hey its been a while since i last posted on here. i've been engulfed with other matters i have some what got distracted from the wonderful resource that is briskoda. I'm going to apologise now for the essay its just a backlog of issues i have.

I would like to start by firstly reintroducing the car at hand, my 2004 superb classic 1.9 tdi (pd 100). It was orignally my dads car since new and used as a taxi upto 280,000 miles and has had a rather eventful life as it is. from water ingresss to a whole replacement camshaft. most of the common superb problems have occured alongside the likes of a few incidents where people have kindly drove into it on the odd ocassion.

When it was passed onto me by my dad i didnt really like the car as a 17 boy it isnt the usual "first car" i had in mind but i saw it as a gift and was grateful none-the-less. as time went on and i waved my wand of "boy-racer'ish" charm i made it more suitable for my age and changed a few low budget things to make it my car and no longer the 8 year old taxi i remembered.

All was fine and i loved it but i had a few underlying issues of general aging and excessive use which i had to ammend such as the front door cards were worn beyond repair so had been replaced with b5.5 passat ones along with the entire set of seats i had been offered at a great price so took out the tired "taxi" seats and installed the half leather passat seats (sadly the rears are not quite a perfect fit but will do for now)

Not long after this i was driving home one night on a rural unlit road and as i approached a corner i didnt anticipate soon enough i found myself applying the brakes a little to hard on what i could only describe as the largest stretch of black ice i had ever experienced and i swiftly found the back end kicking out but sadly my attempts at holding the slide were short lived as it was all too much for my ESP and it switched off and the next thing i new the back end began to slide even more sideways to which i corrected and ended up facing the way i came as i ran out of road and it ended up sliding across gravel and smashing through a fence.. the fence had barbed wire on it which caused some nasty cosmetic damage and the fence was held up buy thich round wooden posts which i was lucky enough to knock down (Denting the rear door) but sadly the car then landed on this post which left the sill with a large dent below the B-piller which smashed both driver side windows.

Since then i have been unable to fully lock my car as i cant open the drivers door from outside as the handle took some damage during the crash. Also i managed to get replacement glass from my local breakers but it came in the form of passat b5.5 glass which sadly isnt the same shape in the rear, therefore is held water tight with gaffa tape.

What i need help with is to regain the passion for the car i had for the car and help put me back on the road to skoda hapiness.. i have just paid £2200 in insurance til the end of november next year along with Mot till the same time. i want to get this car back up to the solid standerd it was before so i can be proud once again.

Here are the issues i currently have and need help with:

+ Both o/s doors need replacing so a source for this is needed as all my local breakers are hardly see superbs and ebay breakers are usually a rip off.

+ I will need help finding out how to fit/remove the doors if sourced

+ I may need help sourcing the correct paint if doors are wrong colour

+ I need to source replacement centre dash vents as mine are snapped/missing slats.. my OCD is not enjoying it..

+ For some reason my 12v sockets in the front ashtray and rear of the armrest are non-functional.

+ My car has recently been performing terribly uneconomical as the computer is usually reading 18-22mpg on average when driving around town and along the local A roads.. i believe it may be the EGR valve.

If you can help me with any of ther above issues your help is greatly appreciated and you are welcome to ask me for more info on any of them or even pm if you want. I can supply photos, info if you ask.

Or on a slightly more possitive notes if any of you would like to see any pictures of what the car did/does look like and endure the modifications i have made your welcome to ask me and i will post any pictures.

Thanks for your time.

Tom

i would also like to add that my car may have high milage but since so much has been replaced i feel my original future plans for it are still likely to go ahead in the coming summer. It's just since so much is broken i have more than once considered dumping it down the local scap yard and buying something else.. But i know thats insane as the car (engine wise) is running well.. except the fuel issue. With a bit of love and patience i could have this car looking top notch.

Sourcing doors will be a case of ringing around local reclaimation yards and scouring eBay for the words "Skoda superb breaking" or "Skoda superb spares". Alternatively, check out the "parts for sale" section on this forum. As for fitting them, there's a fair few topics on such things, try the search function. If not joy on here, remember, searching google for "Passat B5" topics will often prove fruitful too.

For dash slats, see above. Try and find a scrappie that may still allow you to go and remove the parts yourself. Hardly any still allow it these days thanks to the HSE, but try anyhow.

Paint code will be printed on vin plate in engine bay or possibly on a sticker that came with the manual booklets.

The 12v power sockets .... seems obvious but have you tried fuses? It's fairly common for them to short out. If the fuse is at fault, and keeps shorting out when replaced, check the sockets themselves. Metallic debris in the socket, damaged cigarette inserts and wiring shorts to the back of the socket are all quite common, especially in a taxi of those kind of miles.

As for the poor fuel economy, that could be variety of things. With no other symptoms to go off, any reply here is always going to be guesswork. Possibly a duff sensor feeding the ecu duff information so it's not fuelling correctly, Something as simple as an O2 sensor being at fault can halve mpg figures in some engines. Best bet is to get the car hooked up to a VCDS machine and take a look at the values each sensor is reporting. A good place to start is to get your head under the bonnet too. Have a good poke around. Look for any oil leaks, listen for air leaks, check regular stuff such as air filter etc. Has it been regularly mantained?

Bottom line, maintaining a car on a shoestring budget is possible, but requires legwork. Spares are out there, but they do need hunting down.

Incidentally, I'm not sure the EGR valve would give that difference in mpg figure. Someone may come along and correct me, but as I understand it, in a diesel engine the EGR isn't to improve fuel economy. It reintroduces exhaust gases to lower the combustion temperature within the cylinder, which creates less nirtogen oxide emmissions. I think EGR valves were introduced as a way to get engines through stricter emission controls. As I understand it, a correctly functioning EGR valve actually reduces power and economy by around 5% tops.

I'm guessing your EGR valve would have to be seriously mangled to halve your mpg figures.

edit: My fingers type faster than I can spell.

Edited 30 December, 201213 yr by allclownsareevi

Thanks for all the info I will get the car checked on a vcds machine as soon as I can to find out what may be at fault. I will probably get the car booked in for a service soon aswell which will hopefully get it up to scratch.

Would help if you give a location too in case any nearby members can help.

I'm in Wantage, South Oxfordshire

I was kinda hoping that it may of been the egr valve responsible only because I have one spare. But I've just remembered that it is an egr valve from a 130 tdi engine and I'm not sure if it would fit