The NARFmobile, My 2001 Golf TDI

NARFATOMI sounds like an expensive tire. ;p and i love the tire that says FATOMIC. perfect.

I really appreciate your thread. for guys like me that want to do more but don't always know what there is that may need to be done, you have given me so much information to read and digest and i thoroughly appreciate it.

Don't worry, be happy.

The Volkswagen was running great, then this light came on:



No big deal. The ABS light came on last year once because of the fuses on top of the battery and it came on another time because of an actual wheel speed sensor failure. I told myself, and the car, that I used to drive an '86 Chevy Blazer with no ABS so I wasn't going to worry about it. I would get around to scanning the controller eventually.

That same day the driveway was particularly slippery, so I decided to test the ABS system and see if it was completely disabled. Driving slowly I hit the brakes hard before a curve and slid straight through a snow bank:



The snowbank was nice and soft and there was no curb, just a smooth transition on to a couple of feet grass before finally stopping in the middle of my front walk way. If the ABS was working I might have made the corner, instead I immediately locked up all four wheels and slid two full car lengths in a perfectly straight line. One more car length and I would have hit the side of the house. It was a fun test.

If the ABS light was the only problem I would have kept driving the car, but there was more...

We had some particularly slushy days and that is how I noticed that every time I stopped the car there was a thin film of diesel fuel floating on top of the water that was dripping off. There was also some extra diesel smell in the garage. Maybe the fuel leak from the injection pump finally needed attention?

Or maybe it was an exhaust leak? I wasn't sure, but there seemed to be some smell coming into the cabin. Then yesterday afternoon the exhaust got really loud all of a sudden, and I could smell it in the cabin at every stop light. I figured it was best to park the Volkswagen outside and drive the Honda until I had a chance to investigate. I was a little depressed that I was "parking" the Volkswagen.

I tried to take my mind off my winter beater's problems and focus on enjoying the new Honda. It was cold but sunny today so I gave the van a three dollar spray down before taking this picture:



It looked genuinely happy to be getting attention; there was literally a sparkle in its headlight.

It wasn't even 24 hours since I had "parked" the Volkswagen before I stole a chance to go outside and have a look under the car. I started it up with the engine at -10 degC and found this:



If you look closely you can see that the one and only "old repair" in my exhaust system broke, directly behind the catalytic converter. Here is a picture from a few months ago where you can see the old weld holding a short piece of pipe directly behind the cat:



It looked solid, otherwise I would have cut it off before fitting the long piece of pipe behind it. Now that I think of it, that short piece was welded on years ago, in very worst spot in this exhaust system for rust: directly behind the cat. Also, the old repair piece was much thinner and different material from the cat. I will probably end up welding back in a piece that I did not need to trim off the longest piece in the picture above. By the time I am done I should remember this mistake.

After finding the exhaust snapped cleanly off behind the cat, I decided it was a good thing that I was driving the Honda because I didn't want to put stress on my new turbo and flex pipe to hold up the heavy catalytic converter.

Later on, I looked at the picture again and realized there is a great big hanger directly in front of the cat to take its weight, its not just hanging off the turbo, so I was going to go ahead and drive the Volkswagen.

It was fun making race car noises, but the fumes are not good.

I would like to get this fixed, but not tonight, the garage is a refrigerator, it is well below freezing outside, and the welder is across the courtyard in the shed. Also, its dark out, and I am tired, and would rather drink beer and write this.

Besides, with careful use of the recirculate button I can keep making race car noises until this weekend when it should well above zero, and daylight and I might even be sober and rested.



I almost forgot, I did have time to pull codes from the ABS controller today:

1 Fault Found:

01276 - ABS Hydraulic Pump (V64) 008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent

I did not even bother to look up the code, I just went ahead and pulled all three ABS fuses on top of the battery, inspected them, put them back, then pulled the plug and reseated it. I cleared the fault code and the light has not come on since and I have driven about 20km. It is supposed to snow and warm up tomorrow morning so I will try and hit the brakes hard on the same corner and see if the anti-lock system will let me steer around the bend.

Turns out that today was a pretty good car day after all, and I have exhaust work to look forward to this weekend.

