What did you do to your MKIV today?

I've got 3M Expel clear bras on all my cars except the B4. When I had the front clip repainted on IBW years ago the repaint got sandblasted pretty quickly. So I had it done again and put on the bra. Much better. And I put one on the GSW because I know that the newer VW paint is far less durable than the older paint formulas. The clear bras aren't cheap, but they're cheaper than a repaint.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

I've got 3M Expel clear bras on all my cars except the B4. When I had the front clip repainted on IBW years ago the repaint got sandblasted pretty quickly. So I had it done again and put on the bra. Much better. And I put one on the GSW because I know that the newer VW paint is far less durable than the older paint formulas. The clear bras aren't cheap, but they're cheaper than a repaint.

Click to expand...

I'm probably in for a repaint at some point in the not too distant future, but a couple of other things are first in line. It's not as much of a worry out here in California, but still looks bad.

Yesterday I tried to take care of some peeling clear coat on top of the hatch following some YouTube videos.

Here's what I started with:


Taped off, sanded down with 800-grit sandpaper, then some 3000 grit, and sprayed with a 2-part clear coat. Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job blending, and the hatch still looks about like this so I won't share an after picture. Oh well, at least the clear coat has been stabilized until I can have a pro take care of it.

Today I installed this guy from Crutchfield, which replaces the CD player functionality with a Bluetooth/Aux/USB unit. You pop the radio out, unplug the CD player, then plug the bluetooth unit in. Now my CD button routes to the bluetooth unit/my phone. I haven't taken a phone call yet, but with my phone mounted on the dash I was able to use Siri just fine.

I don't have a cupholder, so for now the unit is just sitting on top of the radio behind the trim where the cupholder would go, but I'm thinking of trying to get something 3d-printed so I can have access to the Aux and USB port.

It's a really slick little unit - solves all of my problems!

Finally, I stuck two of these guys on to replace my broken my balance and fader knobs. Not overly impressed with the quality, but they do fit and securely and they do feel nice enough once they're installed. I was foolishly expecting a factory/oem finish product, but these are just little pieces of molded rubber. Oh well, not bad for $10.

Today I fired up my poor neglected golf and drove it to town to get the cobwebs out. I think I need to replace the injector pump head seal, as it bled down and I had to bleed the pump. I let it sit too long.
It was fun to drive it again though, i need to get the head redone so I can drive it more.

Replaced the sway bar links in the wagon. 50k miles of crappy Michigan roads and they were toast.https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?media/66060-jpeg.143148/

Ran a can of diesel purge through the Jetta.

I doubt anything like it has ever been done in the 223k miles.

I probably need new nozzles, but thought I’d try this to see what it does.

Zak99b5 said:

Ran a can of diesel purge through the Jetta.

I doubt anything like it has ever been done in the 223k miles.

I probably need new nozzles, but thought I’d try this to see what it does.

Click to expand...

Let us know if you notice a difference. I'm going to give it a try on my Beetle soon.

Took it for a drive afterward. It seems to run smoother, though it didn’t run rough before. Could be placebo I guess.

I do not think it’s any quieter. It seems pretty clattery to me. Sounds like a diesel lol. Since this is my first, I really have nothing to compare it to in that regard.

Well…technically not all done in a day but I changed out the Koni FSD’s in the rear of my 04 Jetta TDI PD for Koni Special Active shocks. I had already done the fronts but had to order new shock bump stops as the old one were pretty crumbly. The FSD’s lasted about 11 years and had not failed per se but I just felt they weren’t performing like they should.

I was also having a problem with the engine not shutting down smoothly. I removed and cleaned both the Anti-Shutter Valve and EGR Valve. There were carbon “gummies” and black goey goodness in the intake. The EGR valve was covered in crusty soot and the ASV was covered with black goo. I guess I’m not driving long enough distances to burn this stuff off. The car drives so much better and causes you to realize how you come to accept a gradual degradation in performance as normal.

Installed a BRM intake on the ALH. The most noticable difference so far is that required boost is lower than before, for example with stock alh intake boost at idle was 1.0-1.1psi, now 0.6-0.7psi. also flat highway cruising @ 60 used to be about 3.7 psi and during today's test drive it only took 1.9psi in 5th to hold 60 on flat ground. Has anyone got a pinout for the ASV? next step is to get the shutdown valve workin

Cleenlivin said:

Well…technically not all done in a day but I changed out the Koni FSD’s in the rear of my 04 Jetta TDI PD for Koni Special Active shocks. I had already done the fronts but had to order new shock bump stops as the old one were pretty crumbly. The FSD’s lasted about 11 years and had not failed per se but I just felt they weren’t performing like they should.

