Discussion
Bought this little Golf as a runabout off a friend of mine.
I've sort of treated it as a bit of project as its needed some money spending.
I did buy it at trade price though, so that has helped.
Very un-PH car, but it is just a runabout to do the duties i'd not want my M2 doing.
So here it is. 2014 Golf 1.6TDI Bluemotion. A full Bluemotion car is a bit of a rarity. I dont think they were a thing for long. It benefits from a heady 110BHP engine, instead of the usual 90 or 105BHP engine, and gets a 6 speed box instead of five. Some aerodynamic enhancements (flatter grill, small boot spoiler) and would have run low resistence tyres when new. Speaking of tyres, wheels were 15 inch, not the standard 16 inch, which look a bit weedy.
I've sort of treated it as a bit of project as its needed some money spending.
I did buy it at trade price though, so that has helped.
Very un-PH car, but it is just a runabout to do the duties i'd not want my M2 doing.
So here it is. 2014 Golf 1.6TDI Bluemotion. A full Bluemotion car is a bit of a rarity. I dont think they were a thing for long. It benefits from a heady 110BHP engine, instead of the usual 90 or 105BHP engine, and gets a 6 speed box instead of five. Some aerodynamic enhancements (flatter grill, small boot spoiler) and would have run low resistence tyres when new. Speaking of tyres, wheels were 15 inch, not the standard 16 inch, which look a bit weedy.
I bought the car aware of some of the issues, but others appeared over time unfortunately.
This was the initial known list -
Drivers seat bolster worn through. Remaining seats "tatty" - previously owned by a surveyor so lots of stuff chucked in it.
Heater matrix blocked - common problem.
Due a full service - running amazingly well though, but ready for a service.
Drivers door mirror cracked. LED indicator in mirror broken.
Steering wheel badly worn.
Ding in rear wheel arch - in a bad place to get paintless dent removal done.
Rear bumper scruffy.
Needed MOT'd
This was the initial known list -
Drivers seat bolster worn through. Remaining seats "tatty" - previously owned by a surveyor so lots of stuff chucked in it.
Heater matrix blocked - common problem.
Due a full service - running amazingly well though, but ready for a service.
Drivers door mirror cracked. LED indicator in mirror broken.
Steering wheel badly worn.
Ding in rear wheel arch - in a bad place to get paintless dent removal done.
Rear bumper scruffy.
Needed MOT'd
Heater matrix is an expensive fix.
The genuine part is about £300 quid but to do it properly you need to properly flush the system which takes a long time, otherwise the silica will potentially block the new matrix again.
I had my Golf done by a VW specialist I always use and they had it for over a day and it had to go back for a 2nd flush a couple weeks later as a load of silica bits came from some nook or kranny and ended up in the header tank again
You should also replace the header tank with the revised part ideally
The genuine part is about £300 quid but to do it properly you need to properly flush the system which takes a long time, otherwise the silica will potentially block the new matrix again.
I had my Golf done by a VW specialist I always use and they had it for over a day and it had to go back for a 2nd flush a couple weeks later as a load of silica bits came from some nook or kranny and ended up in the header tank again
You should also replace the header tank with the revised part ideally
budgie smuggler said:
Looks an ideal runaround for potholed roads with those sidewalls!
Was the heater matrix problem caused by the silica beads escaping the coolant tank?
Indeed yes. Ride is super compliant compared to the M2. Was the heater matrix problem caused by the silica beads escaping the coolant tank?
Yes, it was. Resolved now but not cheap to do. Replaced the coolant tank too.
SteBrown91 said:
Heater matrix is an expensive fix.
The genuine part is about £300 quid but to do it properly you need to properly flush the system which takes a long time, otherwise the silica will potentially block the new matrix again.
I had my Golf done by a VW specialist I always use and they had it for over a day and it had to go back for a 2nd flush a couple weeks later as a load of silica bits came from some nook or kranny and ended up in the header tank again
You should also replace the header tank with the revised part ideally
Yes, it was in for a day to get that done. And yes, replaced the header tank too with the revised one.The genuine part is about £300 quid but to do it properly you need to properly flush the system which takes a long time, otherwise the silica will potentially block the new matrix again.
I had my Golf done by a VW specialist I always use and they had it for over a day and it had to go back for a 2nd flush a couple weeks later as a load of silica bits came from some nook or kranny and ended up in the header tank again
You should also replace the header tank with the revised part ideally
Really irksome that they do that and not a cheap fix as you say.
Booked the car in when i got it to get the rear wheel arch / back bumper painted.
I was surprised at some of the quotes i was getting and also the general lack of interest in taking it on.
One guy quoted me £500 but said he was too busy to do it, so wouldnt book it in. He said if i couldnt get it done elsewhere to give him a shout again but he'd make no guarantees on timescales.