The diesel fuel could be coming from one of the return lines on the injectors.

jayb79 said:

The diesel fuel could be coming from one of the return lines on the injectors.

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I will check, that would be an easy fix! I have the seal kit for the injection pump that I ordered a few years ago on standby also.

Speaking of easy fixes, the ABS is working great! There was no snow this morning but I did find a really nice patch of ice behind the Tim Hortons at Clappisons Corners. Is it ironic that a parking lot at the very top of a big hill has drainage problems on three sides? The Northwest corner was a perfect place to hit the brakes and turn the steering wheel:



Amazingly, even with no traction, the car will brake and turn at the same time!

The exhaust smell and noise were also diminished this morning, the pipes must have aligned themselves. I was left wanting for more race car noise. It got me thinking about this again:



Everything comes in the kit: http://www.amazon.ca/Generic-Electr...r=8-3&keywords=exhaust+cut+out+remote+control

This would be the time to do this.

I better sleep on it.

This is not good, I came up with a plan that is going to cause me all kinds of extra work and likely frustration, but if it were to work it would be awesome:



It would likely take weeks to get the cheap kit on the slow boat from China... so I don't need to order it right away. In fact I can go ahead and repair the current fracture in the exhaust permanently this weekend. I will consider taking the down pipe off and back on again to just be practice so I can get better and faster at it. Yeah, thats it, practice for when it needs to come off and go back on multiple times in order to fit the exhaust cut out kit. If I decide to order it.

It will be a tight fit to get it in there between the hanger and the flex pipe.

Silly question, but could you change the setup to make an engine brake?

Jason

SilverGhost said:

Silly question, but could you change the setup to make an engine brake?

Jason

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I don't see why not. I wonder what kind of interesting noises that would make!

I don't think I am going to order an exhaust cut-out kit. I got tired of the noise and decided to just fix the exhaust. Besides, in order to get "full race-car effect" the cutout has to go before the cat, which makes the exhaust stinky, and routing of pipes would be complicated if not impossible.

Exhaust Repairs Revisited

Time to get the car into the air. I maxed out my jack stands and had a chance to get a great picture of the aluminum belly pan on the car:



Yes, there is something seeping through that rivet hole and on the passenger side, but it is not leaving marks on my driveway or garage floor so lets just leave that alone for now.

The goal for today was to get the down pipe and catalytic converter off the car. Everything came out easily since I had just installed it on the new new turbo with new studs and anti-sieze.

Luckily I still had a perfect length of the same really nice pipe I used last time. I actually found this pipe on the side of the road, it used to have a massive rubber isolator the size of a pop can welded onto it so I assume it came from some kind of big machinery or a truck.


Here is a picture showing the thickness of the new pipe and the thinness of the cheap stuff that I had welded on years ago. The ironic thing is that I had slipped the thick pipe inside the thin stuff almost all the way to the catalytic converter. Again, I should have cut this "old repair" off the last time. This is the best way to learn I guess:



The proper solution would have been to weld a length of the heavy walled exhaust pipe directly to the catalytic converter. So that is what I prepared to do. I measured from old broken piece to half way into the thick side of the reducer. I re-used the reducer but cutting it off, cleaning it up, and fitting it tightly inside the new pipe with a hammer and blocks of wood:



After offering this up to the car I found it was about 3/4 of an inch too long, so I simply tapped the reducer further inside of the new pipe and test fitted it again. Once I was happy with it I tack welded it on the car, then took it off and fully welded everything using my 120V welder on its lowest setting:





Here is something neat I found inside the clamp that connects to the rest of the exhaust system. The last time I was in working in here I cut this dog leg pattern into a loop of metal to create an expandable bushing. I had to put the bushing on one side of the clamp due to a slight difference in the two pipes that this clamp has to work with. I remember it taking about four tries to get the gaps just right. I re-used it for a perfect fit again this time:



Finally it was time to put more anti-sieze on the studs, and bolt the down pipe flange to the turbo for good, until next time:

Paul, isn't it getting to be time for another timing belt?

Windex said:

Paul, isn't it getting to be time for another timing belt?

