We Buy Late Model BMW and Volvos

Volvo or BMW you’d like to sell? We’re actively seeking late model, clean BMW and Volvos for our sales department. The All Wheel Drive, XC and Xi models preferred, but will gladly consider all. Only clean CarFax models please. Top MMR values gladly paid, and we will buy out lease cars. Please contact Meredyth at (207) 882-9969. Thanks!

BMW Engine Oil Pump – Here’s one for the record books, it’s actually the subject of a BMW Technical Service Bulletin, but our friends and colleagues in the BMW Tech Groups have not run across it yet, we seem to have been one of the few shops who has seen this in the “wild”. So, we thought we’d document this for the benefit of others.

When changing the oil filter on the BMW N62 engine, keep your eyes open for bits and pieces of the engine oil pump check valve. Seems BMW has a problem with this, and part of the oil pump check valve will work loose, and find their way into the filter housing. The check valve is a pretty critical item, it prevents oil from running back into the pump, and keeps the engine from experiencing “dry starts” or lack of oil pressure on start up. The repair involves replacement of the complete engine oil pump with an updated parts kit, check with the BMW tech line or parts to be sure and get the latest numbers.

Should you find these bits and pieces in the filter housing, take heart, while this not a simple job, it involves complete disassembly of the front suspension, lower engine, front driveshafts and differential, it is much less expensive to replace the oil pump than change the engine.
 

Own a Audi model with the 2.0 TFSI engine? – Read on, we may be able to save you and your car from some real headaches. These engine seem to have developed a chronic problem with carbon deposits on the intake valves, which can lead to a very expensive repair. This carbon build up on the valves is caused by the direct injection, a common issue with engines of this type. It happens because the fuel is not being injected over the valves, this would keep the valves nice and clean. A secondary issue may also be the crankcase ventilation system, and the use of low quality engine oils.

They say prevention is better than cure so what can be done to prevent this carbon build up issue. Using good quality clean burn fuel free of bio elements, the higher octane fuels also tend to burn cleaner. Get the engine up to temperature as soon as you can (don’t idle it but just drive it steadily at around 2000rpm till it warms up) and keep the engine operating at 3000rpm for 15 minutes per week. At this RPM range the engine is designed to run hotter and this can help burn off some of the carbon deposits. Be sure to always use a OEM quality full synthetic engine oil, and change the oil often, no more than every 5,000 to 7,500 miles.

Driving the engine at just over 3000 RPM raises the temperature and puts the engine into a “cleaning mode” where it runs leaner and hotter clearing out a lot of the carbon build up inside the engine, so try to hit this sweet spot as often as you can and for at least 15 minutes per week. An ounce of prevention, always worth a pound of cure!

Tech Brief – Buying or own a used Volvo with 70K-120K miles? Make sure the All Wheel Drive System (AWD) is working, in fact, this may be something that you want your servicing shop or dealer to check the next time your Volvo is in for service. Over the past few months we’ve seen a total of 3 of these cars, all in the 70K-120K mile range, with inactive AWD. We check the AWD system each service, but if you are taking your Volvo to a general repair facility, then you may want to show them this article, unless you know what to look for it can be easy to miss.

Amazingly this problem does not turn on any warning lights or set a computer fault code, the only way you can tell, other than by an through inspection in the workshop, is by a loss of traction, the front wheels have drive power, the rears do not. In one case the problem was noted during a vehicle maintenance, on the other two – only when the owners brought the car in with a concern about a lack of traction.

Fortunately the repair is quite straightforward, if caught early. It consists of installing a revised or reinforced coupler from Volvo, yes, they seem to have updated the part design. Given the overall dependability of the Volvo AWD/AOC system, and the mileage at which these failures occurred, this is not a terrible fault. We think of the coupler as a form of a “mechanical fuse”, protecting the more expensive driveline components from failure.

Overview of car

Coupler with Angle Drive Removed

Side view of Coupler and Transaxle

View of Coupler and Transaxle Output

Side view of Coupler and Transaxle

Angle Drive Gearbox

Angle Drive - Output shaft flange

Input to Angle Drive - Note splined shaft

Wore Coupler - Brownish material is rust, note extreme spline wear

Worn Coupler - Cleaned to show deeply worn splines

Audi Q7/Porsche Cayenne/VW Touareg Brake System – The Touareg, and its closely related cousins, the Q7 and Cayenne are massive cars weighing in at well over 2 tons, and need an equally massive brake system.

We’re always impressed with these engineering marvels, here is a photo essay of the complete brake system and layout for a Touareg we are servicing in the workshop.

The front brake rotors are directional, with the cooling fins arranged for each side of the car, the brake calipers have six pistons for additional stopping power, and you’ll note a brake pad wear sensor on every brake pad, and the new hardware kit on each caliper – key to preventing brake noise and rattle. Brake life on this series is about 35-40K miles, and the front and rear brakes wear at about the same rate.

We used the new ATE coated brake rotors to cut down on the rust and corrosion which you would normally find on in very short order on brake rotors exposed to road salt.

Mini Coopers are wonderful cars, but Mini has a problem with clutches, no two ways about it. The early cars are subject to numerous Technical Service Bulletins on clutch problems and noises. What we’ve also seen is problems with excessive clutch pedal effort. The problem comes on rather slowly, is often not noticed by the driver, who becomes acclimated to it as he/she is using the clutch every day. Comparing your clutch pedal effort to another Mini is a good test, or stop by and ask us for a courtesy check. The key thing here to catch this BEFORE it damages the engine flywheel, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

This nice Mini came in with the concern of a burning smell, and slipping clutch. The first thing we noted during the road test, aside from the burning smell, was the high level of clutch effort, it was really hard to depress the clutch. We found the cause, which we’ve seen more than once, the clutch release bearing hung up on the guide tube, keeping the clutch partially depressed and allowing slippage. After extended slippage, the heat build can be great enough to damage the engine flywheel. Since the Mini uses a “dual mass” or two part fluid filled flywheel, this can be a very expensive repair

Correction entailed a very light resurfacing of the flywheel, replacement of the complete clutch assembly, as well as the hydraulic actuating cylinder. With failures of this nature, it is important to always service as a system and replace all related components. For example, a sticking actuating cylinder, which disengages the clutch, can cause a repeat of the failure. Our customer could not believe the difference, a most pleasant surprise.

