Well, plan for today was to have a look at the engine undertray as it was loose, and to clean and seal the alloys. However, on removing the undertray I found a huge amount of oily congealed gunk amongst the sounddeadening.

The intercooler is on the right hand side of the engine bay as you look at the car, right above the messy side of the pan. Looking up, you can see a leak at the join of the boost pipes (the intercooler is the black plastic housing you can see).

Also, in the engine bay, you can see a similar thing on more boost pipework.

Now I remember my Fabia vRS had a little bit of muck - so given this has done 120k I'm not overly concerned... however, I think a bit of a strip down and clean is needed, maybe some new seals or something - anyone care to comment? Theres not fault codes and it runs lovely, but should I be concerned?

Also, underneath, this metal pipe acts as a bracket for the undertray amongst other things... it looks quite dear, but its quite rusty in places, so I'm thinking of replacing it.

Problem 2 - as I got under the car, I was met by a very greasy alloy. :(

The cause - clearly a CV boot split.

Now the other side was done 3 months ago as it was looking worn, but this side looked as new, its split without warning. :( Now I'm going to get a new one, but I have quite a bit of driving to do on Monday and Tuesday. I'll be fitting a new one myself - anything to be wary of? I hope driving 100 miles or so wont kill the CV joint...? There seems to be plenty of grease in there still...

Other than that - I'm impressed by how clean the underside is considering the mileage - it really is mint! All the suspension arms etc seem nice and clean, no hidden horrors, rusty bolts etc, all bushes seem solid...

water and dirt ingress to the joint will damage it Tom , the water flushes the grease out , and considering how wet its been , it may not take too long to wreck the joint

i think you should be able to get the O-rings for the intercooler hoses , just looked on VAGCAT and its showing 58mm seals on the pipes to the IC

Well I'm going to work tomorrow (5 miles each way) and will drop it off at my local garage Monday. Thinking about it I'm not sure I want to drive the car all week as I won't be able to do it til Saturday and I don't want to knacker the CV joint... :(

I'll have a good search on ETKA mate - hope o-rings are available... Can't believe how much they all leak tbh.

That tyre looks like it's a bit worn on the inside edge as well Tom.

That tyre looks like it's a bit worn on the inside edge as well Tom.

It is. I've been trying so hard to kill them - they have had lots of proper abuse, including ESP off sideways action!!

I've popped that pair on the back now to make things even more interesting!

I do need a new pair in the near future though - although they still have 3mm on - but both the inside and outside edges are feathered a little

Can't believe how much they all leak tbh.

They are under turbo boost pressure , so any failure of the seal will allow the oil out

Passat syncro/4Motion 2002

21a is a seal

Cheers fella.

I'm also thinking that maybe turning the EGR down will restrict how much oil gets into the system. Am I right? Anything else I can do? I'll give the intercooler a good cleaning when I get round to sorting it all.

iirc oil gets in through the breather pipe on the rocker cover