I chased a PCV heater fault for a couple of weeks. Those little connectors in the air inlet pipe are a real PITA.

 

Yeah I still don't really know what they're for, like I guess to prevent any situation where there's ice buildup, but it doesn't make sense that large port is basically to pull vacuum on the system, and the other tube has a check valve only lets air back into the crankcase, and for some reason that changes depending on year and market. The whole PCV system is wild.

 

PCV heater code hasn't come back.

I know my vacuum hand pump leaks since changing the gauge - probably why the reading was low before.

I bought a new vacuum gauge, it measures the car's vac pump at 26.5inHg using the janky vacuum line tee/tap setup above, which likely leaks a bit.
Press the brake pedal - Gauge drops 5inHg
Recovery back to 26.5inHg takes approximately 15 seconds.
Based on the Pelican article above, the pump is good.

Trying to find time to drive the car a bit, and diagnose the AC issue before I do a 7 hour drive in this car on Wed. Hoping it's something to do with the wiring for the compressor clutch, as that's the only thing I touched (other than the evaporator when I was installing the FMIC, but I don't know how I could've done anything to that...)

 

No power to the compressor connector (X1936-1) when AC is on. Suspected I messed up a wire trying to get the FMIC installed.

Guess I'll figure out where that wire goes before I cut all the insulation off:


A4010 is the junction box behind the access panel in the passenger footwell.

No power at X11007-9 (Front edge, middle connector, white wire)
Fuse 24 in this panel has power.

So something is wrong with one of:
K19 Relay
IHKA
Or some input to the IHKA (bad sensor, low refrigerant, some other error)

Not super pumped.

 

I don't know if INPA will pull IHKA codes.
I assume it will, but I don't know if I have a working INPA install right now.
Anyway, I poked the AC valve and there's nothing in there.

I think this is semi-my fault because the driver side hasn't had a cap since I bought the car. Meant to grab one at a junkyard but kept forgetting and now I think the valve is dead.

 

$300 later, No leak found, but AC charged and working. Dye in system if it leaks again.

Brought this car to my Wife's family reunion for her cousin to drive his family around while we were up there. Car performed as close to flawlessly as can be expected.
Exhaust smacks the bumper cutout on bumps, one of the license plate lights died again, and my aux/bluetooth/power setup no longer works unless positioned perfectly, but that's it.










Still fighting the boost oscillation issue... more troubleshooting yet to go as detailed in another thread. I'll crosspost the resolution if I find it lol.

 

R56 has been on the back burner for a bit.
Kid, House project, finishing garage, and bought a Discovery 4/LR4 that needed a month and a half worth of fixing/waiting on parts over Christmas.
Working from home/when I leave I usually have my little one, so rarely have a chance to drive this thing.

Sat here at the back of the driveway for a bit. One of the first frosty mornings of the year made a cool pattern on the roof.


Winter wheels back on, R108s and X-Ice Snows. Unfortunately the tires are leaking air around the valve stems because the R108s are corroded. I explained the problem and had them re-mounted by Costco. They claimed to fix it, but basically said it's not their problem if it happens again - fair enough, but they also did not fix the leak lol.


So it ended up at the back of the driveway again.


And back out.


I maybe drove the car 5 times over the winter, and it put up well with sitting even without a battery tender for a month+ at a time and runs the same as it always has.

The one noteworthy thing is that today I noticed the 3rd brake light isn't working.
Popped the umbilical boot off inside the hatch and two wires have cracked insulation but no corrosion or damage to the wires.
It might work intermittently, the bulb warning comes on sometimes (I thought it was license plate lights) and not others.

Hoping next month brings some changes that allow me to use this thing more because it really is a fun driving experience.

 

I'm looking at similar flowform wheels for my R56 MCS. It seems like the 17x8 and 225's needed a spacer and if I'm calculating correctly, your offset after the spacer is 22mm (am I calc'ing that correctly?).
I'm looking at going with 215s. Do you think that avoids the need for the spacer?
Do you get fender rub?
This set up also seems to create positive scrub do you notice a problem there or have you don't something to mitigate? I'm hoping to do some autocross with my son this summer and need to get rid of the run flats!! ugh!

