2007 VW Transporter 2.5TDi 4motion

[Bailes1992]

Wow incredible! I spent the majority of my childhood in the wet side of Oregon and I can just feel that raw cold rain.

I'm not sure there is another 18 year old VW van anywhere in the world that has gotten this much love.

One thing I was wondering, was if the disassembly of the sump would be better on a 2 wheel drive van, or would it be just as bad because it would be front wheel drive.

I originally did some googling and most people said to remove the sump off the R5 TDi, all you need to do is jack the engine up as far as it can go, supporting it with some wood under the mount. That's why that was my first task. It wasn't till I got under and started looking at the sump bolts I realised the extent of the job on ours.

After finding this out I purchase VW's workshop system called ELSAWIN as I was convinced I was doing something wrong. When you look up the sump removal procedure on ELSAWIN it says...

And when you go to the section about removing the bevel box...

Half of me wishes I just got a basic van, and maybe added an electric A/C unit on the roof. Certainly would have made life easier for the glow plug job easier as I could have just whipped off the whole slam panel/radiator housing and had full access to the front of the engine. But I know when I have this to the sort of standard I want, I'll appreciate the A/C, cruise control, electric windows, central locking etc.

The engine mounts have silicon goop in them that helps absorb vibration so it isn't passed into the frame/body. The rubber cracks with age and it oozes out.

That crossed my mind also. I don't know if these mounts are actually liquid filled. The entire engine was covered in power steering fluid, that's why it's so grimy everywhere. The cooler was leaking and as you drove along the wind would almost atomise the fluid spraying it everywhere.

I put 287,000 miles on A VW T4. Keep the faith.

My condolences.

My Father in law has a T4 he bought a few years ago. It was totally rotten and he's been placing panels one by one. Interestingly, underneath, the T4 and T5 seem much the same.

There’s something about vdub vans that do this.

I had a 73 - and not nearly the talent, experience or tools as @Bailes1992 but as a younger fella sunk all my time and money into it and drove it until it burned down.

A friends brother bought an air cooled vanagon and did a full restoration, including rebuilding the engine in his moms bathroom because it was too cold out. He went through every inch of the thing.

There’s something about these vans….

I must admit, I'm doing this for my Wife. The Transporter thing is odd to me. The Ford Transit of the same era is more reliable, cheaper, way better to drive and better looking. Although they do suffer a bit more with rust. The only saving grace, like the Defender, what you put in you will get back at resale providing everything is done properly.

Appreciate all the likes and comments guys. Keeps me going while I'm pulling my hair out. Going to try get the wishbones painted and baked today.

 

[Boomer]

I want to thank you for taking the time to share your project with all of us on BITOG! It can't have been easy to stop every time you did something, photograph it and then post it here with your detailed captions. As a VW owner, I found this all very educational.

Have a Merry Christmas and best of luck getting to a successful project finish!

 

[Bailes1992]

So since getting the engine all sealed up back before Christmas, it has rained, and rained and rained. This weekend being the first weekend without rain this year. The van has sat there, a total eyesore, constantly reminding me of the work ahead.

I didn't take a great deal of photos today, certainly not my usual amount.

I started the day by dropping both front struts out. This involved removing the scuttle panel and two panels that sit on the bulkhead to access the top mounts.

A little jiggery pokery later and both struts were out.

I then swapped out the gearbox mount.

Old mount.

Side by side. New mount is a Febi item and the old one was date stamped 2007, so most certainly the original.

New mount installed.

I then decided to reinstall the bevel gear. It probably weighs 30-40kg, and with a little help from my 7 year old son on the jack, getting it up and roughly into it's location was a doddle. However, getting it to slide the last inch or so, NIGHTMARE! I got right under it, lifting and rotating, trying to get the angle right for it to slide on, but it never went. I even tried spinning the output shaft while wrestling it on in case the splines were binding, but it just sat there, laughing at me.

Now, I appreciate this isn't recommended, but at this point I didn't know what else to do. I pulled the transfer box out, and pushed each of the four fixing bolts into their positions so they were just touching the gearbox. I then edged the bevel gear very slowly towards the gearbox until each of the bolts was just about threaded on. I then, quarter of a turn at a time, used the bolts to pull the bevel gear onto the gearbox. It worked. But in total, I lost 3 hours trying to get it installed.

I also managed to get the N/S shock absorber fitted before giving up for the evening.

Just before I finished tidying up, I thought I would tackle the O/S inner CV boot that had a big lump of silicone sealant on it. I applied Victor Reinz Re-Move (amazing product) to the blob of silicone and then scraped off the silicone with a plastic scraper and a wire brush.

Was I always assumed was a small tear in the boot turned out to be a bit worse.

