What did you do to your MKIV today?

Blacktree

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Location
Central FL
TDI
'02 Jetta 5-spd
Since I don’t have any on now, could that be that I continue to have vibration on the wheel even after alignment and balancing!?!?
I don't know what wheels are on your car right now, so I'm not sure. The stock VW wheels are hub centric (i.e. the hole in the wheel fits snugly over the hub). But a lot of aftermarket wheels are not. That's where the hub centric rings come in. Because if there's a gap between the hub and the wheel, it's almost guaranteed the wheel will be off-center. You can't count on the wheel bolts to accurately center the wheel.
 

DMan1198

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2017
Location
Slave Lake, AB
TDI
02 VW Jetta
I guess spring comes earlier in Alberta than in Minnesota. I'm waiting two more weeks to swap out the winter tires.
You just had to go, and jinx it didn’t you.



I’ve been really pleased with these cooper zeon rs3-g1’s wet/slushy road performance. Did a 2nd gear pull in ~2 inches of slush, and they didn’t break traction at all. Also fuelled up this morning, and averaged 45.7mpg.
 

BakoTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 5, 2005
Location
Bakersfield, CA
TDI
Jetta, MK7
You can't count on the wheel bolts to accurately center the wheel.
so yesterday, while watching Tiger make a historic comeback, I just had to go into the garage and take off a wheel to check if all this time (practically since 2005ish) I had been driving my aftermarket wheels without hub centric rings, and YES, I have been. Did some research and took quick measurements and it seems like I'm in need of some. I measured 2 1/4inches of OD on the hub, which translates to roughly 57.1mm and the wheels' bore diameter is 2 3/4in, roughly 69.85mm. So I will be making phone calls today to get myself a set!!!



Has anyone measured theirs?
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
If you put the wheel on by progressively tightening the lug bolts it'll center without a ring, no problem.
 

jason_

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2014
Location
michigan
TDI
2015 s wagon dsg
Regardless, never rely on lugs to carry vehicle weight.


The hub is supposed to do that, the lugs keep the rim over the hub....

You're asking for trouble not having the hub carry thousands of pounds....

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IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I can't tell you how many people at race tracks don't use hubcentric rings. I usually did, but not 100% of the time. I guess we're all lucky.
 

BakoTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 5, 2005
Location
Bakersfield, CA
TDI
Jetta, MK7
Regardless, never rely on lugs to carry vehicle weight.
Should be ordering some today. Measured them again just to make sure I got the right size. I can understand how it could be dangerous




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tdidieselbobny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Stafford,NY (WNY)
TDI
'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
Well, finally got around to some maintenance. Put all 4 corners on jackstands. Took battery and tray out, found the different tray for bigger battery at junkyard last month. Been having slow crank during some recent colder snaps, with the new battery, so off with the starter and in with the new Chinese one(yeah, yeah). One I took out had Bosch stamped on end, so may be original(if it is,not bad for 434k miles). Draining the Amsoil filter good,keep sucking oil out. I've got all the lines for bypass off, need to get one out of valve cover when I change that out, will be selling bypass kit. Discovered a coolant leak on left side of block, it runs down seam of tranny/engine block when running:mad:. Tried tightening coolant glow plug block, still tight. Don't see any rust on the coolant hardpipe. Replaced cloth vaccum lines with what I had, I didn't have any more of the bigger diameter hose, so I left that be. I hope I rehooked everything up correctly, there are 2 valves mounted on firewall-the one closest to passenger side looks similar to one on driver side, but doesn't have lines coming off the 2 nipples on the left side like the other one, and I can't remember if I removed any from that valve:(( it does have egr delete). Took all 4 winter tires off, will be putting summer tires on. Decided to swap out headlight housings, I got a brand new aftermarket set with car when I bought it. The housings themselves and covers have the Hella insignia, but they melted the center of insignia off:confused::confused:. Bought some Sylvania ZXE 9007 bulbs to go in them. Bumper cover was treat to remove, the left front torx bolt underneath decided to just spin and spin,so I took screwdiver and tapped all the way around it to get cover off over head. Had to pick up another bolt for skidplate today,need to find a washer now. Once I get back on ground I'll change the valve cover and try to get fitting out for the bypass kit, probably continue on Weds to finish it up....
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
Should be ordering some today. Measured them again just to make sure I got the right size. I can understand how it could be dangerous

Bako,

Your lugs hold the wheel, not that little lip. Just torque them evenly
and like IBW said, you'll have no problems.

