First TDI - MKIV

I was able to get a little more work done on the TDI yesterday while the girl watched the Grammys.

Bushings popped out as suspected...




The fix as I mentioned above. I went and picked up 8/32 x 3/4" allen head screws and tapped the arm at the flattest / widest spot..




I re-installed the armrest as-is with out the plastic covers because with the 3/4" bolts, I have to cut a notch in them. I also need to source a new one because the PO broke nearly all the clips that hold it together...




I found a few online for around $40 but they are used

Have to say, slightly disappointed in IDparts. Just got off the phone with Greg and they do not price match or give discounts because I am on this forum. I have bought from them since I owned the car nearly a year ago and all I read is how IDparts takes care of the members here. When I find a vendor I like, I am extremely loyal to them. I am still going to buy from IDparts as they are on the east coast but I will be starting to use other vendors to get the best prices possible. I only use ESCtuning because they offer OEM replacement parts not offered by IDparts.

I was more interested in the price match aspect of it. In the 10 years I have been buying car parts, mostly jeeps stuff, I have NEVER heard that a vendor doesn't price match their competition. Boraparts has the same parts cheaper and I'll be buying the parts from them.

Sorry for the rant but the moto of "our prices are what they are, if you don't like them, go somewhere else" kind of bothers me.

The biggest question I would have to that is, do both vendors have the same manufacturer part? If both use different manufacturers then I totally see the reason for the price difference.

79TA7.6 said:

The biggest question I would have to that is, do both vendors have the same manufacturer part? If both use different manufacturers then I totally see the reason for the price difference.

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Same product and everything. Same OEM code, same description but $10 difference in price for the harness. $5 difference on the Bosch glow plugs.

A whole new set of problems I have been encountering. I thought it was the window control but it appears to be happening with the new one I recently purchased. Any thoughts would be appreciated. When I push the drivers window down slightly, the control clicks. Only the drivers side button does this. Passenger works fine. The auto down works fine. If you push the control down only part way, the window goes back up??? Pressing down shouldn't make it go back up. Even if I stop the auto down in the middle of the door it will still make it go back up. Also if the headlights are on, it causes them to go dim for a split second




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I've had pretty good luck here:

http://keffervwparts.com/parts/2003...iteid=216177&vehicleid=186594&diagram=9277465

And by the way, ECS Tuning did not support this year's TDI Fest.

1854sailor said:

I've had pretty good luck here:

http://keffervwparts.com/parts/2003...iteid=216177&vehicleid=186594&diagram=9277465

And by the way, ECS Tuning did not support this year's TDI Fest.

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Thanks! I will have to check them out!!

Since it was in the mid 50's this weekend, I did some cleaning and investigating with the CEL. Seems that the PO changed the plugs around 180k miles but not sure which ones so I will replace all. Also there is a new harness on there which makes me mad as I just bought one thinking it was bad. Lesson learned. Being that the weather was in the single digits all last week, I didn't feel like taking off the cover.

I am going to prob install the new harness anyway to eliminate it and make sure it was done right. The PO just snipped the old one off, left it in the loom and zip tied the new one on top

Pics -




And the drive into work today. Gotta love taking 2 hours to get to work only to be sent home 3 hours later. How about making the logical call to keep your employes home and work from there?

mbatzel said:

And the drive into work today. Gotta love taking 2 hours to get to work only to be sent home 3 hours later. How about making the logical call to keep your employes home and work from there?

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If your place of employment is like mine, that word does not exist.

79TA7.6 said:

If your place of employment is like mine, that word does not exist.

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Seems to be the norm these days.

Gotta in a few more parts installed from ECStuning yesterday.

Old passenger grab handle...it has seen better days


New one being installed...



The ole girl may be 12 years old but I want her to look and feel as if she just rolled off the factory floor

Have a trip coming up this weekend to Manchester, VT to see some family and spend time at Stratton skiing. Can't wait...

Check out this one, always take care of me to make sure I get the best prices and discounts.
http://www.fixmyvw.com/

mbatzel said:

The set screws where a bear. It pays to have the right tools. Two hits with this and they were free -

-

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What tool is that?

That is an impact driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0wilzMtXY

1854sailor said:

That is an impact driver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0wilzMtXY

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Thanks!! I love that tool and it is one that takes a few times to find just the right impact. You can't go beating the hell out of it...

In other news...

Took a trip up to VT this weekend to see family and get a little snowboarding in with the family. Smokey averaged 42mpgs for the 635miles we drove. I was pretty happy with that considering winter fuel, doing 75mph on the way up, the mountain passes and all the climbs we did throughout the weekend. We spent the majority of the trip home in the snow storm.

Some pics from the weekend...


View off the back deck...


Middle/top of Stratton looking out towards Bromley...


Took the girl to The Vermont Country Store for some essentials...


Came home to 3" of snow and a filthy car...


Supposed to get a big storm Wed night but this was a must...

Poser shot can't remember the last time it snowed this much in central NJ

Lots of work this weekend on the TDI. Pretty happy with the outcome even thought the work took up most of the afternoon Sat and Sun. It was FINALLY in the 50's this weekend here in NJ and it was a prefect time to commence the long list of maintenance on the car.

New vs Old Glow Plugs -


The Plugs I Installed -


New Harness from BoraParts.com -


New Air Filter -




In order to get the cover off to drill and tap for the bypass, the EGR needed to be removed to get to the last bolt. This was what I found




All Cleaned Up -

Now on to the gem that made it a full weekend project. I bought the Dieselgeek Bypass unit nearly a year ago and have been putting off the install for long enough. It really is amazing the quality and fit of the the unit. Sad that they are no longer produced and feel lucky to be able to have one on my car. There are no instructions that came with the kit so it was back to the old for sale thread that I saved to reference the install.

