Dollywobber Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 Well, that was a bit annoying. Stripped out the door latch, with the stripy arms to prove it, only to discover that the spring was fine. Opted for "if it ain't broke," put it back, adjusted two of the rods and bingo! Door behaves perfectly. On the plus side, I now know how the latch looks and operates and it gave me a chance to grease the runners for the window, which now seems a bit quicker to rise. Did forget to put the weather-shield bit of plastic thing back though... Moved on to calipers. Front right is also getting a bit warm, so pulled out the pads, lubed up the pistons - which didn't seem gunked up - and exercised them back and forth a bit. Then moved to left rear. It was in a right state. The pistons are gunked up, the pads are low and the disc is all wobbly. Clearly it's been seizing for some time. Caliper is now removed and I've ordered new discs, pads, two pistons and seals. The other side seems ok. Needless to say, this has left me getting nowhere near curing the heater issue - not a problem today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Caliper rebuild and refitted. Discs and pads will have to wait for another day, as I lack the right tools. Now summoning up the motivation for bleeding the system - turns out it's got ABS which I didn't realised when I started the job! ABS lamp had been removed... (should have been an MOT failure that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Find a willing (or failing that unwilling) assistant to help with the brake bleeding - it's very difficult to bleed the ABS system single handed. You'll also want a pressurised brake bleed kit, but a cheapy one from your local car spares shop will do the job. The good news is that once you've got it working the ABS system is vastly superior to the older braking system (even without the ABS working it's a good deal more powerful). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Thanks Geoff. Not going to have a chance to do this until next week, so I'll add a pressurised bleed kit to the toolkit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 New battery arrived today. Chucked it on and even though it was only at 12.3 volts, it cranked into life. Given it a run to charge it up and we'll see if it can now hold charge for more than a few hours... I still haven't bled the brakes, though everything seems to be working fine. However, with the engine off but ignition on, the pump kicks in after three pumps of the brake pedal and is quite noisy. Runs for a few seconds and shuts off. Light stays on so still need to do a 'blink' test. Does this mean there's still air in the system? I'm not planning on going for any lengthy drives until I'm happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I still haven't bled the brakes, though everything seems to be working fine. However, with the engine off but ignition on, the pump kicks in after three pumps of the brake pedal and is quite noisy. Runs for a few seconds and shuts off. Light stays on so still need to do a 'blink' test. Does this mean there's still air in the system? Well done, everything sounds perfect! 3 pumps is normaly until pump activation. Seriously, the ABS light won't go off until you reach 8mph, there's no way it could tell it was getting a reading from each wheel otherwise, is there The pumps are quite noisy, but with the tiniest amount of air in them they are much noisier, the good news is after a short drive the noise will slowly disappear until its as quiet as it should be. Once again, well done, these systems can be a right royal PITA to bleed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Phew. Sounds alright then. I did keep a very close eye on the level to avoid getting trapped air but only bled the rear caliper itself, hoping that air wouldn't have got in anywhere else. Thanks! I have been up to 60mph (at which point some dozy tourist pulled out in front of me! Good job the brakes work...) and the light is still on, so something is still amiss. I'm not surprised - the bulb for the ABS warning could only have been removed for a reason! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Yes in that case, blink test it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Drat. Pump isn't cutting out now. Guess some bleeding is still in order then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Either that, or you have a small leak at the front-end, or the relay has failed -this last thing is VERY common. The relay is under the passenger seat, replace it now! This is the main cause for the pumps to fail, as they run and run and run.... The only other option is the pressure switch is duff, but I doubt that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks. I will give it a bleed, purely because it's also noisy - reminds me of my LR 90's power steering pump when that had a leak - though thankfully it isn't that loud... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Have a pic. Had an enjoyable laning trip yesterday - not far, but enough to get a feel for the thing off road. Then the pump started kicking in continuously again... Bled the system today, but couldn't seem to get anything out at the pump. Certainly air bubbles elsewhere and the pump is now cutting out as it should - but is still noisy. Should do until I visit a specialist next week, who'll also ask the ABS system why it's putting the light on. So, moved on to other matters. Electric windows. I'm getting power to the left-front window it seems, but no movement, so I guess the motor's at fault. The rears are a different matter however. The fuse was blown. Replacing that got the right rear window working - for a bit. Now it's blown the fuse again. A common fault? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Now it's blown the fuse again. A common fault? Yes, if the window is sticking in its runners (quite common). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Right. More door card stripping to do then! I still reckon manual windows are the best... Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 You can interrogate the ABS system yourself - all you need is a short length of wire to connect two of the contacts under the passenger seat. Full instructions in the tech archive: ABS Diagnostics 1 ABS Diagnostics 2 (the links are to two posts in the same thread) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 Thanks. As I'm heading to a specialist anyway, I'll just let them do it on this occasion. Links filed away for future use though! Weather is entirely against any further work at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 Progress with the electric windows! Stripped the passenger door down and removed the motor. I could hear it trying, but it wasn't going anywhere. So, decided to pull the thing apart and see how it worked, seeing as I thought I'd have to buy a replacement anyway. After spraying a bit of grease around, I managed to free off the bit of the motor that's activated by the magnets (commutator?). Plug it back in and it was spinning around a treat. Next job - the gearbox itself. Again, a bit of spray grease and some gentle persuasion with pliers and that was free. Had some issues getting the whole thing back together again at first, but brute force and ignorance did the trick. Result? A working electric window! Very pleasing. Now plan to do the same with the rears, though I wonder if I've got a short somewhere as it's blowing fuses without me even pressing the buttons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Just found this thread and had a few thoughts. That's a nice straight looking RR you have found, and in a nice colour too. For all the knocking the VM engines get, they did manage a 24 hour race averaging speeds of over 100mph. Can't be all bad eh? Is yours a 2.4 or 2.5? Sounds like you're getting to grips with the lecky window faults. I think they're pretty reliable on the whole, sounds like yours are suffering from lack of use. One thing to check is the area where the loom flexes in the door shut area. Wires can be known to fatigue fracture here. I'll be keen to know how you get on with the heater resistor replacement. I need to do the same job on mine. ABS pump running on is a problem I've known too. Occasionally I can turn the engine off, and the pump just goes on running, so the stuck relay thought sounds a good one. So far I've got around this by unplugging the pump connector in the engine bay for a few minutes, then reconnecting, and all has settled down. With the dash ABS light, I know there can be a few things that'll cause it to stay on. One of these can be the air gap between the sensor and the trigger ring. I believe loose wheel bearings are capable of causing this. For bleeding the ABS I can recommend the Gunsons Eazibleed pressure bleeder. I will also keep you reservoir topped up during the bleeding process. There are a hell of a lot of nipples on the ABS system, so you will use quite a bit of fluid while checking them all. There is quite a complex process for bleeding these systems, you need to de-pressurise the whole system prior to bleeding. This is detailed better than I can explain it in the workshop manuals. I look forward to further updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 Thanks Mickey. It's the 2.5, so goes pretty well. More punch than a Tdi - albeit with more lag apparently. I'll keep this thread updated with progress. Wish it was possible to Edit thread titles! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Got the Rangie back after the brake debacle. New (second hand) pump is nice and quiet and cuts out when it should. However, the ABS light is still on. Computer has been plugged in but reports no faults. Any ideas what next? The ABS system definitely isn't cutting in (which is ok. I can deal with that as long as I know!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Have you done the flash test manually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollywobber Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Not yet. Got the Haynes BOL though, so I'll give it a go. Might have to wait a few days due to other activities. Is nice to have it back though. While the turbo certainly is laggy, I love how quickly it can go without having to rag it. One other 'eccentricity' we've discovered is that the oil breather pipe from the top of the engine runs straight to a catch bottle rather than the air filter. Presume it's pumping too much oil out. Is there a valve there somewhere that's caput or something more sinister? (My 2CV has a faulty breather, so also pumps a lot of oil into the air filter. That's also on the to do list...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.