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Yes, in about 20,000 km! Thanks again for doing the last one. That job is still intimidating to me, probably because I haven't had to plan for and attempt it myself yet. I would still rather not "go there"... I could use your help again maybe late this summer or fall.

Then again this opens a bit of can of worms, I remember you mentioned the threads in passenger side mount bracket were getting worn so I wouldn't definitely not attempt the job without having a replacement bracket on hand. I also remember you looking at my cam at 400,000km and saying, "Looks like it is starting to wear... If it were mine I would just see how many more km I could get." Meaning I may need cam and lifters at this point? Also, the engine is burning more than a liter of oil between changes now, either that or it is leaking somewhere. I never did replace the rear main crank seal. Also the inject pump is leaking and I remember you saying that it was jumping a little on the graph indicating internal wear.

Having to replace the timing belt, bracket, and cam and lifters might be too much, I am seriously considering just driving the car until it quits, placing my bets that something other than the timing belt will make me want to retire it (because the failure of an overdue timing belt would be embarrassing).

One of the reasons I spent some money on an updated new turbo is because I didn't want the original one, with 530,000km to take out the engine, but there were other reasons too.

With the timing belt system, it has updated heavy duty components that were put in only a few years ago. I feel comfortable pushing them past the 160,000 km mark.

I guess what I am saying is: yes, the timing belt will come due this year, but I am not sure if I will be replacing it this year. Call me crazy but I don't want to own the car forever, I just want to see how many economical and fun miles I can get out of it.

Then again, one of the best things about this car is learning how to fix everything, so maybe I need to go ahead and take the valve cover off and keep plowing forward with all the challenges that I find inside, as long as I am not throwing money away? I really need to draw the line somewhere. Its an ongoing debate between me and the car.

NarfBLAST said:

Call me crazy but I don't want to own the car forever, I just want to see how many economical and fun miles I can get out of it.

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Crazy!

NarfBLAST said:

I really need to draw the line somewhere. Its an ongoing debate between me and the car.

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I side with the car!

jayb79 said:

You will probably want to move the relay mounted to the engine, I think the direct engine vibration will kill it quickly...[snip]

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I took your advice and moved the relay, its the one with the blue and green wires. The coolant glow plug over-ride is working great still.



I also removed the cyclonic oil strainer from the CCV system.

edit: why did I say green and red I meant to say green and blue

NarfBLAST said:

....I also removed the cyclonic oil strainer from the CCV system..........

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why did you?

deejaaa said:

why did you?

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I guess I was just tired of emptying it and I didn't like the way it looked and it was sort of, "in the way". Also I only really installed it to measure how much oil was entering the intake from the vent, and I realized it was "a bunch" but there is not much to do about it (other than disable EGR which is done) so I might as well burn it as fast as it is being produced as the engineers intended.

Hatch Wiring Repair

The rear defogger and the hatch lock had not been working for a few months. I though I had better check the wires inside the infamous boot and sure enough, they were broken, again:



Two wires were sheared clean off (one of them for the defogger) and most of the others had cracked insulation.

It was then that I had a moment of clarity: it was one of those moments when I realized I could change the course of history. I had to act before the moment passed. I quickly cut all the wires:



Then I removed the wrapping and separated all the wires from the window washer tubing:



Quickly, before the moment of clarity passed, I popped off the headliner end-trim, reached in, grabbed the wires, and pulled them out the headliner:



After a quick check for length I found that I could easily cut out four inches of bad insulation and old repairs and replace it with freshly crimped connectors:



Finally! The massive bundle of ten wires that used to run through that external boot could be zip tied neatly inside the vehicle, safe for ever more!



I made a quick video of the final product showing how little stress there is on wires when the hatch closes now: https://youtu.be/TOiuFdiWVHQ

Good times.

Looks good Paul! So, you didn't run the hatch wiring back through the boot? Just cut out the bad sections, rewired, and tucked it back above the headliner?

hskrdu said:

Looks good Paul! So, you didn't run the hatch wiring back through the boot? Just cut out the bad sections, rewired, and tucked it back above the headliner?

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Exactly! The only thing I left in the boot was washer fluid hose.