The temps, along with a loving and patient girlfriend, allowed me to tackle this project. Big thanks to RonJitsu as well for lending his 3/8" cordless impact to zip the valve cover bolts out and helping to find the vacuum hose that I knocked off during the EGR removal.

Dieselgeek ByPass installed -




This was as far as the fitting wanted to go in even with the tap done perfect. No leaks so i will take it. I have about 2 threads showing on the inside


Also changed out the motor oil with Amsoil 5W-40 Diesel Oil and rotated the tires. Can't believe that I have put nearly 5k miles on them already.

This morning it was around freezing and a perfect temp to test the new plugs and harness. Car fired right up with no hesitation or need for 2-3 glow plug cycles. Felt like it did during summer start ups.

Next up - lots of VAG-COM for this car

EGR mod from the 101 section
Extended Glow Plug mod
Clear the CEL now
Mess around with injection timing
Make sure mechanical timing is right
Possible hammer mod
Install new reverse switch - for some reason this one only lasted a year
Track down my fog light problem

Took a shot of the cam while I had the cover off. Sun was starting to drop behind the trees so I apologize about the darkness of the pic


All four old plugs -


Nice shot of me in action thanks to the loving girlfriend I mentioned earlier. Used the Kubota bucket as a mini work bench to hold my tools and parts I needed to install or ones I took off

Decided to use a little of my tax return and pick this up...

http://www.ecstuning.com/ES7204/

Should be a nice little addition during the summer months

Also picked up a new reverse light switch and washer fluid level sensor. Not happy that I need to tear the car apart again to get to the reverse light switch but not having them is a no-no in my book and def makes it hard to back down my long country driveway at night...

Picked up the washer fluid sensor because I am tired of looking at the symbol on the dash knowing the container is full

Some goodies finally came in the mail today from ECStuning...



Looking at the new WWF sensor it appears that the contacts are different. The one in my car has wide flat posts and this one has round posts...


Car has been running great since the tune-up. Still need to get plugged into VAG-COM to clear the CEL and do the EGR mod.

Car looks great. Function over fashion

mrrhtuner said:

Car looks great. Function over fashion

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Much appreciated That is what I am going for here but with a little bit of style.

Installed the new reverse switch last night now that is it light out still when I get home. I put electrical grease in the connection this time too so hopefully it will help it last longer than a year. Not sure what makes them fail but the only up side, if there is one, is that they are only $26.

That Jetta is getting lots of love! Good man.

Let me know if you ever decide to upgrade/part ways with your wheels.

BlankThis said:

That Jetta is getting lots of love! Good man.

Let me know if you ever decide to upgrade/part ways with your wheels.

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Def is getting a lot of love lately, more so than I would like. Another problem has presented itself - a bad wheel bearing on the drivers side. Ordered a new one, along with a new ball joint and TRE from Aaron @ boraparts.com.

I will keep you in mind if that ever happens. Would still love to do the BBS RC's but they just aren't in the budget right now and the OZ's just received new rubber a few months ago.

How did you know it's a bad wheel bearing?

mrrhtuner said:

How did you know it's a bad wheel bearing?

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Been doing a lot of reading and research on the matter. Seems to be exactly the sound I am hearing. If it doesn't cure the sound, then at least the bearings, ball joints and TRE's will be new one less thing to worry about

Small (Much Needed) Update -

With the amazing weather I was able to tackle the drivers side bearing, ball joint and TRE. Next up is the passenger side one night after work this week. This weekend I will schedule an alignment. I marked everything so that it wasn't too much out of whack.

Knuckle Completely off -


Having one of these makes lift easy -


Old Bearing -


Pressing out the old - slid right out with very little effort or force


New Bearing and Clip Installed -


New Ball Joints -


New TRE -


Passed this Passat on the the way to work and a part of me died inside -

Keep up the good work!

Countryboy07 said:

Keep up the good work!

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Trying!

Finished up the passenger side last night and I FINALLY have a quite car again Nearly forgot what it is like to only hear the hum of the tuned diesel. Next up is a new driver side inner CV b/c the boot is torn and it clicks every once and a while backing out of a parking spot

Thank you for some good modding ideas! I too have a silver jetta, hope I'm not too offensive if I copy a few of your mods! (Black roof, grill ect) I do live the wheels you have on it! 17"s? I have very similar OZ on my other car!

Remo said:

Thank you for some good modding ideas! I too have a silver jetta, hope I'm not too offensive if I copy a few of your mods! (Black roof, grill ect) I do live the wheels you have on it! 17"s? I have very similar OZ on my other car!

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Copy away I have no problem people taking what I have done and applying it to their ride or modifying it slightly to better suit their needs.

They are indeed 17's and supposedly are no longer made. They came on the car and I was looking to swap them out for some BBS RC's but couldn't make a deal local and finally gave up. Slapped some new rubber (DWS's) on them and will run the car as is for a few more years. Still looking to plasti-dip or paint the rims a deep gunmetal grey now that the weather has FINALLY warmed up

I have 18" Alleggerita in that gun metal grey you speak of, on my track car.

I do like your wheels, I found a set of 18" bronze ones locally but the guy has not called me back yet. For the price they are high quality light weight wheels! And you are correct, they stopped making them and replaced them with Ultraleggera, which is very similar.