The Mini Cooper – Rear View	Removal Of The Nose To Access Clutch
Trans out, view of the clutch assembly	Cleaned transmission, ready to reinstall
Check These Fork Bushings For Wear	Worn Out Clutch Disc
The Culprit – Guide Tube – Note Extensive Scoring On Tube	Release Bearing, Note Scoring Making Clutch Engagement & Release Difficult
Clutch Cover, Top Side	Clutch Cover, Friction Side

We’ve noticed in our service facility that the Audi/VW V6 30 valve 2.8 liter engines can develop oil leaks as the car gets older and advanced in miles. The 2.7 engines with the twin turbo can develop a similar condition. We would like to bring to your attention a common issue with the crankcase breather hose system.

Many of these cars have a rough service history. We consider ‘rough’ to be irregular oil changes, use of non-synthetic engine oils, extreme hot or cold climates, a lot of short driving distances where full engine temperature is never reached, and excessive low RPM city driving. This use causes a great deal of condensation and moisture to form within the engine, producing a build up of sludge. Many owners have bought their car without knowing the oil change or driving history.

If you own or have just bought an Audi/VW V6 2.8 liter V6 30 valve with over a 100,000 miles that has oil leaks, the crankcase breather system should be treated as suspect. If you remove the valve cover and see a lot of resinous accumulation in the valve train area, this indicates that the vehicle already has heavy amounts of oil sludge build up throughout the engine. Suspect number one is the engine’s crankcase breather system.

Clogged Breather Hose

Inside Clogged Breather

Years of rough service history as mentioned above, cause contamination to take place inside the Audi/VW V6 engine which clogs the crankcase breather hose system. Due to this blockage, the air flow generated within the engine crankcase is restricted and will not allow the system to breath properly. When the engine is running, pressure builds up in the crankcase and causes oil to push out and leak from the weakest parts of the engine.

Due to these common issues with high mileage Audi/VW V6 2.8 liter V6 30 valve engines, we stock a complete rebuild kit to bring your vehicle’s crankcase breather system back into peak working order. After repairing the crankcase breather system it is common for engine oil leaks to subside and/or stop. If the leaks do not stop, we check these common oil leak points:
1) The cam chain tensioner gaskets and seals.
2) The camshaft cover gaskets.
3) The camshaft seals and plugs.
4) The front and rear crankshaft seals

Chances are one or more of these items, even if recently replaced, has been damaged by the excessive crankcase pressure in the engine. If your vehicle is experiencing oil leaks or related conditions, we recommend bringing this information to our attention for proper diagnosis, before engine damage occurs. Our goal is always to PREVENT, rather than correct problems, saving you both time and money.

Location Of Hose	Cracked Problem – Cracked Hose

Most cars, including older BMWs, use a water pump which is driven by a belt on the front of the engine, a tried and proven design, but not one which allows dynamic control. As it has transitioned from the older “M” engine to the new “N” designs, BMW has come up with an interesting twist, an electric engine coolant/water pump.

An electric water pump is really a brilliant idea, it offers a higher level of control of the engine operating parameters. The electric pump can be turned on and off as needed to speed up engine warm up time and precisely control engine temperature. As an additional benefit the parasitic drag of a belt driven water pump is eliminated, in theory improving engine performance and fuel economy. Anything mechanical can fail, and the electric pump on this vehicle experienced just that, a failure of the electric motor to rotate the pump impeller and circulate the engine coolant.

Since this is a very new design, and few have seen the internal construction of the pump, we thought a photo documentary might be in order here. You’ll note the pump impeller is labeled “VDO”, a long time supplier to most of the German manufacturers. You may also note what appears to be a NiCad battery inside the pump electronics. This really caught our eyes here, and we’re in the processing of determining exactly what the purpose is. The capacity would seem to be too low to run the pump, but we’re see the engineers at BMW have a reason.

This is a problem we see much more on Saabs than Volvos, in fact in the last 7 years I’ve seen this but 3 times. The photos tell it all on this one, symptoms where engine oil light on at idle and engine oil pressure very low. Sludge deposits were found in both the engine oil pump and pickup screen. The o-ring seals in the pan, a common cause of low pressure on these cars, were intact, looking to have been recently replaced.

A previous servicing shop had removed the engine oil pan and cleaned the pickup in an attempt to correct the problem, but they never removed the oil pump for inspection. We found the engine oil pump was clogged nearly solid with sludge, tremendously restricting flow and hence pressure. Only one cause for this on a car with this mileage, either a poor quality oil and/or filter, or infrequent engine oil services. A good quality engine oil, Castrol GTX or Syntech, a factory oil filter, and regular oil changes every 5,000 – 7,000 and chances are you’ll never hear the dreaded words “Oil Sludge”.

A Properly Cleaned Engine Oil Pan

A heater core is a radiator-like device used in heating the cabin of a vehicle. Hot coolant from the vehicle’s engine is passed through a winding tube of the core. Fins attached to the core tubes serve to increase surface for heat transfer to air that is forced past them, by a fan, thereby heating the passenger compartment.

