New Owner, 2012 Sportwagon... The Journey starts!

The Motorhome is a 1984, based upon a Chevy P30 Step Van chassis. Think Food truck. Powertrain is Chevy Big Block 454/7.4L with a 3 speed TH475 HD trans.
I have a Cummins 5.9 12v Diesel under my bench as well as a 4L80e OD Trans too...

The VW is planned to replace our old Range Rover and my 190d as my DD, Doggie and Junkyard car.
I need something that can carry tools, and the like, and also be safe and economical.

The DSG service is easy, but time consuming. I did mine this evening. I had always filled it from the bottom using the fill tool, but decided to try it from the top this time and it was much cleaner. AutoZone sells a FloTool funnel that fits perfectly in the hole below the filter. Insert the funnel and fill with DSG fluid.

Cool.

So, you pulled the drain plug and plastic 'Level Tower", and allowed it all to drain. Then replaced, and filled from above?

A couple of interesting items...
Previous owner said the car was throwing CELs and couldn't be smogged...
This was when I'd owned the car about 24 hours... maybe 5 starts...

I also found this one... which I am a bit concerned about but might be nothing.

Also, can anyone tell me what was done at the Recall?
Egr was changed/Replaced?



And this is the state of the rear bumper.
I want to have it repainted...
Anyone give me an idea of price and how this silver paint match goes??

KeyTDI said:

Cool.
So, you pulled the drain plug and plastic 'Level Tower", and allowed it all to drain. Then replaced, and filled from above?

Click to expand...

That’s correct. It was much cleaner. If you fill from the bottom make sure that the car is running when you remove the fill hose. If it’s running only the excess will come out. If it’s off it makes a loud fart sound and craps fluid everywhere.

Painting Rear Bumper

KeyTDI said:

And this is the state of the rear bumper.
I want to have it repainted...
Anyone give me an idea of price and how this silver paint match goes??

Click to expand...

If you're not uncomfortable with the idea of painting the bumper yourself using aerosol cans, Automotive Touchup is pretty reputable. A lot of technique is involved though in fading the color to ensure the color blends in with the rest of the vehicle. http://www.automotivetouchup.com

You could also simply replace your rear bumper with the Votex one, which looks really good ($260) and have it painted or paint it yourself: https://www.optikwerks.com/Sportwagen/VotexRearBumper/index.html

Then sell your old bumper on Craigslist

Nice links, and info, Thanks!

I might take a shot at painting it myself, as I have a compressor and paint guns.

You don't need a compressor and guns - Your car is Reflex Silver, the same color that VW has been using for about 20 years. There is very little fading that takes place in that color, I have the same color on my car.

Your results will depend on two things, your prep and your spraying environment.
You can get all the cans you need (probably 3-4 12 ounce cans) at Advance Auto or most likely the other chains. You want the "Perfect Match" type or Dupli-Color.

For prep: Make that thing SMOOOOOOOOOTH! You can use 2000 grit to polish it up, but if that picture is showing the clearcoat delamination I think it is, you will probably want to start with some 500 grit and just work your way up. You can't make it too smooth, any lines or surface height changes will stand right out.

Painting - Take the bumper cover off, and work in a garage or large shed. You want something with a large enough air volume that you don't need fans or an AC system running, you want the air settled. The cover will be much easier to work on a set of horses or something similar to stand pointing the ceiling.

Go slowly, and paint LIGHT COATS from about 6-8 inches away, moving the pattern at about 4 inches per second. Overlapping horizontal passes will be OK, same for vertical, doesn't really matter with light coats. There is an advantage to doing it this way also: You will automatically feather into the existing paint if you didn't sand the whole thing, and it will be really hard to see the overlaps once you have about 10-15 coats down. Yes they will all be REALLY REALLY light. You can add the next coat after about 20-30 minutes (longer if it is really humid) until you are satisfied with the color.

Then you have to do the clear coating. These paints need separate clear coating, and this is the tricky one b/c I've found that it likes to be a heavier coat to end up looking "wet" when it is done. You may want to paint the entire bumper with the clear, to avoid any places having obvious clear coat overspray standing out.

If you brought the cover to a body shop for this, they would probably be about $350 for the work, but then they also have a pretty decent idea of what they are doing. I've done some decent bodywork in the past, but getting the paint right is a bit of an art. I'm decent, but my first couple times were pretty rough.

I don't tend to get paint fade, but I do get clear de-lamination on my cars. Any advice for fixing the clear coat?

Thanks for the input!
You answered my question about color fade, and more!

I have a very large skill set, and tool collection. Painting is something I’ve been around a lot of, but not done myself for many years. Maybe this will be my first large project!