I was also having a problem with the engine not shutting down smoothly. I removed and cleaned both the Anti-Shutter Valve and EGR Valve. There were carbon “gummies” and black goey goodness in the intake. The EGR valve was covered in crusty soot and the ASV was covered with black goo. I guess I’m not driving long enough distances to burn this stuff off. The car drives so much better and causes you to realize how you come to accept a gradual degradation in performance as normal.

Click to expand...

Tell us how you like those Special Actives! I'm installing them in a week or two.

I've heard that BEWs don't build up soot in the EGR & intake nearly as badly as ALHs. I'm only at 135k, but I don't drive long distances very often. I wonder how bad my EGR is...

I changed out my glow plug harness today. Wasn't a terribly hard job but I definitely didn't wire the new one in as clean as factory wiring. The glow plug related check engine light has gone away but it continues to stutter and smoke for like 30 seconds during a cold start. Not burning any oil or coolant. Glow plugs all test good with proper resistance. I just pretend like it doesn't smoke

Diesel Fumes said:

I changed out my glow plug harness today. Wasn't a terribly hard job but I definitely didn't wire the new one in as clean as factory wiring. The glow plug related check engine light has gone away but it continues to stutter and smoke for like 30 seconds during a cold start. Not burning any oil or coolant. Glow plugs all test good with proper resistance. I just pretend like it doesn't smoke

Click to expand...

That is on the plate for the BEW today. Assuming the ALH I salvaged will fit...have to check that. Or I get a BEW one from IDP.
cheers,
Douglas

braddies said:

Installed a BRM intake on the ALH. The most noticable difference so far is that required boost is lower than before, for example with stock alh intake boost at idle was 1.0-1.1psi, now 0.6-0.7psi. also flat highway cruising @ 60 used to be about 3.7 psi and during today's test drive it only took 1.9psi in 5th to hold 60 on flat ground. Has anyone got a pinout for the ASV? next step is to get the shutdown valve workin

Click to expand...

One of mine had an inop ASV, researched through a search on here, found out it was common to have the wires break at/near the ASV connector and sure as shootin, mine was. Grafted new wires and done.

PakProtector said:

That is on the plate for the BEW today. Assuming the ALH I salvaged will fit...have to check that. Or I get a BEW one from IDP.
cheers,
Douglas

Click to expand...

BEW glow plug harness is different from ALH harness.

JDSwan87 said:

BEW glow plug harness is different from ALH harness.

Click to expand...

I did discover that. ALH is angled off to each side, the BEW's are all parallel. One more thing in my IDP cart...LOL
cheers,
Douglas

PakProtector said:

I did discover that. ALH is angled off to each side, the BEW's are all parallel. One more thing in my IDP cart...LOL
cheers,
Douglas

Click to expand...

There's always one more thing in my ID Parts cart!

I got tired of using my toe to pop the brake pedal that last little bit up. Put an extra return spring on it (found a DIY here; it goes from the hole in the pedal arm to a screw for the under dash panel).

On my drive in this AM, I noticed that my fuel gauge barely moved, instead of going from above a tick mark to below it.

So my brakes have been dragging (no wonder the PO had so many receipts for brake jobs). I expect my FE to increase a good amount. Before I was getting around 43-44 MPG, which had seemed low to me. But I did this with just under half a tank left, so it will be a while before I get real numbers.

Zak99b5 said:

I got tired of using my toe to pop the brake pedal that last little bit up. Put an extra return spring on it (found a DIY here; it goes from the hole in the pedal arm to a screw for the under dash panel).

On my drive in this AM, I noticed that my fuel gauge barely moved, instead of going from above a tick mark to below it.

So my brakes have been dragging (no wonder the PO had so many receipts for brake jobs). I expect my FE to increase a good amount. Before I was getting around 43-44 MPG, which had seemed low to me. But I did this with just under half a tank left, so it will be a while before I get real numbers.

Click to expand...

Can you double check that link for the DIY kit? I'd be interested in trying this.

kennethsime said:

Can you double check that link for the DIY kit? I'd be interested in trying this.

Click to expand...

Not sure of the link at the moment, but it's really simple.

