Engine out.
 

I thought I would post a couple of pics of my car whilst it's at the local main dealer workshop here in Cheshire.
It had a big service at an Indy last week and whilst there a leaking vacuum pipe was found. Unfortunately the Indy needed the car for a week to do an engine out job. There is no courtesy car there and for the life of me I couldn't source a hire car.
So, on the insistence of my other half, I booked it into the main dealer who wants it for 3 days.
The engine/trans are out and the front of the car is off, along with the front suspension.
Surprisingly, the usual vac pipe to fail was ok but brittle, that was changed as a precaution. The pipe causing the problem was just on top of the gearbox casing and had a 1" split. Another adjacent vac pipe had completely come off the metal tube it was supposed to be attached to.
Whilst it is out, the engine has also had one new exhaust gas sensor and a new auxiliary pulley belt.
It will be an expensive few days but at least my car should run a bit stronger and hopefully last another 10 years or more.

Wow, thanks for the pics! They really pack quite a bit of, well, bits in there.

Yes, there sure are a lot of bits on there, the gearbox too.

All that for a split vacuum pipe?? Wow that's rough...

My thoughts exactly. A lot of expense for a twopenny bit piece of rubber pipe.
My total cost for the service and the remedial work will be around four and a half to five thousand pounds.
It was nice to be invited into the workshop to see what is involved though. Definitely not a job for the home mechanic, way too much involved. That's why, in a funny sort of way, I don't mind paying for the work.
Now, where's that old Balaclava got to!!

Yes telmun01, had the same problem in the 2007 GTC and, no, it is not an inexpensive fix. It is a known problem and seems to be happening to quite a few cars judging by posts here and elsewhere online. Bentley should at least help with labour costs as a show of good faith imho.

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WoW....what a job but peace of mind for many years to come.

Do you have any photos of the vac lines?

Thanks
J

Wow that's incredible. Sorry to hear you guys have to deal with that issue, good luck with it!

Sorry, no, I stupidly didn't think to take a picture of the vac' pipes. Having said that, there is nothing an average mechanic could do about it anyway.
I have removed, rebuilt and refitted many a V8, etc, but know this job is way beyond me without all of the special lifting gear and muscle power. The front suspension removal would be a major job in itself, then refitting would required proper realignment.
As we all know, taking things to pieces is easy. It's putting them back together that's hard.

Les.

Lord what a nightmare! That's a lot of $ for a rubber hose replacement.:(

Here is another picture. The Vac' pipes are the ones on top of the gearbox with the black arrow.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...237eb279dc.jpg

Les.

Thanks for the pic, I was hoping to see the pipe itself. Still blown away by that!

If it was an older, high mileage, low value car, could you not cut the floor / transmission tunnel to get access to these pipes?

Back in the day lots of people did this on Jaguars to get access to the inboard rear brake calipers.

Thanks for the photo Les.

Could operate on the area with some laparoscopic instruments?

J

Found this excellent video of the GT clearing showing the hissing from a smoke test and after video with replacement metal vac lines.

Indy in this video commented vac lines are a common problem from 2004 to early 2006 but some of our 2007 members also have this problem. Did Bentley ever resolve this problem before the new model came out?

Interesting videos...
 

After viewing both, I found the Part 1 video segment, which shows the vacuum pump location.

Have not heard of an 08 or newer having the problem.... yet time will tell.

Well, I hope that none of you have this problem.
The price at the main dealer to fix it was £3,554. Although that did include a new exhaust gas sensor, new auxiliary pulley belt and a new paddle shift control unit.
That was on top of the £1,895 I paid the week previously for an 8 year service which included two new cam sensors, a new door mirror and a new boot release button plus MOT test.

All in all, a costly few days. Unfortunately, the paddle shift still has the same fault, so I guess I didn't need a new £354 control unit. The main dealer now reckons it may be a wiring problem. I had already told them that it was intermittent so am surprised they didn't check the wiring first. He said the original control unit was faulty anyway so I have no comeback. As I needed the car for a trip away I had to take it as it is.

It's a pity that the Indy was too busy to repair my car at the time, it would have saved me a lot of cash. I think he will get my full patronage from now on though.

Les.

Tbh the charge for dealer repair isn't too bad! Considering how many parts have to be removed they could charge you 5G easily.

Indication(s) of problem
 

As I own an '07 GTC - this plastic vac line issue concerns me. Would you please state your initial observation(s) that a problem existed which would
require a repair. Thank you.

Loss of power... Engine stumbles... engine light turns on. I noticed a loss in power when first getting the GTC and seems it took a bit longer for the light/problem to truly rear their ugly head. If I had not had a previous GT, one would probably not notice the loss of power before things get too bad and thus stumble/engine light.


Have a smoke test done on the car.

Hello People,
I am glad that the videos I posted have helped people see the issues these cars have had.
The vacuum line configuration has changed in mid 2006 and up. There are other areas on newer models that have leaked from the plastic connectors cracking, I will post pictures soon. A good way to perform a quick check is to start the engine and open the drivers door,( so you can hear the vacuum pump ) count how many times you pump the brake pedal until the pump kicks on. It should be at least 3-5 pumps to kick the pump on. If you can hear the pump run all the time and never kick off, you might have a vacuum leak.

And for us Brits, it's the passenger door. The pump is behind the left front wing/fender.

I only became aware of the problem when the Indy doing the service found it.
I'm glad Bentley seem to have addressed the problem on later cars.

Parts to be replaced?
 

Does anyone have part numbers that needs to be replaced?

3W1612041S Vacuum Pipe $355.55

So only 1 line not 2 or 3? I have 06 GT. Just spoke to dealer in the area, he said that 3W1612041S fits 08+ GT's and he hasn't sold any this year, however the one that fits my car is 3W1612041M and list is $505.33 and he has sold 3 this year. Any idea if there is any aftermarket hoses?

No idea, yet what I posted is the hose they changed on my receipt for an 07 GTC.

i think it is recommended to change the starter while the engine is out

Thank you

Wish i knew about this common leak problem before we put the engine back in the car a month ago :(

I have just remembered that as well as the pipe that had split, there was another pipe on the same assembly that had simply slipped off the metal tube.
An utterly crap design in my opinion and one which I could have done better myself.