Did a 60 mile round trip yesterday, and am getting a feel for the car. 52.2 mpg one way, and after 3 stops and some town traffic, my trip average was 46.1 mpg. I drove at about 60-65mph.
The visit to the VW Dealer inquiring about service history was interesting to say the least. Not everything I was told about the car was true, but then I was expecting that! The Service Guy was helpful and whilst I didn’t get all the facts there is history that I found interesting. Turbo was replaced, as well as intake, and maybe the egr. I also found out that the AC compressor was replaced too
All good info.

When I got home I got a wiff of oil smell.
Upon inspection, I found a puddle of oil on the top of the valve cover. I had not looked at that since I noticed something there before. A quick search says the oil filler cap tastier could be the culprit,and sometimes flipping the gasket can help. I cannot see a gasket on the cap, so maybe that explains it!

Maybe it’s me....
I have spent some time trying to understand the VW Emissions fix.
Where can i actually find out what was done or replaced?
Software was changed, I get that, but what else was done or replaced?

While I was looking at that oil leak yesterday, I spotted the remnants of the piece of foam that covers the black fuel return lines at the back of the valve cover.

I cannot find it in any VW part diagram...
Anyone tell me a part number or name for it, and can I buy it somewhere?

You can see the part i'm missing in the first pic in this overview of Injector replacement. He refers to it as "The Grey Styrofoam Damper".

https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/fuel-injector-and-valve-cover-removal-cjaa-cbea-2-0-tdi-engine/

I didn't even notice you were in Irvine but...are you an Anteater?

I'm from San Diego area but up in LA right now. I'll be meeting some friends in Newport Friday on our way back home. If you're free and you want to line our 2015 alongside your 2012 wagon we can meet up. I used to have a 2012 JSW before the buyback, too, but I don't know if I'd be able to recognize something amiss. I also have my VCDS in my trunk kit if you want to do any testing/tweaking.

Now about that paint skillset and tools of yours...
(I have a delaminating spoiler on my 98 beetle)

I'll also be back through the area during Chinese New Year. If you need to do an engine or DSG oil change, let me know. I have the tools to make those jobs easier, as well.

Thanks for the Input Bizzle!
Not actually in Irvine, but close!
Not an Anteater... But we have a house full of Bruin's, one of those is working toward An Anteater Graduate Program..

Did the Engine Oil, Filter, Fuel filter, air filter, and DSG service...
Exhausted, but will report back in a bit!

bizzle said:

I don't tend to get paint fade, but I do get clear de-lamination on my cars. Any advice for fixing the clear coat?

Click to expand...

It depends on where on the car... There's not a lot you can do about it if you can see it and feel it. If you can only see it but it isn't actually separated and breaking down, then it likely is just a defect in the paint. You can TRY spraying color over it and clear on the entire panel... BUT no guarantee if the defect is actually that the clear had separated and "blistered" away from the color. That's a factory paint job that wasn't good. There were a LOT of cars like that from the 90s, I think there was a chemistry change in the clear that just made them go to crap.

If you want the best results, it will mean painting the entire panel (because feathering is really hard to make invisible) after doing all the same prep work of sanding the crap out of it until you are sure you are looking at a solid base. You don't need to go through to the metal, and factory coats are SUPER thick anyway. Just get into the color and smooth it out, then re-clear and you should be OK.

Those of you who are puzzled by my "Skill Set", should look at my thread over on GJ...

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=403443

The clear on my factory spoiler on the beetle blistered up and peeled away from the white paint underneath.

KeyTDI
Keep my info tagged somewhere and let me know if you ever need anything. I have a VCDS and travel through OC frequently.

Just on the spoiler? If you can remove that from the car, it will be a lot easier to work on. You'd need to sand it down to get all the loose / blistered clear off, and then when that is completely smoothed out you can re-color it (probably will be needed) and re-clear it until it looks great again. Individual pieces are a lot easier to do than a panel like a rear quarter where there aren't any nearby boundaries.

Yeah, just on the spoiler. Thanks for the advice!

So yesterday was a full day.
My driveway is sloped, so that made the task trickier than normal.

Lifted the nose of the car a little to get at the undertray.... noticed the chin spoiler is MIA...
Undertray is also missing about half its screws.
Signs of oil leaks from engine and trans.

Drained the engine oil, and replaced the filter. No issues. Oil looked and felt ok. Took a sample for Blackstone to analyze. A close inspection of the drain pan, revealed nothing odd. No junk or metallic particles.
New filter, magnetic drain plug and a gallon of M1 TBT oil in.
Cleaned up the top of the engine, and found I do have a gasket on the oil filler cap, but it’s marked and pitted, so I flipped it.

