I am thinking about driving to Northern Italy ( and planning on back again) it's going to be a bit more than 2000 miles - what do you think would be sensible to take as spares for a car with 1.9tdi with 156k miles on it?
If you were going to drive to Italy on holiday what spares would you take?
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foursprungdugtechnique
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Oranoco
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Some bulbs, decent spare wheel, few tools, zip ties, jubilee clips and a credit card and breakdown card if the worst did happen.
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I guess the question is, if something breaks, what can you fix?
If you know your car, you'll have an idea of whats been changed, whats on its way out and whats likely to fail.
Last year we did a trip round europe in a mates bora, we did the ring, various mountain passes including stelvio and about 4000miles.
When we left, we asked ourselves "what can go wrong?". We decided the only two possible failures were clutch and turbo, as everything else had been serviced, renewed or was extremely unlikely to fail. Clutch you can drive around if it starts slipping, so that leaves turbo. We figured if it blew, we'd just block the oil feed line and drive on naturally aspirated.
On the third day, half way up umbrail pass, on the way to the top of stelvio, the turbo let go and dumped two liters of engine oil into the intercooler and exhaust in an impressive cloud of smoke.
So, at the side of the road, half way up the mountain, we blocked off the oil feed line with a screw and some superglue, repiped the inlet to suck directly from the air using a couple of the intercooler pipes and a pair of tights. Then realised we had no engine oil and the level was off the dipstick. Luckily we were with a group of folk, and some passing folks lent us the couple liters of oil we needed to get going again. After a few hours we realised something was pressurising the sump and had blown a liter of engine oil out the breather all over the engine bay. Eventually figured out the exhaust was pressurising the sump thru the oil return on the turbo, so we removed that and superglued another bolt over the oil return. Drove the rest of the trip with a naturally aspirated derv which had about 40hp and exhaust pouring out of the turbo compressor housing, but no other problems
If you know your car, you'll have an idea of whats been changed, whats on its way out and whats likely to fail.
Last year we did a trip round europe in a mates bora, we did the ring, various mountain passes including stelvio and about 4000miles.
When we left, we asked ourselves "what can go wrong?". We decided the only two possible failures were clutch and turbo, as everything else had been serviced, renewed or was extremely unlikely to fail. Clutch you can drive around if it starts slipping, so that leaves turbo. We figured if it blew, we'd just block the oil feed line and drive on naturally aspirated.
On the third day, half way up umbrail pass, on the way to the top of stelvio, the turbo let go and dumped two liters of engine oil into the intercooler and exhaust in an impressive cloud of smoke.
So, at the side of the road, half way up the mountain, we blocked off the oil feed line with a screw and some superglue, repiped the inlet to suck directly from the air using a couple of the intercooler pipes and a pair of tights. Then realised we had no engine oil and the level was off the dipstick. Luckily we were with a group of folk, and some passing folks lent us the couple liters of oil we needed to get going again. After a few hours we realised something was pressurising the sump and had blown a liter of engine oil out the breather all over the engine bay. Eventually figured out the exhaust was pressurising the sump thru the oil return on the turbo, so we removed that and superglued another bolt over the oil return. Drove the rest of the trip with a naturally aspirated derv which had about 40hp and exhaust pouring out of the turbo compressor housing, but no other problems
I think my key anxiety is turbo failure - I was kind of thinking about getting a replacement one for the day the thing lets go anyway and thought I might buy it now and take it along with tools. Apart from that I guess a catastrophic gearbox failure would be the other nightmare option... I hauled out he spare wheel for the first time in two years to discover a brand new unused tyre on it which must say something about how it's been looked after over the years.
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I would've said that i wouldnt even worry about the tranny, as its one of those "so unlikely to fail you shouldnt even worry about it" then i noticed its an Auto
A spare turbo might be a good idea. After it failed, we sorta thaught to ourselves "wish we'd have brought a spare turbo" But there were several issues that meant it was probably lucky we didnt. For instance we thaught all the oil had gone down the exhaust, as the car smoked like an old tractor for about 10 miles after setting off again, however there was a LOT in the intercooler. Having the spare turbo, and being in a rush, might have meant we ended up bolting it on and not checking the intercooler. Then driving off and having it run away.
Furthermore, we butchered the oil feed and return lines just to get us off the mountain and to the hotel, so we'd have had to have spares of those to hand in order to fit the new turbo, as fitting the turbo half way up a mountain wouldnt have been fun. There was also some damage to the turbo intake pipe, presumably from bits of high speed compressor wheel being flung at them. Something thats easy to source in the UK if you've got time, less easy to pre-empt in that situation. The other issue is stuff like siezed bolts on the downpipe etc.
