Bodge's Super Special Service Weekend!

[Bodge]

OK my hands and forearms might be grubby, scratched and bleeding, but I had a pretty productive weekend on the Skroda!

-New starter motor fitted (Bosch part from dealer £110+vat).

-Transmission fluid changed (VW stuff, 75W90 - G60 £8.50ish for 2 litres).

-Throttle body cleaned due to the old 17705 popping up again last weekend (after over a year since the last time the code popped up and it got cleaned).

-Custom breather system installed (nightmare!), with catch can.

Starter out:

Old versus new: (The old one was sticking and getting pretty lazy. The solenoid looked like a far better design on the new part, with improved sealing.)

Fitted:

Transmission draining, with filler plug removed too. 17mm male hex socket was used on a footlong breaker bar, and both filler and drain came out easily. I'm guessing it didn't totally drain because I only managed to fit 1.8litres in it. I filled it from above, using a funnel and a length of hose.

Sneaked this shot of the inlet manifold when I had the TB off for a good clean. Just wanted to see how much oil had got in there.

New crankcase breather tube fitted, with new 0-ring and clip. Bit of a sod to get at, but the hardest part was pushing the new tube and o-ring down into the outlet far enough that the clip would engage. Flouro-lined hose also fitted.

New vacuum hose for breather system also installed. This hose runs to the one-way valve, which I've repositioned.

New system installed. Including catch can. Note that I've relocated the vacuum feed and one-way valve downstream of the CC, to insure a one-way flow throught the can at all times. Most people forget this part, so when they lift off the throttle the vacuum feed could suck oil out of the CC into the inlet manifold. I also replaced the PCV mounted on the turbo intake hose, often called the 'puck valve' by the yanks.

Catch can with homemade bracket and stainless fixings:

Close-up of vacuum hose connecting to new one-way valve:

Old breather system:

Since doing all this work I've noticed a dead flat constant idle speed. There was always a slight flutter before. The starter has made a huge difference, and is quiet and efficient/quick to start the engine now. I've driven 230 miles since doing all this wrok and it's still all perfect so I'm happy!

I'll probably refine the breather hoses a bit in the future, as I feel I could have routed the vacuum line a bit better (spin it around 180 degrees), but I was losing patience and sunlight so put it in the most practical place at the time. It doesn't rub on the bonnet or cause any problems though, so no hurry. I ran out of new stainless jubilee clips, so thats why you can spot a couple of old slightly rusty ones in the pictures!

Things I'd note for the future are don't underestimate how bloody stiff silicone hose is!! It was a bit of a mother to try and shape around things. Also, you'll need more jubilee clips than you think! I used a whole box!

All in all I'm happy to have finally ticked a few things off the list that I've been meaning to do for months! Hope this helps others wanting to do the same jobs

Edited 6 March, 2010 by Bodge

[Babs]

Tidy

[billy2981]

[vRShafz]

always a pleasure to read your threads Bodge, especially the pictures, as it gives me more confidence to work on my own car

[Silver Bullet]

Very impressive work ,

I like how you have relocated the hoses Bodge.

I regreased my starter motor about 3 months ago, but with all this cold weather its started growling again on start

up when its on or below 5 deg C, bloody annoying.

[chicken_eyebrow]

Well done mate. I really must change my starter motor but can't face paying over £100 just to make it stop making a noise in the mornings! Maybe if I see a nearly new one come up cheap on ebay... :yes:

[karlbar2k]

I like the relocation of the Vac line as well, really is the best way if you are fitting a catch can as otherwise its pointless

[Guest westallc]

Well done mate. I really must change my starter motor but can't face paying over £100 just to make it stop making a noise in the mornings! Maybe if I see a nearly new one come up cheap on ebay... :yes:

i got one if you want it buddy

p.s great write up will drop mine off at the weekend for you lol

[SideshowBob]

Nice write-up Bodge, you've been busy eh

I've only recently started noticing people mentioning the breather/catch can setups...what are the problems with the standard system? Presumably it's the usual trait of oil building up in various places within the inlet tract?

I intend to pull some of the breather hoses when I get chance (and when I can figure out which ones they are) to check for oil buildup especially in the intercooler where others here have mentioned as a common prob. I don't think I will do the catch can mod though purely because I do a few miles and would probably forget to drain it. I did a great breather setup on my Buell (a motorbike for those at the back) which is a 1200cc air cooled v-twin. It was quite a 'breathy' engine what with two pistons rising and descending close together, with resultant constant variance in crankcase volume and pressure, and the breather used to help a lot with smooth running. It was surprising how much oil that catchcan used to get. When it had filled up and therefore blocked the breather filter it would really struggle to even just turn the motor over...

