What did you do to your MKIV today?

sriracha said:

The textures and cold metal are a nice tactile upgrade over the plastic shift knob.

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Be wary: That nice "cold metal" becomes a first-degree skin burn appliance under the summer sun.
(I have a 6sp. knob I pulled off an Audi TT - love the look; hate the burn.)

Nuje said:

Be wary: That nice "cold metal" becomes a first-degree skin burn appliance under the summer sun.
(I have a 6sp. knob I pulled off an Audi TT - love the look; hate the burn.)

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That's just part of the real metal experience!

sriracha said:

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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Looks nice. I think the FE hit would bother me, however. Question: Your profile says you have an '02 Wagon. The rear bumper looks like an '03. Which is it?

You can see in this photo the '02 bumper is shorter.


BTW those are my 15" Koseis. 13 lbs.

IBW rolled over 374K miles this morning. Still my favorite. It's shameful, the other cars just sit around.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Looks nice. I think the FE hit would bother me, however. Question: Your profile says you have an '02 Wagon. The rear bumper looks like an '03. Which is it?

You can see in this photo the '02 bumper is shorter.

BTW those are my 15" Koseis. 13 lbs.

IBW rolled over 374K miles this morning. Still my favorite. It's shameful, the other cars just sit around.

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My Jetta wagon TDI is a 2005 with 130k miles.

I was hoping the Fat Five wheels wouldn’t be too much of a hit in fuel economy or acceleration. I just put them on and filled the tank. I’ll get an idea today as I hit the highway for five hours. If the FE hit is severe, I’ll probably have to search for some light 16” rims. I would like to avoid going back to 15” wheels...too much sidewall flex when cornering.

Going from steel to aluminum even with the increase in diameter could net a fe improvement. Though without a scale this is all just conjecture.

15" steel wheels weigh 22 lbs. VW/Audi alloys are notoriously heavy, with a couple exceptions. Avus 1s (15") weigh 16.7 lbs. But I bet those fat fives are close to 30 lbs.

You may not see a big change in FE in highway driving. The difference is usually greater in suburban or traffic, where you're accelerating and stopping the wheels frequently.

Whe I used my TDI on the track I had a wheel tire set that I used to drive to the track that weighed about 40 lbs. (wheel and tire). The slicks I had were on forged wheels, and each wheel/tire weighed 32 lbs. When I swapped them out the difference in acceleration and braking was immediately noticeable. Unsprung weight really matters.

I thought I read somewhere in the depths of the internet that Audi Fat Fives weigh 21.5 lbs.
I didn’t have a scale with me, but the Fat Fives did feel slightly heavier than the steel wheels.
I agree on the importance of unsprung weight.

alex_tdi said:

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.

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i can do that. i am in the process of fixing the 2.slow for my 91 cab. it'll most likely be next summer though when i start the swap process. have to get my shop opened up first.

Use the kit for drills. Worked wonders on mine. These are dirty but after a month still looking good.

sriracha said:

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.

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Maintenance and more maintenance

Well, today (and yesterday), I did some maintenance on an 03 Jetta Sedan that I purchased last January, 2018. It's not tagged and insured. I've not had the time to attend to it until now.

The engine is from an 01 and has 302k miles. The car has 252k miles on it.

So, I re-sealed the Injection Pump, removed the Starter for inspection, cleaning & lube to get rid of the run-on whine. I also changed the air filter, cleaned the plugged snow screen and changed the cabin filter.

Below are a few pics of the work...





Below, I was trying to take a close up to show the location of the "shim" that may fall out if you pull the head out too far. I did this job with the IP on "low cam." It was fairly loose, but the shim stayed in place.



Below, starter disassembly pics.









Below, is a bit of air filtering maintenance...







Next up is, tranny oil change, fuel filter change, oil & filter change and set the Injection Quantity. And, it is less than 3,000 miles from a scheduled 100k mile TB job...

got the column lock in today and with new bolts from the stealership i was able to install it on the new 99. now it'll start with a key. yay!!!!! now to find a WORKING glove box and install one of my spare cupholders then the interior will be minty again. i also fixed the trunk yesterday. now that works beautiful. found out i need a passenger window regulator or motor. it grinds bad but works. and i need to fix the speedo and tach needle illumination. the dont light up like they should. \


i also received the head set for the 2.slow yesterday. so maybe this next week i can get teh little beasty up and driving. i will also be installing my 02 radio in it as my tdi is getting a new bluetooth Pioneer double din with backup camera.

AndyBees said:

So, I re-sealed the Injection Pump, removed the Starter for inspection, cleaning & lube to get rid of the run-on whine. I also changed the air filter, cleaned the plugged snow screen and changed the cabin filter.

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Nice photos. Looks like you traversed the entire cleanliness spectrum from "Operating Room" to "Yuck!"

IndigoBlueWagon said:

15" steel wheels weigh 22 lbs. VW/Audi alloys are notoriously heavy, with a couple exceptions. Avus 1s (15") weigh 16.7 lbs. But I bet those fat fives are close to 30 lbs.

You may not see a big change in FE in highway driving. The difference is usually greater in suburban or traffic, where you're accelerating and stopping the wheels frequently.
.

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I later found another place on the internet claiming the Fat Fives to weigh 26 lbs. Not ideal.

Also, I drove 304 miles yesterday and used 7.4 gallons of diesel, which equates to 41.1 mpg. Not bad but it does seem about 2 mpg lower that what I'm used to calculating. There was some city driving and construction traffic in the mix.

Do you have any opinions on the VW Goal 5-spoke wheels? I think those weigh 20 lbs., according to the internet.
Otherwise, I'm open to lightweight wheel suggestions in the 16"-17" range.