I forgot to include this picture:



edit: in this picture the heavy black wire on going up on the left is for the 3rd brake light, the heavy black wire going down is for the defogger, and the rest of the wires are wrapped with factory cloth tape. The washer fluid line is hidden in the boot and inside the hatch frame.

I am sure it looks terrible to some people but it makes me happy when stuff works and I like to be able to see the inner workings of things.

I love practical and functional over pretty, it may be different if wasn't 15 years old with over 500k on it.

Got it now- the last picture helps a lot. It's certainly a reasonable option given how many Golf owners end up with broken wiring at the hatch. My outer rubber boot on the driver side got pinched and developed a small split. Before trying to seal it, I peaked inside to find one or two wires developing the standard insulation cracks. I decided to try some of that "liquid electrical tape" to see if it sealed the crack- and how long it would last. That was 18mos ago, so maybe this summer I'll open the boot and take a look, but I haven't lost any function at the tail yet. I'd like to replace the rubber boot, but I'm guessing the only way to do so is first cut all the wires, which isn't my preference (until necessary).

hskrdu said:

I'd like to replace the rubber boot, but I'm guessing the only way to do so is first cut all the wires, which isn't my preference (until necessary).

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I replaced the rubber connector/grommet/boot last year. They're only $9 bucks at the dealer...but yes, you have to cut the wires to install. In my case, the wires were all broken anyway, so it didn't make much difference if I cut them or not...they had to be repaired. I chopped the old crusty wires off and soldered new sections in place.

I haven't done the passenger side yet, but I bought a new rubber boot to have on hand for when the time comes.

I would probably do what Narf did here for a quick repair. It works and will outlast the rest of the car I'm sure.

Well, this is embarassing, or maybe just ironic:

I finally stopped in to Flamborough Auto Recyclers on Highway 6 to see if the silver Golf they had out front had a decent drivers front fender.

A few days later I brought home a fender, a bumper and a hatch:



I won't post any close ups of the rust on my old hatch, lets just say the bottom of the window was rotting out. You can see the rust on the outside of the hatch, the crinkled fender, and the rough looking front bumper in this photo:



The ironic part? The new hatch has nearly perfect wiring, so my hatch wiring "fix" is no longer relevant and I went ahead and used the newer grommet that came from the 2005 Golf donor car. Anyway...

The neat thing is that it was a TDI so I didn't have to add the badge. But I did transfer my "backless" VW badge from the old hatch:



Can't wait for warmer weather to do some paint touch ups and mount the new fender and bumper.

How are the prices at Flamborough Auto Wreckers? It's been years since I've used them.

Windex said:

How are the prices at Flamborough Auto Wreckers? It's been years since I've used them.

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That is a good question. I thought they were fair. I got the complete hatch, left front fender and bumper cover for $650 plus tax.

Injector Nozzle Swap

I finally attempted this! It was actually a month ago and it was terrifying; I had a couple of issues, but I am ready to talk about my nozzle journey now.

The car had been running great all winter. After the snow melted I started thinking about what to do it next. I knew I wanted to take some long road trips to some great get togethers and I wanted the car to look "better than the last time I showed up". Hence the used bumper, fender and hatch.

Then Impex Fest was announced: World Impex TDI Fest: Saturday, May 21st, 2016

...and I got to thinking, now that I have this new turbo, maybe I should request a re-tune for more boost? So I started researching...

I was the guy who always said I would never go down the upgrade path. I was just happy to "wake up" the performance a little.

...but the more I researched, the more I realized that if I was going to pay for a tune upgrade, then I really should replace my original nozzles. They were certainly "worn out" anyway. Also Jeff had said that I could easily upgrade to the "next size up" in nozzle with the tune he had applied last year. It all made logical sense, even though the car was running fine, the nozzles are a wear item, and I like to replace worn items with upgraded parts when possible.

Great! Now I just had to decide nozzles to get. It took me two weeks to decide and also gather up the nerve to order a set of Bosio Sprint 520's:



What made me most nervous was the removal process. The only videos I could find on YouTube were of sweaty shirtless men hammering away at injectors trying to remove them. I ordered a slide hammer.

While I was waiting for parts to arrive I pressure washed the front of the engine one afternoon, then sprayed penetrating oil at the base of the injectors on two separate nights.