What i would say would have been useful, was a blanking plug for the oil supply line out the filter head, as that would have stopped us having to wreck the factory pipe, and would have made the fix a lot quicker and easier. Also having actually looked at the engine and thought out a "turbo-bypass plan" before hand, rather than sort of writing it off as an easy "we can fix that" would have helped.
That said, the remaining 2500miles round europe with about 40hp was horiffic, there were spots of autobahn where we were FLAT out, in the crawler lane, with the speed dropping down thru 40mph and trucks overtaking us. On the flat you could wind it up to 70-80 and it would sit there so long as the road was flat, but any sort of hill and the speed dropped like a stone.
A spare turbo might be a good idea. After it failed, we sorta thaught to ourselves "wish we'd have brought a spare turbo" But there were several issues that meant it was probably lucky we didnt. For instance we thaught all the oil had gone down the exhaust, as the car smoked like an old tractor for about 10 miles after setting off again, however there was a LOT in the intercooler. Having the spare turbo, and being in a rush, might have meant we ended up bolting it on and not checking the intercooler. Then driving off and having it run away.
Furthermore, we butchered the oil feed and return lines just to get us off the mountain and to the hotel, so we'd have had to have spares of those to hand in order to fit the new turbo, as fitting the turbo half way up a mountain wouldnt have been fun. There was also some damage to the turbo intake pipe, presumably from bits of high speed compressor wheel being flung at them. Something thats easy to source in the UK if you've got time, less easy to pre-empt in that situation. The other issue is stuff like siezed bolts on the downpipe etc.
What i would say would have been useful, was a blanking plug for the oil supply line out the filter head, as that would have stopped us having to wreck the factory pipe, and would have made the fix a lot quicker and easier. Also having actually looked at the engine and thought out a "turbo-bypass plan" before hand, rather than sort of writing it off as an easy "we can fix that" would have helped.
That said, the remaining 2500miles round europe with about 40hp was horiffic, there were spots of autobahn where we were FLAT out, in the crawler lane, with the speed dropping down thru 40mph and trucks overtaking us. On the flat you could wind it up to 70-80 and it would sit there so long as the road was flat, but any sort of hill and the speed dropped like a stone.
Did a similar ski run earlier this year, just took tools, gaffer tape,bulbs a litre of oil, AA card. Same kinda miles on my car too no issues at all, would jump in it today and do the same trip.
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Something to bear in mind with breakdown cover. They have a clause in their european cover which says essentially that if recovery costs exceed the value of the car, they'll write it off.
A recovery from italy could quite easily cost more than the book price of a B5, and thus its likely pointless trying to use it to effect a recovery.
A recovery from italy could quite easily cost more than the book price of a B5, and thus its likely pointless trying to use it to effect a recovery.
Thanks Kev, that's kind of what I was thinking of - a get me back of the road sort of repair when the turbo lets go. The auto trans either will or it won't I guess. If it does no quantity of zip ties and tights will get me home..... It's spent much of its early life on motorways - all though I have put 20% of the mileage on in two years which is probably not an uncommon situation with B5s.
If you're even considering a replacement turbo, wouldn't it be easier doing the job here before you go rather than worrying about what if?
Get a transmission gear oil and filter change and renew the brake fluid. Don't want brake fade as your negotiating tight turns descending a steep road in the heat of the day. Renew the wiper blades and degrease the windscreen. Money well spent!
Only other thing, take Allan key, Torx key and splined bits. Don't take up much space, and invaluable combined with a 1/2 ratchet drive.
Make sure you have European breakdown cover and enjoy the road trip.
Get a transmission gear oil and filter change and renew the brake fluid. Don't want brake fade as your negotiating tight turns descending a steep road in the heat of the day. Renew the wiper blades and degrease the windscreen. Money well spent!
Only other thing, take Allan key, Torx key and splined bits. Don't take up much space, and invaluable combined with a 1/2 ratchet drive.
Make sure you have European breakdown cover and enjoy the road trip.
Read the fine print on the cover, some won't cover cars that are over a certain age or mileage. I've drove around Europe with both my 1.8 NA and my 1.9TDi, I just gave my cars a thorough service and paid my local kwik fit a few quid to chuck the cars on the ramps and have a good look around underneath. Only thing I had with me was extra fluid oil,coolant and screen wash. As said above if you suspect something is going to fail then change it preventive maintenance is always the best.
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foursprungdugtechnique
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If you suspect anything is nearly worn out, discs/pads/turbo/gearbox get them sorted before you go. I had a 235,000 mile Audi 90CD 2.0 petrol which I trusted 100%. Would happily take it 1000 mile, Perth-Yeovil and back (repeatedly) and not bother sparing the horses. I had the car for years, changed the oil and filter every 3000 miles never failed an MOT with it.
The more you know about your car, the more I feel you can trust it. The more parts that are fairly new the better too ð
The more you know about your car, the more I feel you can trust it. The more parts that are fairly new the better too ð
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