V70 Graham's relentless pursuit of perfection!

[V70 Graham]

Well it's going to be a busy few weeks coming up for me, a couple of jobs that need doing will hopefully be done (with minimal agro)

Cars not looking too bad at present.....





.....but there are a few things I need to do, first up is an air con service/re gas which is booked in for tomorrow at 1700 couldn't get a Protyre near me that did air con so didn't get the £30.00 special mrp got at the weekend, still £44.99 for the guy to come round the house doesn't seem to bad.

Thursday at 0900 is the Terraclean :

http://www.vpcuk.org/forums/showthre...ght=terraclean

Got a few other little jobs in the pipeline as well I'll keep you posted.

[oblark]

Your car looks like it`s just come off the production line

[stribo]

Good to see it without bird poo.

[M-R-P]

Lovely, lovely car Keep us posted on the aircon and terraclean thingy mate, It'll be interesting to know how that cleaning thingy affects the car.

[V70 Graham]

Your car looks like it`s just come off the production line

Thanks, it will still look the same.....well almost

[V70 Graham]

Good to see it without bird poo.

Hahaha.....I dare not come anywhere near you without checking now !

[V70 Graham]

Lovely, lovely car Keep us posted on the aircon and terraclean thingy mate, It'll be interesting to know how that cleaning thingy affects the car.

Will do, as you say it will be interesting to see if it makes much of a difference.

[Harvey]

Looking great

[d2k]

that is one 'pristine' motor Graham.......


be interested to hear about any improvements this 'Terraclean' system delivers..

[V70 Graham]

.....be interested to hear about any improvements this 'Terraclean' system delivers.....

Will give a full report Thursday, if you have any questions you'd like me to ask let me know.

[V70 Graham]

Aircon Service :

Right, after mrp had his aircon serviced at the weekend, it got me thinking, only had the car a while but wasn't sure when the a/c was last looked at, this coupled with the Mrs (Nobber72) saying our 'other car' (Golf 2.0 TDi) "Didn't seem as cold as it used to be" had me trawling the interweb.

Our local Protyre didn't do a/c so I surveyed local company's then happened upon this lot :

http://www.wechillanycar.com/#!HOME/mainPage

I called up on Monday and was told someone could come to the house and do both cars Wednesday at 1700
Whilst out last night with my Dad he said that he had never had his a/c looked at and would I mind asking them when they arrived if they could fit his in as well.

1705 this evening Mike arrived and was very accomodating by saying the extra car wouldn't be a problem.
Now when I say a service they really do get looked at, gas is analysed, temperatures are taken, old refrigerant is removed and weighed, system is pressurised to check for leaks, vacumed to remove air and moisture, new oils are injected, system is regassed and temperatures taken again !

Luckily none of our cars had any leaks, the Volvo had 350 grams of refrigerant and 4 grams of oil, this was topped up to 800 grams and 12 grams (P2's take 1000g)
The Golf had 250 grams and 1 gram, topped up to 525 grams and 10 grams

But the star of the day was my Dad's 2002 never looked at before Fiat Punto.....after 10 years it still had 320 grams and 7 grams ! topped up to 525 grams and 10 grams

To sum up Mike was a star, he has 22 years experience, explains anything and everything, and is a nice guy as well.

There are 6 of them working for the company and they cover anywhere within Greater London and the Home Counties (inc Essex ) Normal cost £49.99 and they will come to your home or work at a time to suit you, 2+ cars got ours down to a very reasonable £44.99 per car, full printout included, only thing to note is they don't take cards (to keep the costs down).

Overall 10/10 really couldn't fault the service.

[M-R-P]

Glad you had a good result mate. It was nice having they guy pop out from time to time, giving me updates.
Big question... has it made a difference?

[V70 Graham]

Big question... has it made a difference?

Big difference, I had under half the amount of refrigerant I should have, nice and cold now, and in the Mrs good books

[M-R-P]

That's what counts... brownie points to be collected upon later...