The heater core is made up of small piping that has numerous bends.Clogging of the piping may occur if the coolant system is not flushed or if the coolant is not changed regularly. If clogging occurs the heater core will not work properly. If coolant flow is restricted, heating capacity will be reduced or even lost altogether if the heater core becomes blocked. You can see from the the photos this core was fully 3/4 blocked, doesn’t make for good heat on cold Maine mornings.

Because the heater core is located under the dashboard inside of the vehicle and is enclosed in the ventilation system’s ducting, servicing it requires disassembling a large part of the dashboard, which is rather time-consuming.

Click To See Clogged Heater Core Tubes

Curious about what is really under the hood of the Jaguar XJS?
To begin with, 12 cylinders, leave it to the Brits to call them 1-6A and 1-6B rather than 1-12. You’ll also find a whole lot of wiring, plumbing, vacuum switches and hoses. This “bad kitty” had a number of significant engine oil leaks, ran very poorly, and just needed general attention.

One of my past techs reminded me of that “If they don’t leak oil there’s no oil in them.”
While that is close to the truth, some oil is almost normal for the older British cars, unfortunately the oil was running right onto the hot catalytic converters and burning off…a recipe for disaster! Odd thing is another shop had just “passed” the car for state inspection…they sure didn’t do this fellow any favors…much longer and he would have had a very cooked kitty.

Enjoy the before and after photos, 60K maintenance and upper engine reseal.

We’ve seen this before, this car presented with engine oil leaks from nearly every seal.
Using our special Volvo diagnostic tool, it was easy to confirm a severely clogged engine breather box. Not an easy job, but one that needed to be handled. This was not a regular service customer car, we find this type of clogging on cars which have been subjected to “quick lube” oil changes, or maintenance has not been carried out according to the factory schedule.

In the photos below, you’ll note the heavily clogged ventilation ports, both in the black breather box, and in the engine block. Such clogging is indicative of higher mileage, extended oil change intervals, or the use of a poor quality engine oil and filter. The build up of this material prevents the crankcase ventilation system from functioning correctly, and will lead to an increase in crankcase pressure, external oil leakage and/or contamination of the Electronic Throttle Module or ETM. In severe cases it can build up enough pressure to pop out engine seals, including the rear main seal. Any problem with multiple engine oil leaks, or with the ETM must first be dealt with by inspecting and serving the crankcase ventilation system.

Breather Box Port About 3/4 Clogged

This nice Audi came in with the concern of a slipping clutch. In fact the clutch seems to have failed in a very catastrophic way, with severe damage to the flywheel and pressure plate. The damage is so extensive that it is hard to determine exactly what did cause the failure, but my suspicion is the clutch release bearing hung up on the guide tube, keeping the clutch partially depressed and allowing slippage. After extended slippage, the heat build was great enough to cause the clutch friction material to fail and break apart.

I’ve seen this type of failure on the early Porsche 924S and 944 series, which uses a similar design. Correction entailed replacement of the flywheel – it is a fluid filled, dual mass type, the complete clutch, and the hydraulic actuating cylinder. With failures of this nature, it is important to always service as a system and replace all related components. For example, a sticking actuating cylinder, which disengages the clutch, can cause a repeat of the failure.

Audi A4 Quattro	Flywheel and Clutch assembly
Clutch Pressure Plate – Note Heat Scoring	Audi Dual Mass Flywheel – Note Heat Damage
Clutch Friction Disc	Clutch Overview, Bearing and Guide in Front

Volvo turbos on the 2nd generation cars generally last the life of the engine, so it was unusual to see this car here with a defective turbocharger. Half the battle in repairing anything is to figure out WHY it failed, so a repeat failure can be avoided.

You’ll notice on the turbocharger below the impeller or fan which drives the unit is severely worn at the ends. This is caused by the turbo fan contacting the housing, usually because of wear in the turbo bushings or damage to the shaft. In this particular turbo the shaft is actually broken into two parts, indicating a catastrophic failure at high speed. Under full load, the turbocharger can spin at 100,000 rpm or more, so most likely this was a lubrication failure which allowed the shaft to seize and the torque causing the shaft to snap in two.

It is very important on turbocharged cars to use a high quality of oil, the vast majority of turbo failures are lubrication related, often for poor quality oil, or infrequent oil changes. I believe that was the case here, for the service tech found the oil filter cup sludged up, as if the filter had not been replaced frequently. Or if the filter was the replaced, the previous servicing shop had neglected to take the time to properly clean the filter cup. Unfortunately it is not an uncommon occurrence to even find some general repair shops who lack the special tool to remove the Volvo filter cup, and in so doing skip filter replacement during an oil change.

Fortunately the engine seems to have experienced no internal damage, and after a proper service, the engine oil pressure returned to normal. Just to be certain, a full visual inspection of the lower engine reveled no damage to bearings or other engine parts. Replacement of the turbo unit with a factory remanufactured unit, along with the proper cleaning of the oil supply and return lines solved the problem and the car was returned to service.

Failed turbo and Volvo factory replacement	Defective turbo unit
Note drive fan damage at edges	“Hot” housing removed, fan damage visible
Broken shaft and damaged fan	Back of damaged fan, note deep scoring
Close up of damaged fan, note fan damage	Inside turbo, note broken end of shaft

Volvos are great cars, but like every car there are some special service points which require attention. All too often these items are overlooked by general repair shops, the old adage “Jack of all trades, master of none.” applies here. One problem on the later Volvos is delaminating of the parking brake (handbrake) shoes. The friction material is glued, rather than riveted, onto the metal structure of the parking brake shoes. After time the adhesive holding the shoe onto the metal fails. This is often manifested by a “scrapping” or rubbing noise in the rear brake area. All too often this is ignored, or dismissed as simply rust on the brake rotors, when in fact it can be a danger sign.

