What did you do to your MKIV today?

I picked up the new coolant manifold today slid in the CTS and then broke the retainer clip of the one I bought today.
The CTS I had misplaced I found along with the new retainer clip, all is well now except for the pressure test.

I had watched many videos, and none suggested how to remove the CTS with the retainer clip broken off.

For me the easy way to do the swap is to pull the manifold off, it was only 2 bolts to the block and 2 more in the glow plug heaters.
I am all tightened up, and ready to look for leaks----

Well, driving last Saturday in very warm weather, turned on the a/c, heard a *snap* or a *crack* and it stopped working.
Brought it in today and had the a/c recharged (it's been almost 20 years after all), but I could tell the condensor wasn't turning on (engine note changes, and there's suddenly a load).

Did some research and checked the big green fuse located in the top-left slot of the right-side (driver's side) fuse block on top of the battery, and it had melted/blow itself to bits! Never seen a fuse blow in such a spectacular manner. Dug out the bits, replaced it with a new 30amp fuse, a/c is working again. Yay! Hope it stays this way.

While it was in the shop I also had them replace the tranny fluid with Pennzoil Syncromesh. Already better. It's just the right stuff...

How freakin' long does it take for the T-stat to open?

Yeah, about 10 min.

Got my front tires balanced today and one tire took a LOT of weight.

Decided to get them done after rotating my new tires for the first time over the weekend. Rears now on the front - very very slight vibration at 75 - mostly felt from the armrest. If I didn't feel it in the steering wheel (hands off) I wouldn't think I had an imbalance. The one tire originally had 0.5 ounces of weight in the middle of the wheel - the original guy that balanced it had issues with that wheel so he 'changed the balancing method'. Essentially statically balanced it. Tire was on the rear - felt fine.

Today's weight? 3.25 ounces on the outside, 2.5 ounces on the inside. . . . . I had them cone it from the back, front, re-mounted, tried a different machine, always came up near those weights. Road-force was low, tire has a very slight hop to it. I asked how the weight was arranged - diagonally opposite.

The 50 mile commute home on the freeway, up to 85mph - very smooth. Smoother than it was. I was expecting a shimmy but instead it felt great.

So, thinking about it, 3.25 oz on one side, 2.5 ounces diagonally opposite the other, is 0.75 ounce static.. . . I think this tire had that problem from day 1. (Pirelli P4). All the other tires were dynamically balanced and none took more than 1.25 oz total.

So weird.

Swap a good wheel/tire with the one in question to determine if it's the wheel or the tire causing the imbalance.

Fix_Until_Broke said:

Swap a good wheel/tire with the one in question to determine if it's the wheel or the tire causing the imbalance.

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Since I just rotated the tires, I did just that but in reverse order. No imbalance before, very slight imbalance after. Very surprised how much weight it took, it feels better now. My Jetta, I'd get a shimmy if the imbalance was over half an ounce. The NB must be more immune shimmy imbalance.

Sorry, I should have been more clear

Take "good" wheel and tire assembly and "bad" wheel and tire assembly. Put the tire from the good assembly on the rim from the bad assembly and vice versa. Then you know if it's the rim or the tire

Fix_Until_Broke said:

Sorry, I should have been more clear

Take "good" wheel and tire assembly and "bad" wheel and tire assembly. Put the tire from the good assembly on the rim from the bad assembly and vice versa. Then you know if it's the rim or the tire

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I might have them also first re-mount the tire on the rim. If I eyeball the tire at the edge of the lip, I see a little wander. Rim looks perfect when spinning. What I don't know is if a tire can possibly be mounted 'off center'. I'd think centrifugal forces, especially at high speeds, would settle it all to the correct location.

That said, driving is better now - leave it alone?

Yes - Leave it alone!

Coolant system topped up, with mostly water. I saw a bunch of what looked like scale-y bits that need to be flushed out, so I will run it a couple of days as is, and then start flushing with distilled water, and then filling with Pentosin. I have one unopened bottle of the pink stuff, will that be enough?

Yes just mix it with distilled water...I use the whole liter in a gallon jug then top the rest off with distilled.