I like them but if I'm thinking of the right wheel the bolt pattern is 5x112, not the 5x100 that your car needs. If you want 16s or 17s, finding a wheel that's 20 lbs. or less would be a good target. If the fat fives weigh 26 lbs. then you may not be able to do a whole lot better. Tire weights vary a lot, too. I've seen 16" tires for our cars that vary between 22 and 28 lbs.

I have a set of Motegi Traklites that I bought for my track day car. 16x7.5 and they weigh 12 lbs. Now that's light. No longer available.

My first thought was we were discussing MPG values in the "who cares" range.
Turns out I was wrong.
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/alloy-wheels-and-fuel-economy.488123/

There is a version of the Goal wheel that came in 100mm bolt circle. I have a set. And yes, they really do look nice. They need to be drive a few thousand miles before it is time to change out the tires though, so it will be a while before I can weigh one. I'm betting it doesn't weigh much different than the usual VW 17" alloy wheel.

Powder Hound said:

There is a version of the Goal wheel that came in 100mm bolt circle. I have a set. And yes, they really do look nice. They need to be drive a few thousand miles before it is time to change out the tires though, so it will be a while before I can weigh one. I'm betting it doesn't weigh much different than the usual VW 17" alloy wheel.

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Could we see some pics of the Goal wheels on your mk4? I searched all over the internet and found nothing.

I found 17x7 5x100 Goal wheels for sale and they are listed as fitting the new Beetle, from 1998 through 2010. That has to be 5x100, right?

Got the timing belt done on my rebuilt ALH




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sriracha said:

I found 17x7 5x100 Goal wheels for sale and they are listed as fitting the new Beetle, from 1998 through 2010. That has to be 5x100, right?

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Yes, those should be 5x100

The 17x7 Audi Fat Five wheels really transformed the handling of my wagon. The car corners much better. With far less sidewall flex than the narrow 15” stock wheels, my wagon feels much more stable at highway speed. With the stock 15” steel wheels, the car had a floating boat feeling with body roll and brake dive. With the 17” wheels, the car feels stable, planted, confidence inspiring and safe!
I’ll keep an eye on fuel economy, which is important to me, but I won’t go back to the stock 15” steel wheels. Safety and confident handling are also important to me. If FE takes a significant hit, I will seek out lighter 16”/17” rims.
One thing is for sure, the Fat Fives look awesome on the car and really give it a distinctly German look.

What dampers do you have on the car? They make a huge difference.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

What dampers do you have on the car? They make a huge difference.

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The previous owner installed Koni Red dampers, set at the lowest damping setting, with stock springs.

I wouldn’t mind upgrading the suspension. I’m considering H&R wagon specific sport springs with Koni yellows. Any thoughts on that set up? My car is a daily driver, but I do enjoy a sporty run on two lane blacktop. I want something compliant and comfortable yet supportive and stable.

In California that setup would be nice. I have Reds in my Wagon because our roads here, and anywhere within 1,000 miles of here, are garbage. I was in Manhattan a couple weeks ago and you still can end up on cobblestones on some streets. A compliant suspension is important. But I have Yellows (stock springs) in my Golf and they're noticeably more responsive.

Another option is Special Actives. Ride similar to the Reds, but much better handling. They have an Eibach Spring setup with those available, too.

Well went out for a full-throttle run to do some logging. Hit 4500 RPMs, got a bad sound from the motor and a ton of white smoke.

No engine light at all, oil is low but not too bad, engine continued to idle fine.

So she is off to the mechanic’s again. Sigh.

I had issues with both my tdi’s this weekend, on Saturday on my way back home from fishing in Narragansett, my wagon lost boost. This is probably the 4th or 5th time this summer that happened. I’m running a hose in a hose off the turbo for proper fitment, and with 28psi it somehow works it way off. SMH.
Now yesterday on my way to fishing in Pawtucket, my lower radiator coolant hose which was installed upside down caused it to come in contact with the cooling fans a year later. So I replaced the hose which is the same as 2.0 mk4 , before filling the system with coolant I also changed out the CTS as I’ve gotten codes for that the last couple months.
Hopefully we get some decent weather this week so I can tackle the boost hose on the wagon.


Bajan

I finally chased all of the turbo demons out of my car! Total parts tally: 1 VNT actuator, 1 N75 solenoid, vacuum lines, brake booster vacuum line. Earlier in the year I also cleaned the carbon out of the the intake manifold and EGR piping. The only thing I might have left to replace is the N18 solenoid, but it isn't causing problems right now, so it stays.

Hi fellas! Today I’ll begin taking the nose off of my 2004 Jetta. I need to swap the motor out, I came into possession like that. If anyone has any tips, I’d be grateful. I’m thinking to start a thread to track progress on my swap and build. Thanks guys! Message me with any tips and tricks and maybe some hints to the forum as well. I’ll appreciate it.

Here's some reading to get you started. By all means start a new thread so it doesn't get lost in the other 3k posts.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=431421

I started on a mission to track down the cause of the limp mode and then P1557 overboost code that happened last night.
Fun times ahead, since I'd already replaced the vacuum lines and the MAF (what, 4 years ago now? Hmm...)


Time to look at the log data, but I've never found a good guideline of how things should look with a Malone stage 3 tune on a VNT15 equipped car.
I do typically see surges up to around 21-22 psi and then drop back to around 18-19 psi when under heavy load like it was pulling the grade last night.


I suspect that it's also cold weather related, as I saw this last winter/spring, and then nothing through the summer.


The fun never stops!

hey_allen said:

..................................Time to look at the log data, but I've never found a good guideline of how things should look with a Malone stage 3 tune on a VNT15 equipped car...............!

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Malone's site has help for this and a nice log data plotting app. You can solicit them for help, you can post it back here, there are a very few folks who know just what to look for, plus some of the folks from Malone might see it as well.