. I've had a set for about 5 years now and no signs of cracking, still perform well too.

Good news on the MoT, i suspect the B&M Catalyst exhaust bits were in fact "Euroflo" branded - good but cheap and sometimes need fettling to fit. Do the job for not much wallet pain! ;) :D

James .... not sure about the heater valve for the Golf Cabriolet etc, but it is said the one for a Golf Mk1 does the job. I haven't done it myself, but someone on here or maybe another Forum has and posted a detailed 'how to guide'. I have it somewhere, and will let you have details when I locate it. It didn't look outrageously difficult but you do have to do a little adaptation. Since then I have also heard that another valve is a useful alternative and I will try and look that up. Bob

If your car is the 1994 Turbo in your profile then it may have a plastic heater valve hidden under the distributor and HT leads rather than the metal one in the footwell which is harder to obtain and for which some have substituted a mk1 Golf heater valve. I think it depends whether the car has a/c or not which type of valve is fitted. I think both types are available (at a price) from Skandix.

If it's non A/C, the heater valve is in the cabin, just to the left and above the left foot in a normal driving position.

The one under the bonnet near the dizzy area is the vacuum operated one for the A/C equipped cars - won't get soggy carpets with that one and they are freely available for not a lot on ebay, nowhere near Skandix prices.

I think you will find that the Skandix one for non-ac cars is only for left hand cars as the valves are handed. Bob.

It’s a shame you replaced the original down pipe if it was in good condition, you can get new 3 piece flanges to go on them. The new one will most likely be rubbish and not last anywhere near as long as the original has. I have left my original downpipe in the garden for about 16 months and it still seems in the same condition it did when it came off the car (light surface rust in spots and still solid).

You could have priced up a new downpipe in stainless from a company that makes stainless exhausts, it only took me a couple of hours to cut and Tig weld a 3” downpipe in stainless for my 940 and I only have a little experience building exhausts. You can also get stainless cats too, I have a 3” 200 cell sports cat on mine.