Fixing advice from our garage proprietor Steve Rothwell
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF
The first signs of trouble were a slight loss of power, then the next thing the owner of this 2007 VW Golf 2.0 TDI 140 saw in the rear view mirror was copious amounts of grey smoke. At this stage it was quite clear that things had taken a turn for the worse and it was time to stop. Parking up at the side of the road the recovery service was called out and the Golf found its way to the garage of the back of a trailer.
From the oil residue in the exhaust and the given symptoms it didn’t take too long to complete the diagnosis and inform the customer that the turbo seals had failed. This had then allowed the oil being pumped through the turbo to be pushed straight out the exhaust.
I know from experience that it doesn’t take a lot of oil to produce a lot of smoke, and with the amount of oil that was now sitting in the exhaust system not only did the turbo need to be replaced but the exhaust would need a good clean out as well.
The replacement time for the turbo is 2.5 hours, but although not listed an equal amount of time needs to be spent clearing up the escaping oil.
FORD FIESTA
I do sadly often see the odd bodge and cover up job, and this is normally the result of a less than honest owner who either wants to move the motor on to an unsuspecting purchaser or wants to get the motor through an MOT test that it may otherwise not pass. This 2005 Ford Fiesta diesel had just been purchased as a runabout and within a month of ownership the brakes had failed. Driving home from work and needing to brake a little harshly, the new owner felt the pedal push down towards the floor.
Thankfully modern braking systems are split circuit, and after its extended travel the vehicle did stop without incident. The driver did of course not want to continue the journey and got the recovery service to bring the Fiesta along to us.
What I discovered when checking the cause of the issue, is that a very poor brake hose had apparently been taped up. This was, I suspect, to cover the outer section of pipe which had perished, but it was certainly not going to prevent the pipe from failing and was a totally irresponsible move by whoever carried this out.
With the new turbo, new feed and return pipes fitted, along with fresh oil and a new filter, plus with the cleaned exhaust back in place, the Golf was ready to go.
MINI COOPERS
The owner of this 2006 MINI Cooper S 1.6 was not quite sure what needed doing, but they were sure that something was not quite right. Mentioning it didn’t drive the way it used to, and the brakes may