Another guy - a friend of mine - quoted £550. Didnt want to do the job as he said he could get £400 painting a bumper with no hassle. So much for mates rates!
Have it booked in with another recommended guy. Hes doing the work this monday all being well. Quoted me £400 ish +/- £20.
I was surprised at some of the quotes i was getting and also the general lack of interest in taking it on.
One guy quoted me £500 but said he was too busy to do it, so wouldnt book it in. He said if i couldnt get it done elsewhere to give him a shout again but he'd make no guarantees on timescales.
Another guy - a friend of mine - quoted £550. Didnt want to do the job as he said he could get £400 painting a bumper with no hassle. So much for mates rates!
Have it booked in with another recommended guy. Hes doing the work this monday all being well. Quoted me £400 ish +/- £20.
The seat - that was another bundle of fun.
Got quoted £140 to repair the drivers seat. He couldnt guarantee the colour match either and it would still have left the rest of the interior looking a little bit scruffy.
Got a full set of fronts and rears and three plastic panels that were scuffy on mine for £200 all in. That seemed a better idea.
They're SE seats too, so a bit nicer.
Got quoted £140 to repair the drivers seat. He couldnt guarantee the colour match either and it would still have left the rest of the interior looking a little bit scruffy.
Got a full set of fronts and rears and three plastic panels that were scuffy on mine for £200 all in. That seemed a better idea.
They're SE seats too, so a bit nicer.
Edited by Deep Thought on Friday 28th June 13:28
Another easy fix as it turned out, was the missing rear parcel shelf.
I tried a few breakers yards / online breakers and they were all either looking a fortune for an OEM one, or any they had were starting to sag.
These are now available on ebay from third party suppliers - £62 delivered. Looks the part and feels quite sturdy too. It'll do me my day with the car.
I tried a few breakers yards / online breakers and they were all either looking a fortune for an OEM one, or any they had were starting to sag.
These are now available on ebay from third party suppliers - £62 delivered. Looks the part and feels quite sturdy too. It'll do me my day with the car.
MOT prep and service were a bit more painful than i'd hoped.
Although i'd known about a previous sticky rear caliper on the car, i'd been assured it had been resolved.
Smoke pouring from it on day 2 told me otherwise. Caliper was then replaced as part of the MOT prep.
My friend had said he'd put a rear spring in a couple of thousand miles back. The car did need the other one for MOT, so that was fitted also.
Driveshaft bolts were loose (?) and the sump was leaking out so taken off and resealed.
Full service with cabin filters etc then done too.
Although i'd known about a previous sticky rear caliper on the car, i'd been assured it had been resolved.
Smoke pouring from it on day 2 told me otherwise. Caliper was then replaced as part of the MOT prep.
My friend had said he'd put a rear spring in a couple of thousand miles back. The car did need the other one for MOT, so that was fitted also.
Driveshaft bolts were loose (?) and the sump was leaking out so taken off and resealed.
Full service with cabin filters etc then done too.
Edited by Deep Thought on Friday 28th June 13:51
CornedBeef said:
I didnt realize these suffered from heater matrix issues, it does seem like an obvious flaw putting silica beads in there lol how many miles on it OP?
I dont know the full detail but there seems to be some sort of bag with silica beads in it in the coolant tank. This bag invariably bursts and the beads clog the heater matrix. When working correctly, its to extend the life of your coolant and protect certain engine parts by slowly releasing the silica into the coolant over timeThats my - very limited - understanding of it anyway.
Its a relatively high miler - as you probably deduced from the seat bolster wear and the steering wheel wear.
It has 153K miles on it now. It was owned by a Surveyor from new, and he seemed to drive the length and breadth of the country in it. Mechanically it drives brilliantly. Doesnt feel its miles at all, but the chucking of surveyor gear in to the back of it and the constant in and out of the car took its toll on the seats and some of the interior plastics - hence why i opted to just replace the interior (at not much more than the cost of having the seat fixed).
A friend of mine bought it auction with a view to doing the work that i've done on it - but never did. He then got in to a bit of a catch 22 of wanting to sell the car, but not wanting to / being able to fund sorting its shortcomings out just to then sell it. He tried to sell it as is but couldnt get any interest (unsurprisingly).
He had it about 18 months when i bought it off him.
I did get it at around trade auction price so i dont mind spending a bit on it - and i'm a bit of a sucker for cars needing a bit of work doing.
My son is home from Australia for a month soon so he'll be driving it as a runabout (not a pups chance he was getting my M2 and hire cars arent cheap for that length of time) and i've been using it for supermarket duties, dump runs and other stuff i'd rather not be using the M2 for.
Edited by Deep Thought on Sunday 30th June 16:23
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