Which reminds me, do you have a breather filter somewhere in the setup or does it not need one?

[Guest westallc]

i think the catch tank mod is a must on these cars firstly all the standard hoses perish and brake causing running issues and secondly take of your inlet pipe and see how much oil is in there loads of the bloody stuff. this is slved by the catch tank and you then have a nice clean inlet intercooler throttle body etc.

wich in the long run will save the turbo etc from premature failure imo

im sure all the people have done the mod will agree with me on this one it is a must

[RobClubley]

Nice job. Might have to copy, remove another of the stock pipes

This was what my pipes looked like when I removed them:

[SideshowBob]

Ok consider me convinced. How long does it take roughly before the catch tank needs emptying?

Does anyone know where I can find a how-to guide?

[Bodge]

Cheers for all the nice comments guys It's nice to get some positive feedback after everyone else moaned at me the whole weekend for spending too much time fiddling with the car!

I must admit the starter motor purchase was a hard one! But well worth it now, as I'm no longer embarrassed every time I start the car, and I'm not paranoid about the slow starter packing up completely.

As Westallc explained, and Rob showed, the breather system is weak spot on the engine. I've had running problems before with two of the breather hoses degrading and leaking, and I was beginning to get fed up of the amount of oil running throught the intake system. The oil coats sensors, clogs valves, reduces IC efficiency and messes with the throttle body so reducing it can only be a good thing. And as Westallc said, it's not the best for the turbo either. It was worrying to see the big chunks of dried up black goo in the breather system, that could easily make their way into the compressor. I wanted to replace the whole breather system partly for peace of mind, in that now I know that there are zero leaks (I've always suspected that there was a small leak somewhere causing a slightly unstable idle), and I've done something to try and keep the intake air as oil free as possbile.

Back to Robs photos, I wish I'd have got some now! The crankcase breather tube was literally packed with hard sticky deposits (I thought I could scratch some out with my finger but it didnt budge), which were reducing the flow rate through it. Not good for crankcase pressure, which means not good for the turbo. The vacuum line from the one-way valve to the intake manifold didn't look too bad, just oily as you'd expect. But the rocker cover breather and plastic s-tube were full of the creamy mess that Rob shows. Then when i removed the PCV from the turbo intake hose, oil actually dripped out of it! I wasn't happy about that! The exact same thing happened when I removed the throttle body, oil ran down the back of it. Not impressed!

Also to SideshowBob's question about a filter, you don't have one on this setup. A few reasons why you can't vent to atmosphere. One being that the ECU expects to see an amount of breathed air entering the system after the MAF, and if this air is missing, it may throw up an error code. The other, more important reason for feeding the breather back into the intake (and having the vaccum line) is that this breather system tries to operate in a constant vacuum, to improve it's ability to keep crankcase pressures down. When you're booting it there will be a negative pressure in the turbo intake hose, so the vapours will be sucked out that way. But then when you lift off, particularily at high revs, the vacuum line will come into play and draw the vapours that way. So an atmospheric system can't do this, and will be less effective at drawing those vapours out.

P.S. Westallc feel free to drop off your car mate! But you'll have to leave that high flow exhaust manifold with me!!

[Bodge]

Ok consider me convinced. How long does it take roughly before the catch tank needs emptying?

Does anyone know where I can find a how-to guide?

I'll let you know about the emptying thing!

Rob and Bowders have both done write-ups on their catch can installs I think, but if you can't find them try looking on vwvortex or ukmkivs forums for tips.

There's not much to it really. Just a case of getting all the rights parts together.

I put all the part numbers for the pipes and valves in the part numbers sticky a while back.

[Guest westallc]

what size is the hose that goes onto the inlet manni with 1 way valve???

going to replace mine

looking at pic its 19mm id to ??? to connect to manni

cheers clive

p.s could younot block the vacuum hose of at the inlet manni and not have it????

p.s.s whats the part number for the pipe out of the crank buddy please

Edited 23 February, 2010 by westallc

[tsp]

Nice one Bodge, looking good mate.

