What did you do to your MKIV today?

underwhelmd said:

Well I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only one. I will probably just use air to dust them off if I try it again.

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I was going to say that it wasn't the Windex - it's the simple act of wiping! Similar to the above post, I was just wiping off some fingerprints and took some silver off along with the prints.

Did both front wheel bearings and new struts. The passenger side bearing was groaning, worse when turning left. Jacked up both wheels and felt the strut mounts on both sides. Clearly on the left. The left strut was also gone. No damping at all. Very bouncy. In addition both springs were sagging.

Went with cheap ($55) strut/spring units by FCS from Rockauto. I know they won't last forever but I just couldn't spring for a full suspension refresh right now. I did go with FAG bearings though. I got a Harbor Freight 12 ton press for $99 on sale. Made the bearing job a breeze. Did one side in two hours. Hardest part was Dremeling the bearing race off the hub.

I actually quite like the ride/handling of the FCS units but anything would be better that the worn out ones I had.

Hooked up with Kerma (Charlie and crew) to help figure out the engine hesitation at around 2,000 RPM under load. The car has their tune in it. Good folks and very helpful. We may have the problem dialed out. I'm going to make some runs tomorrow to see where we are.

aja, that's great news!

OK, not "today," but yesterday I flushed the brake fluid in the rear brakes of my car: had not done so since I bought it. Bleeders on the fronts were stuck, couldn't get heat to help: the clutch's bleeder looked worse, didn't even attempt it! Found one rear caliper pin that was really stuck -dry- and the pads on the other rear caliper were stuck in the carrier- I cleaned them up the best I could. Although I really couldn't tell before, I'm pretty sure that this helps. Pulled the winter tires off and installed a brand new set of Conti True Contacts. First time I've done anything to my car since an oil change about 2 months ago. Successfully did all of this on the wife's car a week ago: on hers I discovered a stripped out caliper pin hole in the front (knuckle) and ended up helicoiling it (I'd already ordered a replacement knuckle but discovered after ordering it that I didn't really want to wait that long- no options on shipping).

UhOh said:

aja, that's great news!

OK, not "today," but yesterday I flushed the brake fluid in the rear brakes of my car: had not done so since I bought it. Bleeders on the fronts were stuck, couldn't get heat to help: the clutch's bleeder looked worse, didn't even attempt it! Found one rear caliper pin that was really stuck -dry- and the pads on the other rear caliper were stuck in the carrier- I cleaned them up the best I could. Although I really couldn't tell before, I'm pretty sure that this helps. Pulled the winter tires off and installed a brand new set of Conti True Contacts. First time I've done anything to my car since an oil change about 2 months ago. Successfully did all of this on the wife's car a week ago: on hers I discovered a stripped out caliper pin hole in the front (knuckle) and ended up helicoiling it (I'd already ordered a replacement knuckle but discovered after ordering it that I didn't really want to wait that long- no options on shipping).

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Ah, the brake stuff! Ouch!

My front caliper bleed screws are also frozen on the 2003 like yours. I'm going to mix up some ATF and acetone and see if that can penetrate the rusted threads so I can bleed the system. Rears are new.

I fixed a few rust spots on mine. It's now a 10-15 foot car. LOL.

What the hell was VW thinking with the stupid foam wedges in the fenders? They are obviously open cell foam. I left one out in the rain and when I went to toss it it must have weighed 10 lbs.

One of the (lower) points on it was soaked when I pulled it out, and it was holding a bunch of mud/debris. No wonder my fender was a bit rusty.

Still have one little spot to take care of, will have to wait for some dry weather.

My wifes Accord has the same thing, same recommendation for trimming it back if you got the fender off.

mjydrafter said:

I fixed a few rust spots on mine. It's now a 10-15 foot car. LOL.

What the hell was VW thinking with the stupid foam wedges in the fenders? They are obviously open cell foam. I left one out in the rain and when I went to toss it it must have weighed 10 lbs.

One of the (lower) points on it was soaked when I pulled it out, and it was holding a bunch of mud/debris. No wonder my fender was a bit rusty.

Still have one little spot to take care of, will have to wait for some dry weather.

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Sound deadening attempt. (Fail)

Had rear coil springs replaced, e-brake cables replaced, warped front rotors replaced.

aja8888 said:

Sound deadening attempt. (Fail)

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Indeed. I can't even tell the difference. Although I don't think it was in the correct place.

Been saving this one for a rainy day... literally.
P671 CEL been on for over a week now, which on my car indicates the 4th glow plug from the timing belt. Verified with mutlimeter.
Replaced with a new Bosch. Now all cylinders are happy again, and me too.

Contemplated pulling the EGR Cooler and trashing it since it may be the cause of my occasional hesitation at 2000 RPM. Would then have to delete the EGR and have the tune modified. Maybe I'll do this on a rainy day.

I'd be surprised if Kerma's tune includes an EGR duty cycle. Worth asking.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I'd be surprised if Kerma's tune includes an EGR duty cycle. Worth asking.

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I did get an e-mail from him saying the tune in my car has an "active EGR" (he pulled the original purchaser's file to check).

The reason I am looking at this is a member here was experiencing the same hesitation issue with the same engine (ALH) and his EGR cooler had a warped flange that was causing the issue under certain EGR actions.

I'm running out of things to check with this problem.

Went to the local PD today and had them show me how to install a car seat/base. Baby Swan is expected around May 19th!!

aja8888 said:

I did get an e-mail from him saying the tune in my car has an "active EGR" (he pulled the original purchaser's file to check).

The reason I am looking at this is a member here was experiencing the same hesitation issue with the same engine (ALH) and his EGR cooler had a warped flange that was causing the issue under certain EGR actions.