Rust does occur on Volvo rotors, as it does on all cars. The only way to be certain if the parking brake system is OK is to remove both rear brake rotors and visually inspect the parking brake shoes. At any sign of delaminating, the shoes must be replaced before catastrophic failure occurs. When the friction material completely disbonds from the metal plate, it frequently gets wedged between the brake rotor and the metal backing plate, doing a tremendous amount of damage. The simple replacement of parking brake shoes, while adjusting and servicing the parking brake system may cost $130-170, but in the event of a catastrophic failure and subsequent damage to the wheel spindle and backing plate, the service cost can easily exceed $1500. As a general guideline, any car over 4 years of age, or with more than 50,000 miles on the odometer, should be carefully inspected for this problem.

Hidden in the dash of that nice C-Class are a series of small plastic levers, which, given time and use, may fracture, resulting in an unusual noise from the dash area. The noise is noted as a “snapping” or “popping” sound in or near the center vents, and the customer may also have a concern about incorrect temp or air flow from the vents. The problem, a small plastic lever which operates the foot well flaps via a servo motor. In this car, we found both the broken link as well as a defective servo motor. The servo motor had a damaged internal gear, but was not on the flap link which had broken, but rather was on a air direction flap on the passenger side.

Running a diagnostic with the Mercedes SDS computer should confirm the fault, before the teardown and visual inspection. The plastic lever in question has been redesigned to be more robust, and the update kit is available from Mercedes. The service correction is quite involved, requiring removal of the center console upper panel, radio, climate control head, and lover dash with the glove box. Once the arm is located and replaced, the SDS should be used to run a “normalization” routine on the flap system.

When this Audi was serviced, the previous service shop neglected to properly clean the water drains under the hood. On many of the Audis leaves and other debris will block the drains and allow water to build up and enter the interior of the car via the cabin air intake. Water build up will overflow and enter into this opening. In this case the electronic module which control ABS brakes and ESP – traction control, was damaged by the water entry into the car. We cleared the drains, replaced and coded the ESP module, and the car was fine. It is very important to make certain that your service shop both aware of this problem and cleans these drains on an annual basis. If you do notice water on the passenger side floor, the car should be checked at once at a qualified service facility.

You’ll note the severe scoring and wear on the camshaft bearing caps on the Audi/VW 1.8 liter turbo engine. Audi and VW strongly recommend, and in some cases require the use of a full synthetic engine oil in their cars. No where is this more important than in the engine which use a turbocharger. Non-synthetic, or low quality engine oils will break down under the load, carbonize, and cause internal engine damage or turbocharger failure. This is why we always suggest the use of a full synthetic engine oil in model years 1999 or new. The oil does cost more, but does not have to be replaced as frequently, and the protection offered to your
engine is priceless.

Defective blower motor, can only be accessed by complete dash removal.
We suggest replacement of both the blower motor and speed control unit while the dash is apart.

The Volvo Electronic Throttle Module (ETM) has earned a bad reputation, perhaps unfairly, for
problems and early failures on the 1998-2001 cars. The ETM is the subject of a warranty extension by Volvo, now up to 10 years from the date the car was first put into service, or 200,000 miles. Volvo has also released a number of updates, both software and in service procedures to deal with these problems.

This car in particular had a number of throttle fault codes stored in the engine computer. Volvo has released a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) addressing this problem, with the recommendations of cleaning the Electronic Throttle Module (ETM), inspecting and cleaning the crankcase breather system, and replacing a number of parts in the breather system. Finally a software update is downloaded to the ETM to improve its operation, and make it more fault tolerant. Should the throttle problem then reoccur after this service, Volvo can verify the fault and warranty the throttle under its 10 year, 200,000 mile warranty.

In the photos below, you’ll note the heavily clogged ventilation ports, both in the black breather box, and in the engine block. Such clogging is indicative of higher mileage, extended oil change intervals, or the use of a poor quality engine oil and filter. The build up of this material prevents the crankcase ventilation system from functioning correctly, and will lead to an increase in crankcase pressure, contamination of the ETM, and even engine damage. Any problem with the ETM must first be dealt with by inspecting and serving the crankcase ventilation system.

Volvo S60 Turbo	Volvo Turbo Engine
Engine With Intake Manifold Removed	Crankcase Breather Ports
Clogged Engine Breather Assembly	Clogged Engine Crankcase Breather Port
ETM Properly Cleaned and Serviced	Volvo Breather Update Kit

This BMW had a substantial coolant loss from the engine, in the area of what is termed the “valley pan”. Service correction of this fault requires the removal of the intake manifold system, replacement of all seals and gaskets in the center engine area. While the manifold is removed, there are a number of vacuum lines and crankcase breather hoses which will need inspection and attention.

BMW has released an update kit on some of the early engine crankcase breather systems, this is prime time to install this update. As you can see from the photos, it is also a prime time to vacuum out and clean debris from the intake manifold area.

This low mileage car was towed into our workshop with the concern that it would not move. Initially it seemed that the clutch may be defective, but upon further inspection we found an internal transmission problem.

It seems that Mini only presses the ring gear into the differential carrier hub, rather than bolting it in the traditional method. I suspect that the ring gear is heated, to cause it to expand, and the carrier is chilled to cause it to contract, allowing a slip fit. Fortunately we were able to repair the transaxle, saving our customer a considerable expense. While the transaxle was out, we replaced the clutch as it was quite worn. The early Mini clutches do not have a good reputation for durability.

There is no way around it, replacement of the engine timing belt on the late model Audi A8 is a chore, but it is something that if you do correctly once, you don’t need to worry about again for 100K miles. Over the years we’ve developed some specific protocols for timing belt service on these cars, making the procedure quite straightforward, minimizing both cost and down time of the car.

