What did you do to your MKIV today?

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
That’d be nice if it were that cheap around here. Last time I filled up was almost 4.77/gallon ($1.259/liter)
If your price is in Canadian dollars that's 3.68 USD. not a big difference. If you already converted it then you have my sympathies.
 

romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
If your price is in Canadian dollars that's 3.68 USD. not a big difference. If you already converted it then you have my sympathies.

And $3.68 US is LOW for many areas in California!


I checked and CA $1.259 is about the lowest price in Alberta with $1.309 being near the top. At $1.309 CA/liter that comes out to $4.209/gallon US.


$1.00 US = $1.295 CA
1 gallon US = 3.785 liters
 
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romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
According to AAA, the average diesel price per gallon in these United States is $3.184.


In California the average is $3.982; in Massachusetts, $3.164; Hawaii $4.20. Interestingly, the average for Connecticut is $3.311.
 

hey_allen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Location
Altus, OK
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI
I have been driving mine, saving my automotive tinkering for the new project car that I saved from a scrapper acquaintance of mine.
1978 Porsche 928 that was parked due to overheating issues, ~10 years ago.
First pass of inspecting the engine found a missing thermostat (in a bottom bypass system!) the radiator was installed upside down (so the breather vent hose nipple was on the bottom, and plugged), and no vent line from the thermostat housing on the top of the engine.


I can't imagine that cooling was all that effective with a huge air bubble trapped in the thermostat housing, and that was before they pulled the thermostat!
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
I installed a new old stock leather 4motion shifter with a leather shift boot. I’m upgrading the touch points in my 05 Jetta Wagon.
In the process of cleaning the center council before installing the shifter, I discovered that elbow grease with blue rags and rubbing alcohol easily removes the old sticky deteriorating soft touch down to the hard plastic underneath. As a result, I removed the soft touch surrounding the shifter boot and removed the soft touch on the driver’s side door pull. Those items look like brand new piano black plastic now!
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
Took a picture of my 05 wagon... testing the upload function of tdiclub.
 

BakoTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 5, 2005
Location
Bakersfield, CA
TDI
Jetta, MK7
suspension work

Have been trying to figure out why my steering wheel shakes so much so I jacked up the car and checked the suspension parts. Was able to remove and replace the old sway bar bushings, which was a tad difficult because the old bolt was tough to get started on the threads. Had to get a longer bolt to make the job easier and finally completed that part. While at it, I swapped out the sway bar end links with the metal ones.

I noticed that one of my outer tie rods has some play when moving the wheel side to side. Not sure where my mechanic got these tie rods that don't have a way to counter the tightening of the tie rod nut :confused: How did he tighten it???

Anyway, got more work to do when removing and replacing the LCA bushings. Also noticed that the bolt that secures the rotors to the hubs are either broken or stripped...now figure out a way to remove them!
 

DMan1198

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2017
Location
Slave Lake, AB
TDI
02 VW Jetta
You take a bar, and apply pressure to the back of the joint. If that doesn’t work get a bigger bar. If that doesn’t work it’s time for the torch.
 

2003VW

Member
Joined
May 11, 2011
Location
Darlington, MD
TDI
2003 Jetta
Rebuilt the front end on my 2003 over the last 2 weeks a little at a time. Tie rod ends, control arms, sway bar links, and struts. Changed the 01M trans fluid and filter since I had to remove the pan to get one of the control arm bolts out.



Will be doing an alignment tomorrow using the string and level method.
 

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
Well at 404,xxx miles I was starting to loose coolant, I thought it was the coolant bottle as it was leaking out the over flow.
Patted myself on the back , replaced the bowl and trucked on only to have the low coolant light illuminate 3 days later....... sure enough bowl was empty.
Refilled bowl and started to keep track.

It got to the point that I was adding 1 qt every other day with it blowing out the over flow.
Suspected blown head gasket, car doesn't over heat, all temps in normal parameters, I use scan gauge II to monitor my parameters.

Soooo I bite the bullet , get a used head from DAP, new head gasket, bolts , high mileage TB kit and the dreaded hard coolant pipe that is severely rusted, painted but still rusted.

I was surprised that when I pulled the head I still have the original cross hatch marks from when it was built.
I did have oil on top of #4 piston, I suspect this was giving me my smoke on first startup in the morning, wasn't burning oil per say.

The hard coolant pipe wasn't as bad as I feared , maybe because the head was off, but damn!!! That oring does not want to let go easily.

So,all back together no more smoke on start up, I now have 4 working glow plugs , as on the old head I snapped one over 12 years ago.
No more coolant lose and still runs like a raped ape. Malone stage 3 with sprint 520's��

Also replaced my rusted out hood with a slightly dented one...... it was free , the right color and in better shape !!!
 

holysirsalad

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Location
Central Frontenac, ON
TDI
2014 Jetta, 2001 Golf in pieces
Last week did up the front end with DIY refurbished spindles, new bearings, ball joints, outer tie rod ends, rotors, pads, ABS sensors, and complete strut assemblies. Got a comment that the spindles look new! I guess the 6 total layers of primer and paint filled in enough pitting! This weekend put a Curt Class I hitch on it. Doesn't hang as low as I had feared, and didn't rip off when I did a 'test' around the farm. Nice.