What I suspect you may have with aftermarket wheels is the wrong
lug seat. There are 2 types, cone and ball. It they used the VW ball seat bolts in a cone seat,
and did not torque them evenly, you could have squashed/misshapen seats/countersink in the wheel.

I ran into this on a set of aftermarket wheels, bought the correct
countersink (60 degree IIRC) and reamed the wheels and then installed CONE seat bolts.

Yes, I did also get some plastic concentric wheel adapters,
but that's more a convenience factor when installing. The wheel
will hang on the lip while you get the lug bolts started.
Or, what I use is a long metric bolt with the head cut off of
the appropriate thread as a "hanger". This keeps my wheel
spacers aligned with the hub holes, and saves some confusion
when installing my wheels, which have 10 holes drilled.
One set of 5 is 5x100, the other 5x112.

My advice is to check that the lug bolts and seats in the wheel are matched.
 

JDSwan87

Black Swamp Thing
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Location
Michigan near Toledo
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 5 speed Lagoon Blue Metallic(sold); 2005 Jetta TDI Wagon auto
Should be ordering some today. Measured them again just to make sure I got the right size. I can understand how it could be dangerous




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Ebay... nice and cheap... but effective
 

Daysul

Active member
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Location
Southern California
TDI
2003 Golf GLS TDI
I got the DieselGeek MK4 Shifter bushing kit installed yesterday. Huge improvement! I'm no longer struggling to get it into gear. I also swapped out my interior LED lights for some new ones. I put some LED's in it about 7 years ago when I first got the car, and they were honestly complete ****. It's amazing how much LED lights have improved since then.

Now I need to set some time aside to get the sigma-5 short shifter installed :D
 

BakoTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 5, 2005
Location
Bakersfield, CA
TDI
Jetta, MK7
Bako,
What I suspect you may have with aftermarket wheels is the wrong
lug seat. There are 2 types, cone and ball.
The wheel will hang on the lip while you get the lug bolts started.
Or, what I use is a long metric bolt with the head cut off of
the appropriate thread as a "hanger". This keeps my wheel
spacers aligned with the hub holes, and saves some confusion
when installing my wheels.

My advice is to check that the lug bolts and seats in the wheel are matched.
Yeah, it's such a pain to try and get the wheel back on without any studs...I honestly had not even thought of a bolt of the same thread size and remove the head and use that as a hanger. I did see the tool that metalnerd has for that, but a boltwill do the exact same thing. Thanks!!






Here are the two lug nut types...will definitely check.



Ebay... nice and cheap... but effective
I did find another website that has all kinds of options, but Ebay might be my first option.
https://us.hubcentric-rings.com
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
Bako,

You got the idea man! A ball lug will tighten up in a straight taper
countersink, but the alloy of the wheel will distort and shift.
Ham handed use of an impact gun can easily cause damage.

I had a flat in Georgia and took the wheel in to a local shop.
Turned out the inner sidewall got chewed up, and I bought
a second hand tire. Turned my back on the tech and he was
outside "installing" my repaired wheel. My spare is a VW
wheel, which I had carefully installed my ball lugs on.
This guy was buzy slamming them into my cone seat wheel
with a big impact rattle gun.


"Hey! Where's your torque wrench?"
"A what?"
"Get 'em outa' there!" I grabbed my handy breaker bar and
couldn't move 'em.

I gave him the bar and said "You get 'em off."
He had a helluva time.

Once off, I installed my hanger, slipped the wheel on, finger
started the right cone head lugs, and finished off with my
torque wrench set to 85#s.

The cracker said, " I never seen a torque wrench like that."
His buddy was watching by now with some interest.

I just rolled my eyes, paid my $40 and left. I wasn't going to drive
the 1000 miles home without a spare, but frankly my spare is in
better shape than the "fix". This incidentally is not the first time
I've had to teach tire "techs" about proper torquing.