 

Mine are Konig Dekagrams, 17x8 ET45
Tires are General G-Max RS in 225/45R17
Tire rubs the strut without a spacer up front, so I have a 3-5mm spacer to give it enough space to clear (so ~ET40 final offset up front). With this spacer, there's no rub.
Rear doesn't rub at all unless there's a lot of weight in the back - I had 450lb worth of people in the front seats and a 300lb dude in the back, plus some luggage, and we rubbed over bumps, but it is just on the wheel arch trim, and you could probably clearance it.

A few things worth mentioning:
Car is on a Bilstein B12 Pro-Kit, so it's a little lower than stock, but probably higher than any other aftermarket spring.
Tires are 5% Oversize, so that could contribute to the rubbing in the rear. I kind of regret buying these 5% oversize and I think it would feel/drive better with a smaller diameter tire.

If my 10PM math checks out, I think scrub is moving +8mm but I think the main handling/steering feel difference comes from the tires being oversized.
With a 215 you might get away without a spacer unless that tire just happens to run wide in that size.

 

Gotcha, I thought I read 25 offset. The ones I'm looking at are 25 offset so, moves them away from the struts. I should be ok on the outside and I'm at stock ride height. I may go with 205 to be safe. It's mainly going to be my wife's car for scooting around the city so I don't want it to be a bother. Eventually it'll get coil overs but probably stay close to stock ride height. Thanks

 

I changed the oil back in June before I went on a work trip for the month of July, I think I was 4000km over the interval (well, my 10k km self imposed interval) I noticed the oil was halfway down the lower bulb on the dipstick and 2L was all that drained. 2-3 weeks before, the dipstick was at half

Substantial leak underneath. I was thinking RMS, but @njaremka pointed out it's probably the OFH gasket (which now seems correct, good call.)



My au pair is basically the exclusive driver of this car at the moment since I rarely go anywhere without my kid, so I just crossed my fingers that it wouldn't run dry while I was gone. (Thankfully it didn't)

AC also was dead when I tried it this summer. I know the low pressure side valve leaks, so I decided to replace the valve and charge it myself.
Before I left, I bought a bunch of small parts and went to fix the AC once I returned, but with the cap missing for who knows how long, the valve was corroded solidly in place and snapped off - so I was back to the "Replace the pipe" plan.
Ebay had a reasonably priced used one, but their useless "global shipping" program took a month to get it here, so I only started tearing it apart today.



Before I get any further, this is a really shitty job. If the car is rusty, good luck. I've had the upper heat shield off a handful of times, so I slotted the lower holes to make it easy to remove and have anti-seize everywhere.
The lower one is just so hard to get at, you have very little room to manoeuvre a ratchet in there, and those lower downpipe bolts were a pain - one just spins in the bracket...

Anyway, once I had the downpipe off, I had a long look at the wastegate flapper, and it is very floppy. The bushing in the turbine housing is toast. I really think this is my boost issue that I've been chasing my tail over for the past few years.
I have a replacement flapper, and I spare turbo/housing if I need it.
Stripped the upper Turbo-Manifold bolt, so I pulled the whole turbo/manifold:



Hoping to find another day later this week to keep going...

 

Having done this job on two different vehicles, I'll say it's really just so much easier to put the car in service position. Seems many people are hesitant to do this if they haven't done so before, but honestly it's not that complicated and it actually SAVES you time and frustration on repairs like this. The first time I did this, on my (deceased) R58S, I began with the idea of not putting in service position. But when I got halfway through, I just said ****** it because there is so little room in there, and the 30-45 minutes of extra 'work/time' seemed irrelevant....and guess what, it actually WAS irrelevant. It opens up so much access and allows you to see things you can't see with the front end assembled.

 

Yeah you nailed it.
I watched a video of someone saying it was "doable, just be patient" so I knew it was possible.
I also saw the instructions (maybe the TIS) to put the car in the service position at one point in the past and the only thing I remember was that it looked like a lot of steps - I have no idea how much work it actually is.

Doing it without, some fasteners and connectors are very difficult to get at. You need to remove the aux water pump+bracket from the OFH if you don't have the car in service mode (or you can remove the manifold/turbo). I could not even see the two bolts that connect that bracket to the OFH.

 

Like you, I thought it was 'a lot of steps' to put in service position, so tried to avoid. But in practice, it's really not that much. I like to just take the entire fender liner out, instead of just folding it back - gives me a chance to inspect and remove the debris wedged behind it as well. I'm always amazed that the bumper cover goes back on easily.