Still need to replace rear shocks and springs, ABS sensors, might do the rotors, install wiring and converter for towing, oh and maybe the master cylinder and change the transmission again. Good times.
 

ScottySK

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Location
Beaumont, AB (CA)
TDI
03 Jetta GLS
Replaced original DMF & clutch after 350,000km. Cleaned up & lubed starter with brake lube.

Had the transmission dropped in 4 hours on Friday. Original clutch was in great shape, even on a Malone Stg 1, then I found the dreaded DMF twist. Took me forever to get it off with a combo of hammer/chisel & die grinder (another 4 hours on Saturday).

Spent an hour on the starter, then another 2 hours getting the transmission back on the engine (don’t forget to take off the flywheel inspection plate!!!). Would have saved at least an hour if that damn plate wasn’t there.

All fasteners torqued & had the car running in another 2 hours. No more whole car shake & no more starter slow disengagement whine. Happy camper here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

alex_tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2001
Location
Los Angeles, CA
TDI
TDI GLS, 2001, Blue
Changed oil and 1.5L of transmission fluid.



Throttle and torque response much better, and transmission is shifting buttery smooth again (for a 01M).


Adjusted Injection Quantity to 4.4 mg. Idling smoother.
 

Cleenlivin

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2008
Location
So Cal
TDI
2009 Jetta TDI Sedan (DSG) boughtback, 2004 Jetta TDI Sedan (Tiptronic), 2004 Jetta TDI Sedan (5 speed)
Oil Pan and Skid Plate...

I had a persistent low level oil leak and installed a new oil pan and Atlas Skid Plate. I also replaced the passenger side motor mount.
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
If it's due to oxidation, try polishing it off with Mother's aluminum polish and followed with some 303 to UV protect the plastic. Worked wonders for my '01 lights.
I attempted to polish the headlights with the 3M headlight polishing compound. It helped, but the lights are pretty far gone. I’m thinking E-code headlights might be a nice upgrade.
 

moparvwfrak

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2016
Location
Tahuya, Wa
TDI
02 Jetta TDI, 99 MK4 Jetta TDI (parts), 99 mk4 Jetta gasser
bought the new body for my TDI. 99.5 2.0 auto. going to swap my drivetrain in and swap EVERYTHING from the new car into my 91 cabriolet. figure why not. fun little cars.
 

alex_tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
May 15, 2001
Location
Los Angeles, CA
TDI
TDI GLS, 2001, Blue
bought the new body for my TDI. 99.5 2.0 auto. going to swap my drivetrain in and swap EVERYTHING from the new car into my 91 cabriolet. figure why not. fun little cars.

That's super cool. If you've got the time, I'd love to see a thread that tracks your progress.


I don't have the experience to do something like that now, but I'd like to keep my '01 FORVER so it'd be nice to see how it's done right.
 

j_martell

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Location
Centre Wellington, Ontario
TDI
Reflex Silver 2006 Jetta GLS TDI Wagon
not today...more like labour day weekend....

both rear wheel bearings/hubs, and timing belt/water pump etc and thermostat....

wheel bearings were easy, belt took alot longer that anticipated....ended up taking one step way too literal and screwed up a bit....

Had to bite the bullet and tow it somewhere to help me out.... EMT outside Guelph was awesome to deal with.

Back up and running now, and so far, on the first tank since the belt/thermostat I'm 15% better mileage. Can't wait to fill up Friday :)
 

AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
Well, I spent about three hours repairing wire (splicing) that was damaged by a rat. Nope, not a mouse, a rat. It got the power to the windshield washer, all four wires to the MAP sensor, an unknown circuit and fortunately only slightly to the big brown wire at the plug to the right head light.

This is the 03 I purchase a while back. I need to re-seal the IP and it will be good to go............. go many miles!
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
Recently installed new-old-stock 4-Motion shift knob. Made in Germany!
The leather is real and high quality. Even the brushed aluminum is real aluminum. The logo and square dots are laser engraved into the ring. The textures and cold metal are a nice tactile upgrade over the plastic shift knob.
The blue leather matches the blue dash gauge lights and the silver ring ties in with the silver sport gauges in my '05 Jetta wagon.
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
...I also replaced the antenna base with a new fresh base and new gasket to replace the crusty old base and missing gasket. I installed the ECS stubby whip antenna for a subtle aesthetic improvement over the long whip.
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
I mounted 17"x7.5" Audi TT Fat Fives on my Jetta wagon today. Huge improvement in handling over the 15"x6" steel wheels. Plus, they look way better.
 
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