I had a spring with hooks on the ends. Spring part is about 4" long, and the hooks are about 1 1/2" each, maybe 7" overall.

I unscrewed the torx screw for the bottom edge of the underdash panel, hooked the spring on it, and reinstalled.

I put a zip tie through the hole in the pedal arm (above the pad for your foot) and hooked the other end of the spring to that.

Then I tightened up the zip tie until there was a bit of tension on the spring.

You cannot see it sitting in the car, and the brake pedal feel is unchanged. But now the pedal returns fully.

I'll try to snap a pic or two later today.

I wonder what you'd normally have to replace to fix that the right way. Wonder if my car does it.
Something to ponder.

Nero Morg said:

I wonder what you'd normally have to replace to fix that the right way. Wonder if my car does it.
Something to ponder.

Click to expand...

I think the return spring in the booster gets weak with age, or at least that's what I read in the thread with the DIY.

Not in my own car, but just finishing up doing a timing belt for a friend of a friend's car.

Some prior mechanic had left a mess, the cover was missing and the tensioner was sprung.
The owner was lucky the timing belt only skipped a couple of teeth on the IP.
Digging into the car as I looked it over and started the replacement, I found that the cam was within a couple degrees of TDC, but the IP was retarded by about 10 degrees beyond the adjustment range of the slots on its sprocket.
Either the mechanic messed up thoroughly and it never ran, or it hopped time.

The next step is retrieving the SKC since the cluster lost track of the key somewhere along the recent timeline as well.

Such fun, since I'm due to do the timing belt again for my car in the next month as well!

That key business is just annoying. Try leaving the key in the ignition, on, for like an hour.

BobnOH said:

That key business is just annoying. Try leaving the key in the ignition, on, for like an hour.

Click to expand...

With a battery charger on it.

No undervoltage allowed.

Douglas

Here’s the pic of the spring installed to pull the brake pedal fully released.

Zak99b5 said:

Not sure of the link at the moment, but it's really simple.

I had a spring with hooks on the ends. Spring part is about 4" long, and the hooks are about 1 1/2" each, maybe 7" overall.

I unscrewed the torx screw for the bottom edge of the underdash panel, hooked the spring on it, and reinstalled.

I put a zip tie through the hole in the pedal arm (above the pad for your foot) and hooked the other end of the spring to that.

Then I tightened up the zip tie until there was a bit of tension on the spring.

You cannot see it sitting in the car, and the brake pedal feel is unchanged. But now the pedal returns fully.

I'll try to snap a pic or two later today.

Click to expand...

Oh I misunderstood, you meant you found the DIY tutorial here on the club! Excuse my ignorance.

That does sound reals simple. I think I might try this out - I'm trying to look around for stuff that might be holding my mileage back.

Diesel Fumes said:

I changed out my glow plug harness today. Wasn't a terribly hard job but I definitely didn't wire the new one in as clean as factory wiring. The glow plug related check engine light has gone away but it continues to stutter and smoke for like 30 seconds during a cold start. Not burning any oil or coolant. Glow plugs all test good with proper resistance. I just pretend like it doesn't smoke

Click to expand...

I had endless glow plug issues until I used dielectric grease on the contacts. started up better than ever, and never had any glow plug issue since then!

Zak99b5 said:

Took it for a drive afterward. It seems to run smoother, though it didn’t run rough before. Could be placebo I guess.

I do not think it’s any quieter. It seems pretty clattery to me. Sounds like a diesel lol. Since this is my first, I really have nothing to compare it to in that regard.

Click to expand...

You should look up the TC-W3 recipe (1 oz/gallon), I use it in my ALH and it really quiets everything down. Never run better!

What I did to my MK4: I drove 250 miles and couldn't figure out why my mileage was 42 mpg. (the strong headwind and driving at 75 mph probably didn't help) when I realized when I replaced the bumper cover vent, I blocked off the intercooler. Not sure if it was a tailwind but got 50 mpg on the way back!

runningallday said:

What I did to my MK4: I drove 250 miles and couldn't figure out why my mileage was 42 mpg. (the strong headwind and driving at 75 mph probably didn't help) when I realized when I replaced the bumper cover vent, I blocked off the intercooler. Not sure if it was a tailwind but got 50 mpg on the way back!

Click to expand...

Unless you're driving at full throttle (pulling a trailer or similar), having a blocked off intercooler will actually (theoretically) increase your MPG.