01 SEAT Cordoba 1.4 petrol

[Burnerman]

Noise wise its almost impossible to tell, but check that the disc pads have anti rattle shims in place, and also lever up and down any suspension joints that you can find.
Pay particular to the bottom wishbones, where they point backwards into their large rubber bush....these are notorious for deteriorating.
As for extraction kits, I have a Sealey one that runs from my compressor - I don't know if the hand pumped ones have a large enough capacity?
Anyway, I prefer the sump plug out, oil hot method....you get more old oil out that way.
John

 

[Mursal]

Any word on the test, or did I miss that bit?

Don't worry about the rattle they probably wont pass you on the first visit anyway, (a good revenue stream) so let then find the rattle for you?

Sealey with the hand pump works well, or if the previous owner has a hole in the tray under the engine do what John recommends and pull out the plug.

 

[madder]

Test is tomorrow afternoon. I'll report back once it's done. I'd expect it to fail first go like they usually do! Lets hope it's in good shape though.

 

[madder]

Just back from the test centre. Got some visual defect fails which I had expected anyway, such as wiper blade and rear tyre thread. I had decided to run it through before changing the tyres. Also got a visual defect fail on my rear view mirror which has some damage to the casing but it has no impact on what I see when I drive, so I was surprised that it failed on that. But the bigger concern was a fail on the brake test.

The report says that the front axle is 7% off balance which passed, the rear axle was 39% off. So it failed on the rear imbalance.
Now the tester said it could be a cylinder, or it could be a simple adjustment. I'm going to be getting the back tyres replaced anyway, so I'll get the balance done then.

The full Rear Axle report says:

Brake Effort Nearside - 1.350KN, offside - 0.830KN
Ovality nearside - 11%, offside - 22%
Imbalance - 39%.

Do those figures suggest ''simple adjustment'' or ''Cylinder problem?''.

If it is relevant, the parking brake passed also. 1.220KN nearside and 1.130KN offside, 7% imbalance.

If it is a simple adjustment, then I'm happy with the test!

Everything else passed!

 

[Burnerman]

What you need to do is to pop both rear drums off, and inspect the condition of the brake shoes both for wear and contamination.
Be prepared to fit new shoes!
Peel back the cylinder rubber dust seals. If there's fluid there then they are on their way out. Check that the pistons are free....tap one piston in with a hammer and the other one should move out.
This done, I like to pull the shoes away from the backplate, and lubricate the contact points with a little grease.
The rear shoes are self adjusting, but these don't always work. They can be turned manually if need be.
Before all this, however you may want to jack both wheels off the ground, apply the handbrake and see if the drag on each wheel is approximately equal - and that the wheels release when you take the handbrake off.
I can't comment about the drum ovality as I don't know if this is within limits - but I suspect it is. Others may know!
John

 

[madder]

Ovality is way below fail threshold so that is good. The tester himself said ''either cylinder or simple balance adjustment when changing the tyres''. How expensive would the bigger job be? :/

 

[Burnerman]

Either way its not a big job to sort, and once its done its good for ages.
If the shoes are contaminated, replace them. If the cylinders are leaking or seized, replace them too.
The shoes should be replaced as an axle set (naturally), the cylinders may be replaced individually.
If you are doing this yourself, do one side at a time - that way you can see where things go when you forget.....but you look at a mirror image!
Pop a pic of the self adjusters.....they may be toothed quadrant type, or round ones where one end unscrews - I can't remember which.
John

 

[Mursal]

From the figures the weaker wheel (causing imbalance) is the drivers side rear. As above, hopefully you wont have to touch the cylinders, just free out and adjust.
Just go steady if you do it yourself, there is quite a bit of kit in the brake drums. Springs, auto adjuster etc, etc. Take a few pictures to help putting the springs back into the correct holes.

And do one side at a time

But, it looks like a very good test result

 

[madder]

I don't think I will try the main repair myself. I've never tried anything even close to it before, so it might be best to drop it into the local auto repair shop(atlas autos) and get them to do it when they're doing the tyres.
But the result in general seems good. Happy enough. Shocked actually, that there doesn't seem to be something to explain the strange noise I am getting. Very surprised too at how well the emissions tested.

Thanks for the advice. And you know, since we've been through this much together, I'll let you know what happens when I leave it in to Atlas next week!

 

[Burnerman]

Curiously enough rattle wise, not all suspension joints are tested (drop links etc) and the rest can be down to what the tester can see.
After all, he can see a broken spring but he can't see the swivel bearing at the top of the strut; the wheel bearings may have no play but can whine like hell due to wear, if the shock absorbers are gas filled, then they can't visibly leak......the list goes on.
No matter - we'd like to hear the eventual result!
Be lucky
John

 

[Mursal]

Ask the lads to have a quick look for the cause of the rattle when they have it on the lift, you can always leave it back to get it fixed after the test.

 

[madder]

Bringing it down to atlas autos on tuesday so we'll know soon enough!
Today when I was stopped at the traffic lights, I noticed the noise(as from the youtube clip I posted a couple of pages back) was there, so I revved, with the clutch engaged and it got worse. So that tells us that it is not a wheels moving noise. It seems to be coming from the engine.

 

[Burnerman]

Uuuurgh thats a different issue altogether.....
Test - does the rattle get worse if the car is in neutral, clutch pedal up - and gets quieter pedal down?
Next, slip off the auxiliary drive belts - this will rule out the alternator and power steering pump, both of which have noises of their own.
I do think you need to get to the bottom of this one.
John

 

[madder]

I would say it is quite random. When it starts, if I accelerate more it gets louder/worse. I have not noticed it in neutral before, but i will pay attention to that from now on. I was stopped at the lights the other day, in first gear, clutch engaged and I heard it starting, and so I revved a little and it got worse, as usual. I would say in a weird sort of way that it sounds (the noise)''electrical''. I cannot explain why I think that, but it kind of sounds static like only much rougher and deeper.

 

[Burnerman]

You don't think its an exhaust issue, do you......the heat shields around the catalytic converter / exhaust pipes being loose or similar?
John