I'm running out of things to check with this problem.

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Is the Kerma "Active EGR" the same as the Malone "Dynamic EGR"?

oil change

I am looking for a coolant leak. It is dripping from the right side drive shaft at the transaxle. It must be coming from above. EGR was removed and cleaned in Oct 2014. Loses one 8 oz very 300 miles or so.
I changed the oil too. Mobil 1 0-40. Is this acceptable?
235,000 miles.

romad said:

Is the Kerma "Active EGR" the same as the Malone "Dynamic EGR"?

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I don't know, I didn't buy the tune which was installed 4 years ago. I could ask Kerma.

Unfortunately, the car I bought came with it and I bought it at 297,500 miles and needing work (see my resurrection thread in my sig). I am at the end of the hard work (suspension, fenders, boost hoses, etc) and have been dealing with a hesitation issue. My only source for engine tuning and info is Kerma at this time, although I do have the tune loader and original ECU file.

organbuilder said:

I am looking for a coolant leak. It is dripping from the right side drive shaft at the transaxle. It must be coming from above. EGR was removed and cleaned in Oct 2014. Loses one 8 oz very 300 miles or so.
I changed the oil too. Mobil 1 0-40. Is this acceptable?
235,000 miles.

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Right=Passenger side? The expansion tank is over there. Look for a wet hose, or it may be venting coolant out of the tank because (a) the cap has failed; (b) there's a bad connection of a hose to the tank; or (c) the tank is getting pressurized by a failed head gasket (hope it's not that). Look for wet hoses first.

Mobil 1 0-40

organbuilder said:

I am looking for a coolant leak. It is dripping from the right side drive shaft at the transaxle. It must be coming from above. EGR was removed and cleaned in Oct 2014. Loses one 8 oz very 300 miles or so.
I changed the oil too. Mobil 1 0-40. Is this acceptable?
235,000 miles.

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I think 5-40 Diesel oil is correct for the car.
I use Castrol European car 5-40 or Rotella if Castrol is not available.
I forget exactly but it should say 502.0 (or such)
Maybe go to the Castrol web site & use the lookup for the car.

That's a lot of oil for leakage.
I use about a quart every 10K miles.
Also have about 238K miles.

Rich W.

Picked up the wagon with new rear caliper carriers, parking brake cables, and comfort module. Mr. Chill (guru) said this was only the second comfort module he's had to put in a MKIV car. But my door locks work again. And the rear calipers are fine, just the carriers and pins were corroded enough to warrant replacement. I'm pretty surprised that the calipers are still OK after 327K miles.

I also filed an insurance claim for the windshield on my Golf. It has a star in the wiper pattern ($0 deductible on glass in MA) so the glass shop will pull the windshield and rear window before painting, and then then install new glass front and rear when the paint is complete. I have to pay for the rear glass, but the seal is pretty rotted and the glass has a wiper arch on it. So I might as well.

Ripped out the exhaust heat shield to stop the horribly rattling!


Mk4 TDI Jetta-
-garret VNT17 turbo
-bosio power plus 764 nozzles
-Malone stage 4 tune
-buzzKen 2.5" stainless steel Downpipe
-endurance clutch
-custom straight pipe

Ran a VCDS boost log with groups 001 and 011 together. Can't decipher the .cvs file with Excel.

Ran a stretch in 3rd gear from 2000 to 4000 rpm. Car ran strong. Now if I could only figure out how to graph the data and make sense out of it.

Got the summer wheels and new spacers on the white car

ran auto scan to try to find cause of occasional engine dying after starting...restarts normal after second try. already replaced the 109 relay.

aja8888 said:

Ughhh...after a test drive, the hesitation at around 2,000 rpm is still there (under acceleration) but only happens randomly.

Any suggestions what to do next?

The turbo plumbing is tight, timing it dead on, car pulls hard and idles fine.

I have also cleaned the injectors with Diesel Purge,

Checked all vacuum lines,

Checked vacuum at the N75 (~ 24" Hg) at idle.

What has not been done is sending the injectors to Drivebywire for cleaning/testing,

Checking the turbo actuator. (not sure this will be easy to do in the car)

????????

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Everything is done above with the exception of pulling the injectors and sending them to DBW. I also set 01 adaption back to default (more fueling) per Kerma's recommendation. That was done last Saturday. The car had no hesitation problem for one day, then it was back. Now this is really driving me nuts.

For the last two days, I have been all over town with the car and NO HESITATION issue. I'm starting to think it may be (or have been) a problem with the injection pump?

I ran a boost log yesterday and and one of our kind members here (Fix_Until_Broke), Matt, plotted the data and said it looked fine. SO maybe whatever has been causing the hesitation issue is gone or asleep for now.

One thing I have not assessed is the fact that the seller only has been driving the car a few miles each day to work and back. Also, this was in the winter. Maybe there has been a bit of water buildup in the fuel tank or the turbo vanes were sticky? I could have eliminated those potential problems through some hard runs lately. But for now, its cleared up.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Installed a Kenwood KDC-X599 stereo to replace the OEM double DIN Monsoon. The FM reception on the OEM unit was terrible. I thought the antenna might be unplugged, but the new unit picks up stations very well. What a difference to have bluetooth, satellite radio integrated to the head unit and both a usb and aux port on the front panel.
The UI is much more complicated than the old one, time to read the manual.

What speakers are you running flash?

Added a 3" exhaust and a 5" tip on! Look out if your driving behind me now!

NelsonA said:

Added a 3" exhaust and a 5" tip on! Look out if your driving behind me now!

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