[V70 Graham]

Terraclean

Ok as some of you know I was booked in the is morning at 0900 at Performance Tuning in Stoke Poges nr Slough for the V70 to have the Terraclean treatment, here's how I got on.....

Pulled into Jags place and was met by Geoffrey, waiting for me, he guided me into the garage and set to work.



He already knew from working on doorman's car that he needed to disconnect the fuel pump from the tank so it was a simple boot empty and undo the wiring.



He then set to work under the bonnet connecting the Terraclean machine to the fuel rail with an adaptor whilst pressurising the machine and attaching the 'magic' cans.
When the machine was ready it was connected to the car and the engine was started.....and that was it !
Now all we had to do was wait.....



The whole process once the car was connected and running took about 25 mins, and it was during this time I asked Geoffrey a few questions, he seemed very knowledgeable and even admitted he seemed dubious that the system worked when he first started using it !
They have had their machine for about 6 months now and since the 'Wheeler Dealer' programme this side of their work has increased and he has 6 in total to do today, they cover petrol and deisel engines and the prices are as follows :

Petrol under 2 litres : £75.00 plus vat
Petrol over 2 litres : £95.00 plus vat

Diesel cars and small vans : £95.00 plus vat
Diesel large vans/trucks : poa

I asked him if a simple injector clean in conjunction with using 'V-Power' would achieve the same results, to which he replied that the Terraclean system is quicker and there is no risk of damaging any injectors (whilst removing etc) along with the fact that it cleans them just as well.
One point to note is that they don't have an emissions machine on site, though he did say if I wanted a proper before and after we could run down to the local MOT garage and have readings taken, at this point the fuel pump had been disconnected and the machine set up so I didn't bother, though he was quite happy to do so should I have wished.
Another point I brought up was that on older engines with increased wear was there a risk of leaks/damage to the engine once all the carbon had been removed, I was told that they have used the machine on several older cars with no problems and Terraclean themselves will repair any damage caused by the process.
Ah but that Jag on the programme was cold I said, the cats didn't have time to warm up and start to work properly though I had him there, till he said that they recommend that the process is done on an engine where everything has had time to warm up.

Once the machine had finished it's witchcraft, it was disconnected, fuel pump plugged back in and the boot trims put back in place, payment was made, less a healthy discount of £20.00 for my trouble turning up last week when they were having problems with a BMW and I had to re-schedule.

Now for the drive home, had it made ANY difference ?

Well the answer to that has to be a big YES

Now my engine has only done 59,000 miles and the car was running very well before the treatment, but as soon as I got onto the main road I noticed a big improvement in throttle response, everytime I touched the pedal there seemed to be an instant reply, car was pulling better all through the range, I was impressed.
Obviously it's too early to tell if there is any improvement in fuel economy, I will keep a close eye on that and report back soon.

To sum up, would I recommend you have this done to your car, yes I would, I can also recommend Performance Tuning UK who also service/tune/remap all makes of car :

http://www.performancetuninguk.co.uk/index.html

Overall 9/10 maybe an on site emissions testing machine, otherwise a very professional set up.

[M-R-P]

Good writeup there Graham. It's definitely something I could do in the future, when Ive worked out my little clutch problem

[timbo]

Graham, thanks for this review mate, top write up! Helped me make my mind up as mines got 190K on the clock! Might take the stress out of MOT (emissions test) time! And if a few extra ponies/MPG's are released into the deal its a no-brainer!

[y2blade]

Great write-up Graham, thanks

[oblark]

Good writeup there Graham. It's definitely something I could do in the future, when Ive worked out my little clutch problem

Aren't you going to let me loose on your engine & box ?

[M-R-P]

Tempting mate, waiting on a few more quotes.
Are you sure you'd want to? P2s have bigger, heavier bits with more wires to contend with. Won't be as simple as an 850 clutch