How much of a **** is it fitting that catch can, took me bloody ages

[Bodge]

what size is the hose that goes onto the inlet manni with 1 way valve???

p.s could younot block the vacuum hose of at the inlet manni and not have it????

p.s.s whats the part number for the pipe out of the crank buddy please

The hose I used is 9.5mm (3/8"). The actual hose has one end slightly bigger than the other, so this hose was a half way house between the two so it fitted at both ends! I think the valve was about 11-12mm and the barb on the manifold was about 8-9mm. Anyway, 9.5mm works a treat.

You could block off the vacuum feed, but the system wouldn't draw the crankcase vapours out as effectively on the over-run (where the throttle is closed but the revs are still high). It made sense to me so I kept it in!

Crankcase breather tube (plastic L-shape tube) - 06A103 213 F - £18.76

Retaining spring clip - 037 121 142 A - 53p

O-ring - N 904 673 01 - £3.03

Breather one-way valve (small one that sits in the rubber T-Piece) - 035 103 245 A - £5.77

Breather PCV (big black valve that sits in the turbo inlet hose) - 06A 129 101 D - £20.31

All prices + vat

Hope that helps mate

[Bodge]

Nice one Bodge, looking good mate.

How much of a **** is it fitting that catch can, took me bloody ages

Cheers buddy!

I had the CC bracket made up in advance, so that slotted in easily, but yeah the hoses were stiffer than I had imagined so connecting it all up wasn't so easy!

My problem is I love taking things apart and I don't know when to stop!!

[Guest westallc]

The hose I used is 9.5mm (3/8"). The actual hose has one end slightly bigger than the other, so this hose was a half way house between the two so it fitted at both ends! I think the valve was about 11-12mm and the barb on the manifold was about 8-9mm. Anyway, 9.5mm works a treat.

You could block off the vacuum feed, but the system wouldn't draw the crankcase vapours out as effectively on the over-run (where the throttle is closed but the revs are still high). It made sense to me so I kept it in!

Crankcase breather tube (plastic L-shape tube) - 06A103 213 F - £18.76

Retaining spring clip - 037 121 142 A - 53p

O-ring - N 904 673 01 - £3.03

Breather one-way valve (small one that sits in the rubber T-Piece) - 035 103 245 A - £5.77

Breather PCV (big black valve that sits in the turbo inlet hose) - 06A 129 101 D - £20.31

All prices + vat

Hope that helps mate

thanks buddy will do this on the new car when fitting the new manni etc etc

will pop over skoda tomoz well worth keeping on top of the breather system really does make complete sense will see what it does if i block off the manni part im sure it wont do that much if im honest

what are your thoughts could cause issues???

cheers

Edited 23 February, 2010 by westallc

[Bowders1]

I'll let you know about the emptying thing!

Rob and Bowders have both done write-ups on their catch can installs I think, but if you can't find them try looking on vwvortex or ukmkivs forums for tips.

There's not much to it really. Just a case of getting all the rights parts together.

I put all the part numbers for the pipes and valves in the part numbers sticky a while back.

Yes here was my right up on the OCC if people are interested.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/141132-occ-installation/

may copy the breather set up Bodge as part of the seconadary air system and N249 removal..

[Bodge]

OK I've made a few changes in the last couple of weeks. Mainly that the suction pump system has been removed, and the vacuum feed that I originally relocated has now just been totally removed.

I've also just given the rocker cover a clean and drained the catch can, so here are the results:

This is how much oil/water/fuel stinky mixture that came out! It had the viscosity and colour of a malt wiskey, but the smell of oily petrol. This is how much came out after 400 miles and 2 weeks, looks like about 30ml to me. So I'll be draining mine probably once a month at that rate.

I'm glad that crap isn't going through my turbo and intake anymore!

Next on the list is N249 and vacuum reservoir removal. Then SAI system and N112 removal. My secondary air pump seems to have stopped working anyway, no error codes off it but it never comes on anymore. The system also comes up as "FAIL" in the rediness test that my diagnostics equipment uses. So if it's not working it gives me a good excuse to pull it out!

I also want a red rocker cover and some bolt down coilpacks next! :p

[RobClubley]

Okay - to the best of my knowledge this diagram is accurate for the standard setup of all the various AUQ 1.8t systems.

I've been tinkering with it all week to try and make sense of everything on my head!

[Bodge]

Awesome! That's spot on Rob

*saves image as......*

My pink bit is just one hose now.

[Bowders1]

Just empted my OCC after 2 months since last go.

surprised at how much fluid was caught.

I do small journeys so in the cold weather we have had, not surprising I guess.

[Bowders1]

My pink bit is just one hose now.

Hmm, Think I would keep that quite