I did it way back then because I was seeing head soak in traffic in summer. And it was helpful on track days. With the car set up as it is now (VNT-15, RC3+, 11mm, PP357s) I don't think it's a necessity. But you might see a benefit where you live, if you ever head inland in the Summer. Less lag, better response to the accelerator when it's really hot. Less smoke.

MukGyver said:

How does diesel kleen compare to Optilube? I've been using dk for several tanks and it definitely runs a little smoother and stronger with it. fairly inexpensive too but cost isn't necessarily the main objective when it comes to this kind of value added.

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You're asking the wrong person lol. I've only ever used Optilube XPD, but I'm very inconsistent at that.

What did I do today... and yesterday... I got my Bosal tow bar installed, along with my wiring, though I still need to connect my light converter to +12, and plumb in my brake controller. But I shouldn't have to remove my bumper again anytime soon.



And then last night, I thought I'd tackle my new fog lights I got off ebay. ECS tuninng apparently isn't carrying OEM/Hella front fog lights anymore, and I'm not going the Depo or Chinesium brand routes, so I opted to get used Hellas and put on glass lenses.





As you can see, there's a lot of pitting on the plastic. Unfortunately, beggars can't be choosers, and apparently, the filler for the non-existent fog on non-fog lights is not removable, so I couldn't swap out light assemblies.



This is the THIRD set of mk4 Golf headlights that have had badly cracked or missing insulation. Time consuming, but my fix is heat shrink tubing and butt connectors. Here's to hoping this works for the next 5-10 years+.











Now I'm just waiting on my replacement bulbs. Got in my high and low beams; ordered 2 LED bulbs by Phillips for the parking lights, and GE Nighthawks for the turn signals (all suggestions by Daniel Stern from years past).

If you're going LED for the parking lights, you should give these amber LEDs a look for the turn signal lights.
They are borderline-obnoxiously bright and sharply on/off.

pkhoury said:

What did I do today... and yesterday... I got my Bosal tow bar installed, along with my wiring, though I still need to connect my light converter to +12, and plumb in my brake controller. But I shouldn't have to remove my bumper again anytime soon.



And then last night, I thought I'd tackle my new fog lights I got off ebay. ECS tuninng apparently isn't carrying OEM/Hella front fog lights anymore, and I'm not going the Depo or Chinesium brand routes, so I opted to get used Hellas and put on glass lenses.





As you can see, there's a lot of pitting on the plastic. Unfortunately, beggars can't be choosers, and apparently, the filler for the non-existent fog on non-fog lights is not removable, so I couldn't swap out light assemblies.



This is the THIRD set of mk4 Golf headlights that have had badly cracked or missing insulation. Time consuming, but my fix is heat shrink tubing and butt connectors. Here's to hoping this works for the next 5-10 years+.











Now I'm just waiting on my replacement bulbs. Got in my high and low beams; ordered 2 LED bulbs by Phillips for the parking lights, and GE Nighthawks for the turn signals (all suggestions by Daniel Stern from years past).

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I dremelled out the blank to install the fog lamp projector in a non-fog lamp headlamp. Not a simple pop out but it is very doable.

Last I checked VW still sells new harnesses for MkIV headlamps. It is weird that you order the plastic panel on the headlamp the plug is inserted and the harness comes with. I'll update with part number later, if I remember.

Jason

Nuje said:

If you're going LED for the parking lights, you should give these amber LEDs a look for the turn signal lights.
They are borderline-obnoxiously bright and sharply on/off.

Click to expand...

I'll probably pass. A lot of the reviews still reference hyperflashing, and honestly, going incandescent is easier for me.

The only LEDs I'll use, besides my parking lights, would be my fender/bumper marker lights, and my rear fog. I once used LED brake lights, and I had fuses MELT. Learned that lesson REAL quick!

SilverGhost said:

I dremelled out the blank to install the fog lamp projector in a non-fog lamp headlamp. Not a simple pop out but it is very doable.

Last I checked VW still sells new harnesses for MkIV headlamps. It is weird that you order the plastic panel on the headlamp the plug is inserted and the harness comes with. I'll update with part number later, if I remember.