Unfortunately we’ve also corrected a number of other shops mistakes, some minor, some very major. It always cost less to have it done right the first time. So if you late model Audi is due for its timing belt, give us call, and have it done correctly, the first time. With our personal service, free loaner car program, use of factory parts, and 1 year nationwide warranty, we can make even a job like the Audi timing belt, simple.

Towed into our workshop for a no-start complaint, the service technician had a bit of a surprise when he opened the top of the fuel tank to check for restriction in the fuel supply. A bad batch of bio-diesel fuel really stopped this car cold in its tracks. Diesel fuel is normally a yellow to clear liquid, much like gasoline. This bio-diesel fuel, made from an animal fat material, apparently did not have the proper mix of anti-gel additives in the batch. At ambient air temps below 60 it became, for all purposes, a solid mass with the consistency of Crisco.

This problem necessitated cleaning the fuel tank and all fuel lines, replacing the fuel filter, and purging the system of all of the solidified material. We then suggested that the owner should run two or three tanks of standard diesel through the system to remove any remaining material. Fortunately no permanent damage seems to have been done, and the car is back on the road, dieseling away with nearly 200,000 miles on the odometer.

Hiding in the dash of that nice C-Class is a small plastic lever, which, given time and use, may fracture, resulting in a noise from the dash area. The noise is noted as a “snapping” or “popping” sound in or near the center vents, and the customer may also have a concern about incorrect temp or air flow from the vents. The problem, a small plastic lever which operates the foot well flaps via a servo motor.

Running a diagnostic with the Mercedes SDS computer should confirm the fault, before the teardown and visual inspection. The plastic lever in question has been redesigned to be more robust, and the update kit is available from Mercedes. The service correction is quite involved, requiring removal of the center console upper panel, radio, climate control head, and lover dash with the glove box. Once the arm is located and replaced, the SDS should be used to run a “normalization” routine on the flap system.

Most late model cars are equipped with a system to both capture and recover vapors from the fuel system. In the past these vapors were often vented to the atmosphere, not exactly an environmentally friendly approach. The evaporative emission recovery systems are usually reliable, but from time to time, as cars age, problems do occur. In our workshop we’ve chosen to efficiently diagnose these problems through the use of a machine that creates a low pressure smoke containing a UV dye. By the use of this system, even leaks as small as a pinhole can be located.

We’ve all seen the ubiquitous P0455 – Large Evap Leak or BMW Fault Code 251 – Minor Leakage, pop up on the diagnostic computer. Often it is a loose fuel tank cap, or a deteriorated evap hose, both common for the age and mileage of most of these cars. But how many times have you found the photos below? One of our skilled techs, in process of diagnosing the leakage in the system, noted diagnostic smoke coming from the fuel tank area. On the Z3 this is no small challenge, as the entire rear suspension must be dropped to remove the fuel tank, not an easy task. But as you can see from the photos below, our techs observations were right on! A large rodent nest was found on top of the tank, and the rodents had gnawed through the evap and fuel recovery lines.

We saved this customer from what could be a very expensive repair, a broken timing belt. Like most cars now on the road, the Audi 2.7 and 2.8 engines use a rubber timing belt. Located in a plastic housing on the front of the engine, the timing belt keeps the valve opening in sequence with the rotation of the engine pistons. A failure of the timing will allow the valves to contact the pistons, resulting in major engine damage.

The Audi and VW 1.8, 2.7 and 2.8 liter engines also use a timing chain to drive the secondary camshafts. This chain is kept in proper tension by tensioners fed from the engine oil. Over time, many tens of thousands of miles, the seals which serve to seal the tensioners to the cylinder head start to leak, note the image below. As a rule we always replace then when serving the timing belt, but sometimes they don’t make it that far. Our goal, when doing a timing belt service, is make the work last another 100,000 miles.

The oil resulting from these seal leaks can find its way into the front engine timing cover, and onto the timing belt. The timing belt, being made of rubber, deteriorates with time and can fail without warning, resulting in catastrophic engine damage. Thankfully this was caught by one of our observant techs before failure occurred.

But why do I need to use “expensive” Synthetic oil the customer may ask. To which just one of these photos should be worth a thousand words…or a couple of thousand in engine damage. The sad thing, is that this could have been avoided, with a little care, and the proper synthetic engine oil.

This Passat has a very unique engine, one of the early VW “”Pumpe Düse” design. Developed by Volkswagen in conjunction with Bosch, Pumpe Düse means “pump injectors” (though “pump dooz” is more fun to say aloud). The electronically-controlled injectors are located at each cylinder where they create a very high pressure to better atomize and more precisely meter the fuel flow. The result is increased power, improved fuel economy and – most important for sensitive North American ears – quieter engine operation.

This car, with about 90,000 miles on the odometer, has led a hard life. See those small circular “cups” in the second row of photos? They are called “Camshaft Followers”, and open and close the engine valves when compressed by the camshaft. You’ll note that two of them have actual holes worn through on the top, this is not good. You’ll also note that the camshaft, whose lobes are supposed to have a tear dropped shape, has severe wear, and many of the lobes are now close to round! This is also not good, as the engine valves are not opening fully. But even worse, is the wear on the lobes used to drive the rocker arms, which cause the injection valves to operate. The roller arm wear surfaces are also galled and damaged, such wear should not be seen at 100, or even 200K miles in a properly lubricated engine. In addition the camshaft, cam follower and rocker arm wear, one of the very expensive “Pump Düse” injection valves has been damaged. Even the camshaft bearings, normally lasting the life of the engine, are scored from inadequate lubrication. In short, the upper engine on this car needs a complete rebuild, a very pricey proposition.