The day finally came when I had all the parts, had the time, and was ready to start. I moved the vacuum ball, removed my glow plug harness, cleaned my desk, put down some fresh paper towels and then made myself some coffee.



When it finally came time to pull the injectors, three of them came out with just a wiggle using my fingertips, and only one needed a couple of taps from the slide hammer. Good times!



The next thing that made me nervous was cleaning the injector holes. I had stopped at my local sporting goods store and picked up a 12 gauge shotgun cleaning kit with a wool brush and it really did a great job. This went way quicker and was way more fun than I thought it would be:



Next it was time to take the injectors apart. Here is a tip: do not use a wrench to break apart the injectors! I did, on the first one, it slipped and mangled the heck out of the sealing surface! My heart sank only briefly. I did not panic. I got a deep socket and removed the injector cap. I regret now that I did not take a picture, I was too distraught with worry, and I didn't want to jinx myself. I thought I might have ruined a perfectly good injector. Here is a picture with a cap in the background similar to the on I had damaged:



I was too worried to take a picture of the actual damage. The file is your friend I reminded myself. I filed the marred corner of the sealing surface for about ten minutes until it felt smooth to the touch, then I found some extra fine grain sand paper, placed it on a flat counter top face up, put some oil on it and rubbed the sealing surface until I felt it looked uniformly polished. I was a little worried because the surfaced seemed to be machined with an ever so slight dish towards the center, and I had polished it flat, but I had to move on. I rebuilt all four injector bodies with new nozzles:



A month later the injector I damaged and repaired seems to have sealed just fine. I know this because one of the others did not, and there was a putt putt noise and soot associated with that one:



Here is the washer that did not seal, perhaps I did not torque the rocker arm down properly, I was being careful not to over torque them and I had done them by hand. I guess it was better this than break the rocker arm and have the injector fly out. Replaced this seal last night and there is no more putt putt sound! "Hurrah!" I yelled out loud on the test drive.

I had been pretty confident I had found the putt putt problem before the drive; you can see the soot on one side of the washer that did not seal in the four way picture below. The two top pictures show the top of the washer where it meets the injector and was leaking soot. The two bottom photos show the bottom of the injector, where it meets the head, and seems to have sealed. Again, this was not the injector that I had thought I had wrecked, so that was a relief!



There is definitely more torque and power available now. The car was pulling nice all the way to 4800rpm before the nozzle swap. Now, it pulls even better, and instead of holding the go pedal and waiting for speed to build it seems more like I am just squirting some torque, shifting, and giving it another squirt. My favorite observation is something similar to what I noticed when I bought the Honda Odyssey with its 250 hp and 255 ft lbs (and 4500 lbs curb weight), that observation was that you can pass with ease on a two lane road and it seems to take a long time after you let off the accelerator to get back down to the speed limit. The Volkswagen is almost as fast as the minivan now.

Looking forward to doing all of the cosmetic touch ups as the weather gets warmer.

This thread warms my heart. Can not wait to see what else you have in store for us...

No fancy balancing or calibration and they just work fine? Imagine that. What did you do to get the leaky injector to seal up, just change the seal?

jayb79 said:

What did you do to get the leaky injector to seal up, just change the seal?

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Yep, just cleaned the head and the end of the injector and changed the seal and snugged up the rocker/retainer bolt a little tighter than last time.

Spring Time is Repair Time

Meanwhile, in the Santos Speed Shop & Day Care garage...

My original dog bone mount got replaced! I did this a couple of weeks ago thinking that was the source of the "popping sound". I thought maybe the extra torque from the new injectors has finally destroyed this mount. I was wrong, but this mount definitely needed replacing anyways. Clunk levels have definitely been reduced. So here is another picture of a beautiful new part on an old car. I chose the Rein Automotive brand for cost savings:



A couple of glow plugs needed replacing. I have gotten really good at soldering, heat shrinking, and crimping these:



Turns out rebuild kits for the Bosch starter are super cheap so I took my spare one apart just for fun and discovered the rotor and windings are a thing of beauty inside!



edit: found a closeup of this be beautiful piece... such a shame to put it back in the casing:



And finally, we are preparing the new fender for installation...



More to come.