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8bit's Mk1 Leon Cupra R. Scarlett - as in Johansson...
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Right so Scarlett was at the garage again yesterday to get the alignment and geometry sorted out which ended up mostly fine. Slightly out of spec still at the right rear but with little options back there for adjustment it would cost a few hundred at least to put right so left that as it is. Balanced out the negative camber at the front a bit and got the toe and caster fixed so the steering wheel is finally straight. That was weird driving to work this morning, gotten so used to the wheel being a few degrees off I kept finding myself wanting to correct it!
Anway, to recap, this was the state of play before:
And here's how it looks after:
I've only done my daily morning crawl across town to work so far since getting it back (the garage collected and dropped off my car, that's what I call service!) so can't say much for benefits so far other than the wheel being straight, altho the steering feels reassuringly weighty again like it hadn't since getting the front ARB fitted, so I suspect the tyres are making better contact with the road again.
I also had them change a dead post-cat lambda sensor and a dying thermostat so I'll get it out for a decent thrash this weekend with some logging on to keep an eye on temps and fuelling and see how/if all these things have improved matters.
Anyone in the Aberdeenshire area looking for wheel alignment, go look up Clark Motorsport in Kintore - top blokes, top service and good prices too
Anway, to recap, this was the state of play before:
And here's how it looks after:
I've only done my daily morning crawl across town to work so far since getting it back (the garage collected and dropped off my car, that's what I call service!) so can't say much for benefits so far other than the wheel being straight, altho the steering feels reassuringly weighty again like it hadn't since getting the front ARB fitted, so I suspect the tyres are making better contact with the road again.
I also had them change a dead post-cat lambda sensor and a dying thermostat so I'll get it out for a decent thrash this weekend with some logging on to keep an eye on temps and fuelling and see how/if all these things have improved matters.
Anyone in the Aberdeenshire area looking for wheel alignment, go look up Clark Motorsport in Kintore - top blokes, top service and good prices too
FFS. Another day, another problem. Car has felt a bit lazy and unwilling the last couple of days so I scanned for fault codes and turned up the following:
Typical, as usual the ones I get I can't find on the Rosstech site but a quick Google tells me that's about £190 for the part alone and is a bitch to fit. Not what I need two weeks after the car was in the garage.
Find myself yet again wondering if I should cut my losses with this car, lost count of how many times I've been in this place now and I've only had it 15 months.
Code:
1 Fault Found:
17863 - Exhaust Gas Temp Sensor 1 (G235): Implausible Signal
P1455 - 35-10 - - - IntermittentTypical, as usual the ones I get I can't find on the Rosstech site but a quick Google tells me that's about £190 for the part alone and is a bitch to fit. Not what I need two weeks after the car was in the garage.
Find myself yet again wondering if I should cut my losses with this car, lost count of how many times I've been in this place now and I've only had it 15 months.
Yet more bad news. Car is emitting clouds of blue smoke when coming off boost. Been doing this occasionally for a while, hoped that it was overfuelling caused by the dodgy thermostat washing out the oil in the cylinders. It hadn't done it since that got changed but last night it was back. Looks like turbo seals.
Great.
Great.
Sorry to hear yet more bad news mate. You've been really unlucky with your car, its a shame as they are great cars when running properly.Good luck with however you choose to proceed. I totaly understand you wanting to get rid.
You've been really unlucky with your car, its a shame as they are great cars when running properly.Good luck with however you choose to proceed. I totaly understand you wanting to get rid.Do they do that, sometimes?
I'm stuck between a rock and a hardplace tbh, i can't really afford to change the car, not for anything I'd really like anyway. At the same time tho I can't really afford to keep taking it to the garage. Wish I'd bought that Celica I originally went to see, only had a go in the LCR to satisfy curiosity as it was at the same dealer!
Really sorry to hear Niall, you seem to be really unlucky and it must be so dis-heartning as you care for it so well.
I too agree with RDS, totally understand why you would think of selling up.
I too agree with RDS, totally understand why you would think of selling up.
Really sorry to hear Niall, you seem to be really unlucky and it must be so dis-heartning as you care for it so well.
I too agree with RDS, totally understand why you would think of selling up.
Cheers Kat, yeh it's a bit gutting, particularly when it was only in the garage, what, 3 weeks ago? I really want an RS4 but it'll be another couple of years before I can afford one (still paying off the LCR), if I have to change for something else in the meantime then that'll just delay it further.
If I think of all the money I've spent on garage bills and parts for maintenance just to keep it going I could probably have had it mapped, FMIC and exhaust by now. I know all cars go wrong sometimes but I've only had this 15 months and I've spent probably about £2k just on stuff going wrong.
Had a look round the back when I parked up after work tonight, the rear bumper and the tailgate are covered in little black, oily spots. My girlfriend has just taken it to give her mate a lift home and watching her drive off in it out the window I could clearly see the exhaust fumes were a blue colour, so I guess that must confirm it. If it's not the turbo causing it to burn oil then something else is, and that's bad in any case.
Meh, I'm just thinking out loud now. Going to go do something completely non-car related for a while.
Right, so Scarlett's going in for full diagnostics and checkup on the 6th June to confirm whats wrong, altho I'm certain it's the turbo - it sounds rough on boost (like it's spitting fluid, hard to describe), blue smoke after boost if the car has warmed up and it's consuming oil at about 1L every 10 to 14 days. There's also still the strange whining sound (bit like a police siren) at low revs which seems to rise and fall with engine RPM.