Remember, cheap oil changes are the most expensive thing you can buy for your car!

A mouse in the house, or in this case in the engine air box and under the intake manifold. A real problem in Maine, we’ve heard tales of using moth balls, dryer sheets, even pepper spray to repel the little critters. I’m not sure any of these really work, but I guess its better than traveling with some extra friends on board, worse yet, suffering wiring harness or engine damage from their “creations”. Make certain your service facility checks for this when they are caring for your car, forewarned is indeed forearmed. Or to quote that tried but true old bromide, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Car presented with engine making a moderately loud tapping noise, and via OBD-II a fault code was found to be stored for the variable engine valve timing solenoid. Upon inspection the technician noted that engine oil pressure warning light wire was disconnected. We connected wire and engine oil pressure warning light came on. A check of engine oil pressure with mechanical gauge showed pressure to be very low at idle, about 5 PSI, gauge is unsteady and flutters. During extended idle the reading will nearly drop to nearly zero at times. The low and unsteady gauge reading indicates possible cavitations in oil pressure.

Volvo has a somewhat common problem of defective oil pump pick up seals. These small rubber sealing rings serve to connect the engine oil pickup, located in the oil pan, to the engine block where the actual oil pump is located. After several years and thousands miles of engine heat, these seals become hardened and allow air to enter into the oil pickup system, preventing the oil pump from drawing the proper amount of oil. Early symptoms are a oil pressure light on at idle, or an engine that sounds unusually loud, often a tapping noise, at idle.

The correction for this involves removing the engine oil pan, cleaning and inspecting the pan sump and pick up tubes. The small rubber o-ring seals are then replaced on both the oil pick up and engine oil cooler. It is important to inspect the sump, and clean any oil sludge or debris from the oil pan area. As the 850 and S/V70 series engines use a two piece crankcase, you can not easily remove the main bearing caps for inspection, nor are the rod bearings readily accessible. The best test of the engine condition after this service is to use the mechanical gage again to verify pressure readings. On the car in question the engine oil pressure went from nearly zero at idle, to 35 PSI warm, and nearly 75 PSI at speed. This pressure in indicative of a engine in good condition, not having experience any wear in the bearing surfaces. Given the exceptionally low oil pressure, it is a testament to the robust design of the Volvo engine that no damage seems to have occurred.

Low power, loss of acceleration on hills and under loads…all of these are symptoms of a clogged intake port on the VW 1.9 liter TDI engine. If you have 70K or more miles, and have not had a intake cleaning, chances are your intake port looks something like the one below. All the air for the engine must pass through this port, and as the port becomes clogged, airflow is reduced, the engine loses efficiency, and power output drops off. Imagine trying to breathe through a straw, and you have a good idea of how your engine feels. Since this is a gradual process, often taking years and tens of thousands of miles to occur, most owners do not notice the gradual loss of power. But they notice the difference after a proper cleaning has been carried out!

Port cleaning is not a simple procedure, but it is a necessary one. To do a through and professional job, one must remove the intake air inlet, often mistakenly called a “throttle body”, intake manifold, attendant hoses, electrical and vacuum lines. Properly done, it takes from 3-5 hours, depending on the degree of coking found. The cost for labor, chemicals and the required parts, is approximately $300-500, but the returns in both power and efficiency make it well worth the expense.

A simple repair, costing less than $75, could have saved this owner from a nearly $1,900 repair bill, and potential accident. A protective rubber boot, one is located on each side of the steering rack, had split, and over several months, had allowed water to enter into the sealed and lubricated surfaces of the power steering assembly. The water quickly did its damaged on the polished and machined surfaces of the steering rack and pinion gears, as well as contaminating the power steering fluid system. The resulting damage caused in rapid wear to the steering rack assembly, excessive play in the steering, and a very hazardous driving condition.

To complicate matters, Volvo has updated the design of the steering rack, so the correction consists of replacing not only the defective steering rack, but also the pressure and return hoses, and the steering coupler. Prevention is always less costly than correction. Be sure that your steering rack boots, along with the boots used on the Constant Velocity (CV) joints, are inspected every service.

I should first mention that this is not an Audi problem, but is a concern on any front wheel drive vehicle, as well as some cars, Mercedes and BMW, which use CV joints on the rear axles.

Just in the nick of time, one of our techs noted the deep cracking on the constant velocity (CV) joint boots during a scheduled service of this car. The axleshaft is used to transmit force from the transmission to the wheel. The CV Joints allow the axle to pivot when the wheels are turned, and rotate at the speed of the front/rear wheels.

The CV Joints are covered with a protective rubber boot which keeps out dirt, and keeps the lubrication inside the joint. When the protective rubber boot splits or tears, this allows the lubrication to be thrown out of the joint, and dirt and debris to enter. A damaged CV Boot will lead to a rapid failure of the CV Joint itself, complete failure of the joint will prevent the car from moving. Often, but not always, a pronounced clicking noise can be heard from damaged joints. To minimize expense and CV joint replacement, these rubber boots should always be inspected each service for splits or tears, and replaced BEFORE failure occurs.

Great idea, poor implementation. Sometime back in the early 1990s Porsche tried this in the 911 series, it did not work out well then, and it seems not to have worked well now. The dual mass flywheel is composed of two parts, damaged with silicone to soften engine noise and impact shock during clutch engagement. Often, with older and high mileage cars, the silicone and damping material fail on the dual mass flywheel, resulting in engine noise, vibration, and excessive lash in the driveline when engaging the clutch. This vehicle experienced the failure at about 50K miles, really quite low as far as clutch life normally goes, but apparently quite common with the dual mass design.