There was a dent and a crack in the crimped end on the back of the CV joint. How does this even happen?

I used some small files to clean the area and make a bit of a 'V' in the crack. I then mixed some of the marine version of JB Weld that I had hanging about and applied it to the crack, for hopefully a cleaner looking and more durable repair. We shall see!

I'm going to finish cleaning the joint out thoroughly in the morning and apply some fresh grease before closing it back up. Think I was a bit glad that I didn't have to try separate the joint from the shaft in the end.

Hopefully I'll have a more productive day on the van tomorrow!

 

[Bailes1992]

I realised that the crimped on cap at the rear of the CV joint was leaking. It was audibly hissing when I compressed the CV joint. I mixed up some more JB Weld Marine and applied it around the back of the cap. I'd love to know what happened to this CV joint to be damaged in the way it has. I think I'm going to be looking for a replacement driveshaft. But my bodge will do for the time being. I also used a plastic cable tie to clip the boot on as I figured it wasn't worth wasting my stainless clips on this joint any more.

 

[Bailes1992]

I wrote a little while ago that we were having issues with the J519 module or BCM as every other manufacturer calls it.

We had weird wiper problems, random hazard light activation and the indicator stalk was operating the horn. This all started since the van was taken off the road for these works. I did some research and found out these were common issues and there's numerous companies out there who will repair the BCM. However, I thought I'd take a look myself.

This module sits in the dashboard on the drivers side.

And when taken apart I noticed the PCB was greasy or damp feeling and a handful of dry joints were present.

The cat and I applied some flux to the dry joints and re-flowed them with a tinned soldering iron before giving the board a clean with some isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush.

And can confirm that so far, so good! All seems to be fixed and hopefully I have saved us £200 on a repair.

Cycle Dave the Cat, clearly elated.

 

[Bailes1992]

Saturday was dry again, so spent around 5 hours on the van. I didn't take any during pictures as I wanted to just get on with reassembly.

- Rear engine mount back and bevel gear supports reinstalled.
- New ARB bushes installed.
- Subframe reinstalled and steering rack & rear engine mount bolted down.
- Both front shocks semi-installed (had to buy a tool to spread open the hubs as I could not get the struts in all the way).
- Wishbone bushes installed and wishbones installed on van.

We're getting there...

 

[BrianF]

Amazing work!

 

[Bailes1992]

After 5 months of non-stop rain, I can't explain how nice it is to have a dry spell. It's been consistently 10° and upwards now for the last few weeks and other than a few showers, it's been pretty decent weather wise. It also means progress continues!

I was having trouble getting both struts into the hubs the entire way. Usually I grease and oil up the strut, put a jack under the hub to put the assembly under some strain, and wack the hub a few times with a big hammer until the strut is seated. But it just wasn't working on the T5. I also tried wedging a screwdriver in the rear of the hub to try spread it a bit but still failed. Elsawin advised of a special tool required to spread the hub, I found one on Amazon for £6.99.

And I can't believe I didn't know these existed sooner. I installed them on the rear of the hub, wound them out and just slid the hub onto the strut. Easy peasy!

So I worked through both sides, getting the refurbished wishbones on, brand new drop links and new ball joints.

I've left the wishbone bush bolts loose until the van is on the ground. I don't know if this is applicable with polyurethane bushes, but I'll stick to what I know.

I'm going to try clean up the front brakes a bit and see if the bleed nipples will play ball so I can flush some fresh fluid through there. As I posted before, both rear calipers are new, so I'd like to fully refurbish the front calipers and replace all the flexible brake hoses but that's for another time now.

Drained what was left of the old oil from the bevel gear. Looked very clean actually.

Drain plug had a little ferrous sludge on it though.

But that was cleaned up with some brake clean and old rags.

And my favourite trick for filling up gearboxes.

I put Millers Oils MTF 75w90 in the bevel gear.

 

[Bailes1992]

Then the gearbox oil was drained.

Weirdly, no magnet on the drain plug.

Set up my funnel and hose.

And the gearbox got Millers Oils MTF 75w80.

 

[CleanSump]

You are dedicated!
What tire is lying under the van? I kind of like the tread. I'm sorry if you posted the tires earlier, but if you did, I don't remember.

 

[meep]

You are dedicated!
What tire is lying under the van? I kind of like the tread. I'm sorry if you posted the tires earlier, but if you did, I don't remember.

I’m thinking that is a Yokohama geolandar G015. Excellent tire, an “on road all terrain.” One of my personal favorites. It’s being phased out and I’m not sure the replacement G018 will be as good.

 

[Bailes1992]

You are dedicated!
What tire is lying under the van? I kind of like the tread. I'm sorry if you posted the tires earlier, but if you did, I don't remember.

