datoldjetta
Member
Background:
I like Mk4s. It's probably a disorder of some kind. But they really do make great beaters. I got back to the US and picked up one at a towyard for 1700 (1500+battery). Did the belt down in LA, pump head was cracked (oops), few boost hoses needed replacing and readjusting and the CCV replaced with something more smog-able than a rubber hose with tape (sorry previous owner, I love the spirit). It's not all bad though - big ol' fancy rims and wide tires on it, oversized turbo and an old rocketchip tune so you can REALLY give her the beans. It's also the 99.5, so no worrying about windows or any other fancy stuff to fail.
What happened:
It used to just burn a little bit of oil over time (3 quarts / 5000 miles? Maybe less) and sometimes start a little harder than it should when cold, despite the battery being perfect. Got an irregular idle rattle that I figured was the DMF. Run it at high boost too long and it goes temporarily limp (pump the gas again and it's back).
Serpentine tensioner started making noise a while ago so we replaced that (it also pushed a little bit into the TB housing, but not after fixing).
Then one sweet day, I'm driving on the highway and the oil pressure light comes on. I figure it's just been eating faster than usual and let it coast out to the offramp and a nearby gas station (oops, wouldn't have done that if I knew it was serious this time
). By the time I get there (less than 2 minutes) it's sounding very odd, has basically no power and is almost completely stalling out every few seconds. I turn it off the moment I hear that and push it the last few feet.
Being stupid, I figure it's still just more-rapid loss of oil not catastrophic loss of pressure, so I go dump 4 quarts of fresh oil in. It starts again, but the oil light comes on after a few hundred feet. So I don't **** around this time and just have it towed.
The diagnosis:
My regular guy who is more willing to go on misadventures and not worry too much about liability is still gone for a few weeks, so I call a shop. They come back a few days later and tell me I indeed do not have oil pressure, that it does indeed sound like **** and that looking any harder than that will be 500 bucks. I thank them very much for their insight and limp my scrap-to-be the 2 miles to home.
It has no turbo at all, the vac&break booster is barely working at all when it's on and the top of the engine is bone dry (duh). It sometimes starts when it's nice and cold.
The question:
1. Sell it for scrap after yanking the IP and get another beater?
2. Replace oil pump & chain & tensioner ?
Landlord won't really be happy if I just go to town on it, so that's unfortunately not an option. But having my regular guy muck with it might be, if a sort of estimate of costs for #2 and what else could be wrong is possible.
Please help me Dr. Drew.
I like Mk4s. It's probably a disorder of some kind. But they really do make great beaters. I got back to the US and picked up one at a towyard for 1700 (1500+battery). Did the belt down in LA, pump head was cracked (oops), few boost hoses needed replacing and readjusting and the CCV replaced with something more smog-able than a rubber hose with tape (sorry previous owner, I love the spirit). It's not all bad though - big ol' fancy rims and wide tires on it, oversized turbo and an old rocketchip tune so you can REALLY give her the beans. It's also the 99.5, so no worrying about windows or any other fancy stuff to fail.
What happened:
It used to just burn a little bit of oil over time (3 quarts / 5000 miles? Maybe less) and sometimes start a little harder than it should when cold, despite the battery being perfect. Got an irregular idle rattle that I figured was the DMF. Run it at high boost too long and it goes temporarily limp (pump the gas again and it's back).
Serpentine tensioner started making noise a while ago so we replaced that (it also pushed a little bit into the TB housing, but not after fixing).
Then one sweet day, I'm driving on the highway and the oil pressure light comes on. I figure it's just been eating faster than usual and let it coast out to the offramp and a nearby gas station (oops, wouldn't have done that if I knew it was serious this time
). By the time I get there (less than 2 minutes) it's sounding very odd, has basically no power and is almost completely stalling out every few seconds. I turn it off the moment I hear that and push it the last few feet.Being stupid, I figure it's still just more-rapid loss of oil not catastrophic loss of pressure, so I go dump 4 quarts of fresh oil in. It starts again, but the oil light comes on after a few hundred feet. So I don't **** around this time and just have it towed.
The diagnosis:
My regular guy who is more willing to go on misadventures and not worry too much about liability is still gone for a few weeks, so I call a shop. They come back a few days later and tell me I indeed do not have oil pressure, that it does indeed sound like **** and that looking any harder than that will be 500 bucks. I thank them very much for their insight and limp my scrap-to-be the 2 miles to home.
It has no turbo at all, the vac&break booster is barely working at all when it's on and the top of the engine is bone dry (duh). It sometimes starts when it's nice and cold.
The question:
1. Sell it for scrap after yanking the IP and get another beater?
2. Replace oil pump & chain & tensioner ?
Landlord won't really be happy if I just go to town on it, so that's unfortunately not an option. But having my regular guy muck with it might be, if a sort of estimate of costs for #2 and what else could be wrong is possible.
Please help me Dr. Drew.