The repair can be approached two different ways, taken from either a cost or durability standpoint. The costly method, and one which we feel not to be durable, is the installation of the same expensive dual mass flywheel unit, with the attendant failure problems down the road. We suggest the replacement and update of the complete clutch assembly to a solid flywheel design. The proper solid flywheel replacement has the approximately the same mass as the dual mass set up, so the exchange is all but transparent to the driver. Aside from the cost benefits, durability is of course improved with the solid design, as there is no longer any damping material to leak out, or become damaged. The photos below show the original dual mass set up, and the replacement, solid flywheel kit. Note the use of multiple discreet damping springs in the clutch disc on the solid flywheel unit, this takes the place of the damping material in the dual mass flywheel.

After no less than 5 trips to a local Audi dealer, and over $1,100 in repair bills, this car landed on our doorstep. Now, as a former AllRoad owner, I have soft spot in my heart for these wonderful cars, complex as they may be, so I viewed this as an enjoyable challenge! The problem, the heated steering wheel did not work. Yes, you read that right, some of the Audis do have a heated steering wheel, and as a Audi owner I can testify that its might nice to have on those cold Maine winter mornings.

On the Audi AllRoad, the steering wheel heater operates off the driver’s seat heater switch. Its actually a little more complex than that, as Audi also places the horn, Audio and Telephone control buttons on the steering wheel, as well as a locating a handy safety device, called an Airbag, there. Many of these signals run off a CAN (Controller Area Network) Bus system, to eliminate the number of wires needed. Think of the CAN Bus system much like a USB system on your home computer, a variety of different peripherals plug into a common set of wires, each addressable from the computer. Perhaps this sounds complex, but it is not easy to run a dozen or so wires to an object, the steering wheel, which is constantly rotating.

The long and short of the problem was this. Prior to the car arriving at our facility, the steering wheel had been replaced in a misguided attempt to correct a fault. After the 5 trips the dealer gave up and told the customer they did not know what was wrong with the car. Now we get stumped from time to time here, but you can be certain we never give up after charging you $1,100, we will work to a solution.

It took some time to properly diagnose, and in the case of most electronic parts, diagnostic time is always less expensive than just throwing a part at it. After removal of the radio and center console, to access the climate control unit and test the seat heater switches, our tech found the electronic “cassette” located in the steering column, to be defective. In fact, upon removal of the Airbag and steering wheel, we found a wire clearly broken away from the cassette contact, you can see this one of the photos. This is not considered a repairable fault as the Airbag safety system runs through the cassette, and the proper solution was replacement. Bottom line, its always less expensive to pay for diagnostic time than parts. Now the car is happy, and so is the customer!

This car has was diagnosed with a defective engine coolant pump. Symptoms were overheating and noise from the front timing belt area. Disassembly of the front cover and timing belt, no easy task on at Audi TT, allowed for removal and inspection of the pump. As you can see from the photos, it is a bit of a process to access the pump, so be sure to always replace the timing belt and tensioner at the same time.

The timing belt, scheduled by Audi for replacement at 105K miles, has a history of failing considerably sooner, so consider timing belt service at 70 or 75,000 miles. The mode of failure with this pump appears to be a simple design flaw. The water pump impeller is made from a plastic material, the plastic becomes brittle with age and extended immersion in the hot engine coolant, and simply cracks apart. The defective pump, and pieces of the failed impeller, are on the left side of the photo, the new pump on the right. As this car is an aluminum alloy engine, Its always a good policy to flush the cooling system at least every two years, or 30,000 miles, and to use a quality antifreeze with corrosion inhibiters.

This car has was diagnosed with a defective turbocharger unit. Note the large amount of oil build up on the pressure side of the turbo, especially in comparison to the new turbo on the left. This oil is then drawn into the engine, resulting is severe smoking from the exhaust, high oil consumption, and even damage to the catalytic converter.
Note the Volvo replacement turbo box, we always use factory parts for reasons of longevity and proper fitment.

On late model car turbo failures are uncommon if the vehicle is cared for properly. Indeed, with proper care service life of 175 to 200K miles is expected. Turbo failures occur from two basic causes, lubrication failures, consisting of infrequent oil service, or incorrect grade of oil, and foreign material entering into the turbo and causing blade fracture. We strongly advise to never go more than 3-5,000 miles on conventional oil, and never more than 5-7,500 miles on a full synthetic. We recommended and use Castrol lubrication products in our workshop, either Castrol GTX, or Castrol Syntec.

This car had an interesting story. The car presented with the charging light on, indicating alternator failure. The alternator light would flicker, turning on and off rapidly. Alternator failures are somewhat uncommon on the later Volvo S70s, but a charging system analysis showed that the alternator was indeed not charging under load, even when full fielded. 12 VDC was found at the field wire during the testing. We replaced the alternator with a Bosch remanufactured unit and then road tested the car. The alternator light came back on, but was steady, not flickering as before. We checked for voltage on the field wire, no voltage.

A check of the schematic showed that the field wire was powered up via the dashboard and indicator. We tried tapping on the dash and noted that the light would go out. We removed and inspected the instrument cluster, no fault found. The tech then followed the harness down under the dash and found a poor connection at a large multi-block connector. Correction of this fault corrected the charging issue and the new alternator will not fail or become quickly damaged like the former unit.

The Audi S6 timing belt service does not normally require removal of the nose of the car, but in this case the silicone filled fan clutch was seized onto the idler shaft and could not be removed with the nose in place. 10 years and more recently time in the coastal environment seemed to have done its worse. To fully access the clutch required removal of the front bumper cover, radiator support and radiator, evacuate and recharge of the A/C system. As the engine water pump is driven off the camshaft belt, it is a good idea to replace the pump at the same time as belt service. All tensioner rollers should be inspected or replaced at the time of belt service.