@meep got it in one! I was hoping they'd be a nice compromise between dry/wet handling, and being able to deal with light snow and mud. When I've got some miles on them, I should be able to advise how good they are!

Really are getting there now. I had another two hours today.

I prioritised the propshaft as it was the one thing that was a bit of an unknown for me. I'm pretty sure the rear CV joint to flange had never been removed. The bolts were scary, requiring lots of lube and lots of back and fore before they finally came out. And the prop flange was seized hard onto the CV joint itself. I got the bolts out and had to use a rather large lump hammer to get the old prop free of the Haldex unit input flange. It probably took me an hour alone of beating to get it out, but it did give in eventually!

I cleaned each bolt and bolt hole with a brass wire brush, brake clean and compressed air. The flanges and CV joints were cleaned where they mate together and given a very thin coat of Lanoguard grease. And the bolts had some blue Loctite applied to the threads.

Prop bolts out.

Very tired centre prop bearing.

New vs old prop.

New prop in.

I then moved on to the front O/S brakes. The front pads and discs have plenty of life, but I believe they are a good few years old. They have signs of corrosion likely due to the amount the van was sat with the previous owner. I've made a mental note that the front brakes need some TLC. The rubber slider bushings seem swollen and are missing the plastic rear dust cap, the pistons are corroded and all the rubber hoses seem to be the originals. Surprisingly though, the bleeder nipples came free! I wire brushed everything, including the pads and cleaned everything with brake clean and compressed air. Any sliding surfaces got Pagid Ceratec and the sliders got red rubber grease. I clamped the brake hose and opened the nipple while I retracted the piston, and glad I did. The fluid that came out was disgusting, and I wouldn't have wanted to be sending that back through the ABS pump etc. I finished off by flushing a further 200ml of fluid through the caliper until it ran perfectly clear.

Retracting the piston.

Ceratec for the sliding surfaces.

Sliders cleaned and greased.

The initial fluid that came out while I retracted the piston.

The fluid I was flushing out had a brown, rusty streak through it.

But did eventually clear up nicely.

 

[Bailes1992]

O/S all reassembled and ready to go.

And I even managed to get a wheel back on!

Hopefully, I'll be taking it for a drive tomorrow!

 

[BrianF]

Awesome!!!!!

 

[Bailes1992]

Out at lunchtime, pulled the N/S caliper, clamped the hose and opened the bleed nipple before retracting the piston.

The initial fluid drain actually looked okay, although did have some rusty lumps in it.

Again, much corrosion going on, but things looked okay after a through wire brush and a soak in brake clean.

And a repeat of last time.

Clean sliders.

And all reassembled with a little Pagid Ceratec on the sliding surfaces.

I then drained another 200ml out of this corner ensuring it ran nice and clean.

I then put the N/S wheel on, dropped the van on the floor, reinstalled the scuttle & wipers, had a final check for tightness and checked the tyre pressure.

And took it for it's first drive and wash in 5 months!

And 20miles or so later, it's back home!

I need to clean up this mess on my drive, and sort out my garage. Then decide what to do next.

 

[BrianF]

Fantastic job and one hell of an adventure! I hope it drives nice and serves you well. That is one complex yet cool van!

 

[CleanSump]

YAY!

 

[meep]

Love that it’s running again!!

 

[Bailes1992]

Back in my post from the 5th November I mentioned that there was an issue regarding a clean earth from the cluster which is used for various sensors that feed back into the cluster itself.

We are going to be doing ~500miles this week so felt it was probably prudent to have a working fuel gauge.

I popped out the instrument cluster to take a look.

And started disassembly.

I was hoping for something obvious. Maybe some corrosion, or burnt tracks, but all looked perfect.

Unfortunately, there isn't any PCB diagrams on Elsawin, so doing any testing on the board itself was a little out of my depth.

I noted on Elsawin though that there was a cluster earth two pins away from the failed sensor or 'sender earth'.

So I made a link between the two pins on the back of the connector and soldered in place.

The cluster itself was a bit scuffed, so I gave it a polish with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound.

50/50ish.

And done.

And cluster back in and fixed with a working fuel gauge and no more fan on full!

I consider this a temporary repair, although it does buy me some time to look at our options. You can install a 'highline' cluster with full trip computer and extra gauges or there's fully digital 'plug and play' options on AliExpress now for a few hundred quid. I think I prefer the analogue dials, so will probably try hunt down a highline cluster.

 

[svtrit]

I really appreciate your patience and attention to detail. I need to learn from your example.

I miss the cars that allow you to swap out upgraded parts. Nowadays you can’t swap out clusters without programming. Junk yard walks for upgrades aren’t as fun as they used to be.