Jason

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I guess I didn't think about dremmeling, but my hand isn't that steady, and I didn't want to do a $hitty job, either. From a distance, you can't see the pitting much. Already, I'm happy with my new halogen bulbs (forgot what I ordered, but it's what Daniel Stern Lighting recommended back in 2016).

pkhoury said:

I'll probably pass. A lot of the reviews still reference hyperflashing, and honestly, going incandescent is easier for me.

The only LEDs I'll use, besides my parking lights, would be my fender/bumper marker lights, and my rear fog. I once used LED brake lights, and I had fuses MELT. Learned that lesson REAL quick!

Click to expand...

Seems that you had other issues then. LED's draw less current so there's no way you should be melting fuses. Fuses melting is usually a result in poor contact where there is very high resistance between components.

As far as hyperflashing, I get none. I'm running LED's in all of the brake/turn/fog (using as a 5th brake light), running, and reverse light in the tail lamps, side markers, bumper markers, and front parking lights etc.

The only place I'm running halogens is for the front turns. I've also got HID's with an LED high beam (which is pretty much worthless when the shield drops in the projector).

All of the LED's are generic but fairly high quality bulbs off Amazon, EXCEPT the rear brake light. You can defeat that issue with a resistor, but I was trying to do the math with the circuits so I could run just a standard, non canbus bulb. I was able to succeed where everything flashed and worked perfect, but I could not get the brake out light on the dash to go out (it will come on if it detects both rear bulbs out OR a faulty brake switch).

There is a company who makes LED brake bulbs (as well as other types of bulbs) for these cars with internal resistors that work great, no lamp out, hyperflash, or dash warning. I picked up a set of those.

the taillight connections are bad on mine, i think they're known to oxidize and result in poor connection. use dielectric grease next time you plug in new bulbs!

Well let’s see... a/c is working fine now. First recharge it’s needed since new! New tranny oil is awesome - fixed slight issues with 1st, 2nd and 3rd when cold.
Seems like all three vehicles want attention at once. 04 Jeep GC Overland wanted new wipers and a new windshield (latter later this week) and 2020 Bonneville T100 just got its 500 mile break-in oil changed and etc.

My poor golf hasn't been getting the attention or use it deserves, I've been using my beater Passat for my daily driver while Frank builds a head for the golf. I still drive it once a week or so to keep the cobwebs out. I am considering swapping the seats in it, i saw a nice gls b5.5 Passat at the local scrap yard with nice black leather power seats. I was doing some research on the swap, looks to be not too hard. Any pointers from people who have done that swap?

Mozambiquer said:

My poor golf hasn't been getting the attention or use it deserves, I've been using my beater Passat for my daily driver while Frank builds a head for the golf. I still drive it once a week or so to keep the cobwebs out. I am considering swapping the seats in it, i saw a nice gls b5.5 Passat at the local scrap yard with nice black leather power seats. I was doing some research on the swap, looks to be not too hard. Any pointers from people who have done that swap?

Click to expand...

Frame but at the bottom is slightly different. Replace slides from an a4 platform and they'll drop right in. Air bag connector may be a little different based on year.

Starting stripping the front end of my golf after clocking a deer at 4:45 am on way to work Saturday morning......

Nero Morg said:

Frame but at the bottom is slightly different. Replace slides from an a4 platform and they'll drop right in. Air bag connector may be a little different based on year.

Click to expand...

^^This^^

If possible go prepared to try taking some A4/MKIV seats apart at the yard to make sure you feel you can get the "donor bases" off a set of seats. Make sense?

RexNICO said:

^^This^^

If possible go prepared to try taking some A4/MKIV seats apart at the yard to make sure you feel you can get the "donor bases" off a set of seats. Make sense?

Click to expand...

Ok, I had thought to use the bases on my current seats, obviously I haven't taken either apart, so I'm unaware of the differences currently. There's one mk4 at the yard, they seem fairly scarce at the scrap yards around here, I'm not sure why though.

So the real question.... Do they make fully powered seats that aren't leather? Cause I want pwwr seats, but don't want to sear my booty on leather in the summer.

Switching the lower cushion from a non-powered non-leather on to a power base would be pretty easy (keep in mind the lower cushions are not R/L specific) ... switching the back/upper would be much more involved.