Timing belt replacement on the Audi A8 requires a fair amount of disassembly on the front end of the vehicle. The Audi 4, 6 and 8 cylinder engines are high compression types, failure of the timing belt will result in major engine damage. Although scheduled by Audi for 90,000 miles, we have found loose or severely worn timing belts and tensioners at the 75K mile mark. When replacing the rubber timing belt, all belt rollers, water pump and thermostat must be replaced. This is a service you only want to do every 100,000 miles. We have noted a number of the Audi V8s with head gasket leaks or seepage, this is a straightforward matter to correct when the car is disassembled for the timing chain.

This car has was diagnosed with a defective heat exchanger, also know as a heater core.
The heater core as used in this BMW’s climate control has hot engine coolant flowing through it during operation. The heater core, which is comprised of a an aluminum core and nylon tank ends had developed at leak at the interface. This area is often sealed with rubber o-ring which fails after long term exposure to heat and coolant.

Once the o-ring seal fails, coolant will begin to seep out of the heater core into the heater box producing a strong burning smell from the dash vents. This can lead to long term problems if the antifreeze gets onto or into control motors, servos or air direction flaps. Like most heater cores this unit is somewhat buried in the dash, necessitating a fair amount of disassembly to remove and replace. Its always a good policy to flush the cooling system at least every two years, or 30,000 miles, and to use a quality antifreeze with corrosion inhibiters.

Car presented with Incorrect air flow out the heat/ac vents. Upon inspection we discovered that a previous servicing facility had worked on the vehicle and left the ACC system in total disarray. Vacuum lines were disconnected, flaps were wire tied closed, actuators were disabled, vacuum manifolds were plugged, in short, the ACC air direction system was non-functional. This required removal of the dash pad and center console to fully inspect and access what was needed to make the system operational once again. Subsequently upon removal we found broken flaps, damaged cable actuators and stripped gears. This is a major undertaking, and it all has to be right before the dash is reinstalled back into the car.

Engine oil sludge does not just affect Saabs, take at look at the oil pan and lower engine on this VW Passat. That black gooey substance is not tar, but engine oil sludge. Unfortunately the car was switched over to a full synthetic engine oil too late in its life, for the first three years it was run on a conventional oil, you can see the results. It is cheap insurance to always use a fully synthetic engine oil on all European autos newer than 1999. We use Castrol Syntec in our workshop, it is the factory fill on many of the European imports.

With only 22,000 miles, rodent damage on the ABS rear wheel speed sensor data cables.

Somehow a mouse found its way inside the car, under the seat, under the carpet, under the foam padding, and into the rear wiring harness conduit for a quick snack. Required extensive work to diagnose and then removal of the passenger seat and carpeting to service.

A fun and rewarding job, installing a stainless steel sport exhaust on a brand new BMW M3 coupe. Looks pretty and sounds even better!

Audi/VW timing belt replacement is a bit of a project as it requires the removal of the front nose of car. When replacing the timing belt it is critical to also replace the engine water pump and thermostat as they are located behind the timing belt, requiring belt removal to access. Not the most technician friendly design. It is also strongly recommended to replace the tensioner roller, serpentine belt and inspect the tensioner seals for oil leakage.

A/C Evaporator Core Service, requires extensive dash removal.
Car suffered repeated loss of refrigerant, testing dye did not indicate external leakage but internal to dash. Note the yellow dye stains on the removed evaporator core, lower right photo.

Engine oil leakage from timing chain tensioners. Previous service facility had replaced the timing belt but not checked/serviced the tensioners seals. The new timing belt had been ruined by oil leakage and required replacement. Continued use of the car with the oil leakage and damaged timing belt would have resulted in severe engine damage. The timing chain tensioner seals should always be inspected for leakage during timing belt service.

Failed engine water pump, requires removal of the front nose of car.
The engine water pump and thermostat are located behind the timing belt, requiring belt removal to access. Not the most technician friendly design. Always replace the water pump and thermostat when servicing the timing belt.

Failure of clutch release bearing damaged TDC pin in flywheel.
Early replacement of the clutch release bearing would have avoided this expensive failure.

Aftermarket HO2 sensor spliced in by previous servicing facility, note nylon wire tie securing to sway bar! Any wonder why the Check Engine light was on? That’s why we use only Original Equipment parts on our client vehicles, aftermarket parts cost both the owner and workshop time and money.

Water entry into trunk filled and damaged the pneumatic body control module.
Believe it or not we were able to repair this unit, saving our client hundreds of dollars.
Our service facility is equipped with a state of the art electronic service workshop.
More importantly, we were able to find and correct the water leak preventing expensive future problems.

Defective evaporator core requires removal of the dash and center console.
Quite a project, the dye stains on the evaporator core provide confirmation of the leakage.
Although this part often fails from age, its cheap insurance to keep the cabin air filters clean and free of dirt and water, water and debris will enter and will cause corrosion to the evaporator core. Although a V70 is pictured here, the procedure is the same on the Volvo 850 and S70 models.

A very unfortunate but very common Jaguar fault, a broken secondary timing chain.
With less than 78,000 miles on the car, in this case it appears that the plastic timing chain tensioner guide had come loose. The loose tensioner guide was then caught between the chain and the sprocket, causing the chain failure.

A very unfortunate event, this Saab 9-3 turbo oil pan struck a rock and damaged the pan allowing the engine oil to leak out. Note the broken aluminum oil pan parts and material caught in the oil sump pickup. Metal particles may have entered the engine lubricating system.

Car had 50,000 miles, all services carried out and stamped in maintenance book, yet engine was ruined by oil sludge. Saab has been having an issue with this engine fault. We feel it is due to extended service intervals without the use of semi or full synthetic engine oil.