So they're also going to do stuff like oil pressure check, compression test etc. to try and work out why this happened and make sure that it won't happen again if I go ahead and get it fixed but also to see if there are any other nasty surprises waiting. If it's "just" the turbo and whatever killed it can be put right fairly easily/cheaply too then I'm keeping it. If not, or if there are other significant/expensive problems in addition to whatever's wrong right now then Scarlett and I will be parting ways soon.
Fingers crossed...
So they're also going to do stuff like oil pressure check, compression test etc. to try and work out why this happened and make sure that it won't happen again if I go ahead and get it fixed but also to see if there are any other nasty surprises waiting. If it's "just" the turbo and whatever killed it can be put right fairly easily/cheaply too then I'm keeping it. If not, or if there are other significant/expensive problems in addition to whatever's wrong right now then Scarlett and I will be parting ways soon.
Fingers crossed...
OK so today's trip to Clark Motorsport confirmed that the turbo is on its' last legs, or at the very least the hotside oil seals are. I guess it's been pretty apparent for a while now but I've been in denial a little bit because of the potential expense. I'm looking at the thick end of £1k to sort it out, possibly a bit more if the hotside housing is damaged, or the shaft etc.
So where to now. I can't sell the car privately, I'd feel too guilty about it. I could avoid the hefty bill by trading it in but I'd still feel a bit guilty and I don't really want to take on more financial outgoings right now having not long bought a house. Plus there isn't much I really fancy within my price range. Could go for a R32 but I'd be looking at a Mk4 to keep costs down and clean examples are hard to come by round here.
Which leaves me with some thinking to do...
So where to now. I can't sell the car privately, I'd feel too guilty about it. I could avoid the hefty bill by trading it in but I'd still feel a bit guilty and I don't really want to take on more financial outgoings right now having not long bought a house. Plus there isn't much I really fancy within my price range. Could go for a R32 but I'd be looking at a Mk4 to keep costs down and clean examples are hard to come by round here.
Which leaves me with some thinking to do...
Thats really crap news mate, suppose depends what u want from a car really cause a R32 are hell a price to tax and so on, so not really cheaper option.
You could try find a 2nd hand turbo on net they pop up a fair bit.
You could try find a 2nd hand turbo on net they pop up a fair bit.
Cheers mate, yeh the timing sucks (doesn't it always!), we need a new bathroom, new oven, the list goes on and the car was pretty far down it.
I've always liked R32s but yeah the running costs are higher than you'd think with the prices they go for. Inquiring about a relatively cheap, reconditioned K04 I've seen for sale so will see how that plays out against the quote/estimate from the garage in the morning...
I've always liked R32s but yeah the running costs are higher than you'd think with the prices they go for. Inquiring about a relatively cheap, reconditioned K04 I've seen for sale so will see how that plays out against the quote/estimate from the garage in the morning...
Nice car mate best colour for the lcr in my opinion! Shame youve had so much bad luck with it Anyway this link may be of some use to you regarding replacement turbo http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=319531 Hope you get it sorted
Anyway this link may be of some use to you regarding replacement turbo http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=319531 Hope you get it sorted
If trying to keep as cheap as possible buy an old K04-023 and have it rebuilt or see if backdraft have a cheap working one lying around
Straight swap in one day, reseal or send tubby away then sell to recoup costs with minimal downtime, K04-023 always sell easy
Or scope out a 2nd hand BT setup, i did for just over the price of a new K04
You can always fix then re-evaluate keeping afterwards, all cars are swings and roundabouts
Straight swap in one day, reseal or send tubby away then sell to recoup costs with minimal downtime, K04-023 always sell easy
Or scope out a 2nd hand BT setup, i did for just over the price of a new K04
You can always fix then re-evaluate keeping afterwards, all cars are swings and roundabouts
Cheers guys, comments appreciated during bad times as well as good!
Yeah I did see that. If you look at that thread now you'll see one's been sold. On its' way to me now
Did a fair bit of thinking and sums last night. All things considered decided I'd rather keep the car so I've ordered one of those turbos from Bill. They're ex-SEAT Sport, race-spec refurbs from Turbo Dynamics. I was looking at another 200-250 on top of the price of that to have mine refurbed so this way I've got a "spare" turbo I can get refurbed later and/or sell on, as you suggest Ronin.
BT doesn't interest me really, from what I've read you'll always be trading off spool threshold against boost and twisty backroads want response, not outright power. Did consider hybrid but with the new house needing work spare cash is very limited.
So just to get the turbos swapped once it arrives, got my garage lined up for that, plus oil flush, dropped and cleaned sump, pickup, etc., new filters and gaskets. Anything else I should have changed while they're at it?
This really, seriously, better be all the big bills for a long time.
Nice car mate best colour for the lcr in my opinion! Shame youve had so much bad luck with it
Yeah I did see that. If you look at that thread now you'll see one's been sold. On its' way to me now
Did a fair bit of thinking and sums last night. All things considered decided I'd rather keep the car so I've ordered one of those turbos from Bill. They're ex-SEAT Sport, race-spec refurbs from Turbo Dynamics. I was looking at another 200-250 on top of the price of that to have mine refurbed so this way I've got a "spare" turbo I can get refurbed later and/or sell on, as you suggest Ronin.
BT doesn't interest me really, from what I've read you'll always be trading off spool threshold against boost and twisty backroads want response, not outright power. Did consider hybrid but with the new house needing work spare cash is very limited.
So just to get the turbos swapped once it arrives, got my garage lined up for that, plus oil flush, dropped and cleaned sump, pickup, etc., new filters and gaskets. Anything else I should have changed while they're at it?
This really, seriously, better be all the big bills for a long time.
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