Replacement tire on its way from Tire Rack. And I will be checking
the seats when it goes on the rim, still got the tooling.
 

Cptcrnch

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Location
FredCo MD
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI wagon; 2014 Golf TDI (buyback 7/26/17)
Fixed my speedometer issue. The problem was when with the headlights off the speedo would sometimes not work but with the headlights on it worked all of the time so I guessed it was electrical in nature. The car had a 5spd swap done to it to a manual trans VSS had to be wired in. I traced the ground wire to under the battery, cleaned the ground, and no change. I traced the yellow wire through the firewall and to the cluster. I pulled the cluster out and found the problem. Several pins at the connector on the cluster were all sorts of gunked up with corrosion with the worst being the VSS wire. I sprayed it down with contact cleaner and applied a little dielectric grease and the issue is gone.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Fixed a broken wire to my A/C compressor.
 

TwinTurboKen

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Location
ID, USA
TDI
04 Jetta 5-spd TDI
timing belt, tensioner, idler, water pump, serp belt, engine oil/filter change, front and rear brake pads and rotors, and a tire rotation.

Next will be glow plugs. they are stuck and being stubborn, so have an air hammer socket adapter coming today to give pneumatic vibration assistance to get them out without breaking them.

edit: forgot to add... drilled some more holes in the plastic POS covers under the car and zip-tie stitched it back together so it is no longer scraping on every bump going down the road. :D Just have to re-zip tie it the next time I change the oil. screws would be nice, but the place where the screw clips go all up and down the right side is broken. zip ties are the only thing that hold the right side in place now. Eventually will likely get a panzer plate with metal sides, but until I can afford that...zip-ties will have to do lol.
 
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SKI-R

Active member
Joined
Apr 20, 2008
Location
Canmore, Alberta
TDI
'03 Jetta GLS TDI, '02 Golf TDI
Lifted the old girl...

Not only today, needed a couple days..... New Koni Reds, Poly rear beam bushings, new control arms with poly bushings, VR6 springs up front, 'tow' springs out back, all new hardware, 1" Evolution lift.....then counterintuitively (because it attaches to the shock mounts so low) - Neuspeed adjustable RSB. Racked up enough miles to justify an alignment - right rear camber is out of spec, but that just means routine tire rotation - happy so far, we'll see after I get some bigger rubber mounted up.



 
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Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
The only A4 I've ever driven had a stalk light switch, not the in dash rotary switch. If it's the in dash one I'd imagine it would
 

hitman1985

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Location
Clarksville, TN
TDI
02 Jetta TDI ALH
Well I finally did the dreaded swap. Now I think back and wonder why I held off this long .... Mkv flat bottom in with custom loom... Total time; 25 min. Most of it spent making a darn harness. Now I've got at least 5 harnesses to rid off :p


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Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
That steering wheel is actually pretty neat, what's it out of? Do all functions work?
 

kidflyr

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2019
Location
"Behind the Redwood Curtain" Boulder Creek, CA
TDI
2003 Golf ALH
Mailed out my injectors to receive some DLC 764 nozzles yesterday.

Today I pulled the front bumper for the first time to replace the stock intercooler with the AARodriguez unit. More oil dribbled out of the original intercooler than I expected, as I had mopped it out two weeks ago with shop towels, but it streamed then dribbled out for 15 seconds or so. Tough to estimate volume, but it was enough to concern me. I'll be setting up an "agricultural strainer" catch can and monitoring quantity and origin of any oil making its way to the intake tract.

If a turbocharger oil leak turns out to be the culprit, it may expedite my upgrade plans :D
 
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STDOUBT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Location
Portland, effing Oregon
TDI
dos jettas
Finally had time for a "car day" (there's never enough).
Took my battery out so I could easily get to the starter motor.
Since my starter is pretty new, I had the idea that I should somehow protect that little, naked copper ribbon.
Sprayed it well with brake clean, blew out the excess, then coated it in Cosmoline (the spray-on type).
Also cleaned up some very minor corrosion at the batt terminals.
Had a flat repaired, swapped the spare back to the trunk.
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
Installed a BEW lift pump. Might help my tired vane pump. How many miles do these injection pumps even go for? This ones at about 326k
 
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