Pulled the air filter housing, battery, and tray to get at the DSG filter. That looked darker than some I have seen but not serious. Pulled the drain plug, and snorkel and the oil drained out. Again, dirty, but no metalliccparticles or anything worrisome.
What was a little odd was I only got about 4L out.
Ended up using the top fill method, and put 4.6L in.because of my slopped drive I did not do the overflow at 35c procedure, but I will in a day or so. Not going far until then.

Battery hold down and bolt was MIA. Battery was tested and found to be 90% capacity, at 12.7v. I put it on charge in repair and desulaphate mode for a few hours and it was 100% when I put it back in. Will be watching it.

Cleaned and replaced the air filter housing, and replaced filter.

Pulled the fuel filter, and that looked old. New one went in, with a shot of MMO and refilling with Diesel Klean, to the brim.

Engine started first time, and did not miss a beat even tho I didn’t prime with VCDS or anything.

All went well, and I feel better knowing I just established my baseline with fluids and filters.
Whilst found nothing scary, I have a few more items to fix!

Did you do the brake fluid? That's on a two year interval regardless of mileage and would have fallen in this year if it was done according to schedule (first one at 3yrs, 2 yrs thereafter).

I did not do that yesterday, but will do it in the next week.
Still have to do the cabin air filter too.

I really would like to find someone who has the 2 micron fuel filter kit for sale.

KeyTDI said:

I really would like to find someone who has the 2 micron fuel filter kit for sale.

Click to expand...

Why spend money to protect VW from their own mistakes? The HPFP is covered under the extended warranty.

bizzle said:

Why spend money to protect VW from their own mistakes? The HPFP is covered under the extended warranty.

Click to expand...

I thought it was 10 years or 120,000 miles.... and I will crack that by the weekend.

If not, can you update my knowledge!

KeyTDI said:

I thought it was 10 years or 120,000 miles.... and I will crack that by the weekend.
If not, can you update my knowledge!

Click to expand...

Well I'm certainly glad I didn't post the warranty numbers because I just double checked and your 2012's warranty extension is in fact shorter than my 2015's, however, the good news is that you should still have plenty of warranty left:

The greater of:
 10 years or 193,000 km, whichever occurs first,
from the vehicle’s original in-service date; OR
 4 years or 77,000 km, whichever occurs first, from the date and mileage of the completion of
the emissions modification.

Click to expand...

KeyTDI said:

I thought it was 10 years or 120,000 miles.... and I will crack that by the weekend.

If not, can you update my knowledge!

Click to expand...

Yes, but its also 4 year/48k miles from the date of the emissions repair. So I suspect you have lots of HPFP warranty remaining.

Awesome!

Yes, every vehicle will have AT LEAST 48k / 4 years from the date of the emissions repair... So that means my 2014 is covered until 2022 or 208,000 miles. That is a hell of a long warranty for any vehicle. The downside: You are then forced to trust that a dealership knows what they are doing and does the repair correctly. I don't know if I have that level of trust.

I'd have to restore my parts that "accidentally" fell off if anything happens, but that's an issue for another day. Those parts are all carefully contained in case that happens. I'd be interested in the 2 micron filter set too - b/c if there IS a failure, it spreads contaminants through the entire fuel system and that seems to be something to avoid, eh? Much easier to replace the fuel pump and NOT have to replace everything else everywhere...

Living in CA and having to Smog the vehicle every other year, I am unlikely to make any changes to the hardware of the vehicle.
I am happy with the performance and MPG so far, altho a tune that gave me power and MPG would be tempting...
I cant seem to post pics from my phone, so here are some from the service yesterday..
.
Oil filter and Oil...
I don't know how long this has been in there, but as I have a regime that has served me well, over the years.
Popped the filter top off, and allow that to drain to the oil pan.
Pulled the plug and allowed that to drain for maybe 2 hours while I was busy with the other items.
Carefully/slowly tip the drain pan into my waste oil container...
This skims the oil from the top down.
This means that any solids, metallic particles or shavings that drained out of the engine, and sank to the the bottom, stay they for inspection.
This allows me to visually and physically inspect what left when I'm down to the last 1/4" of oil. You can see and feel anything that is left that might be n issue or concern.
There was nothing in this oil, which pleased me.

This is what they looked like.





Engine oil sample went out this morning to Blackstone Labs... it will be interesting to see what they say.

I commented that there was evidence of oil leaks from the motor...
This is what I saw...





Evidenced by belly pan.



New filter, new Drain plug, scrubbed and cleaned belly pan, and oil pan, as best I could, so I will be able to see whats leaking next time.