Stafford Virginia, anyone need a4/a5/b4 TDI work? Broken Glow Plug Removal too.

Posting to save this thread. Friend needs her TB done on her BEW in the near future.

Need to save this thread

If we had the proposed ferry from Reedville to Onancock, I would be over there in a flash. Right now, that is a loooong trip. If I can coordinate two trips into one, I'll call ahead.

Tom,
I think my Jetta is possessed! I need help BIG TIME diagnosing and fixing my electrical (lights flashing on dash as well as other things) and now a solid red steering wheel. Geez it's been nerve wracking! I sent you a PM.
Thanks,
Dan

TDI repairs

Sent you a PM. Just bought a 99.5 Jetta that needs some luvin. My in laws are in Quantico so that is pretty close to your neck of the woods. I would love to bring her by to flesh out my repair list! thx!

Another great Tom visit for my 2000 Golf

I had my 2nd trip to Tom yesterday and he did a great job as always. He changed my manifold, put a new serpentine belt tensioner and alternator pulley on, and helped me do the oil/filter change and engine cover kit install. I also cleaned out the EGR which, along with the manifold, was majorly clogged!
http://home.comcast.net/~depz3/CloggedEGR.jpg
With the clean manifold/EGR the car feels like a rocket. I've learned my lesson to never lug the engine or shift low - 2500 cold and 3000 warm from now on. I can't recommend Tom enough but here goes anyway, I highly recommend Tom for TDI work!

I should be in SC from the 28th of September to mid-late October. Internet is spotty down there to say the least.

plastic shift linkage attachment

My plastic shift linkage which attaches the cable to the transmission broke yesterday.

This one affected reverse, 1st, 2nd and 5th.

Fearing the worst at first I called Tom and within 30 seconds he was able to diagnose the problem sight unseen to a 30 dollar plastic part. He provided the part number and even called impex for clarification on my behalf. My wife who was nearby noticed how calm Tom was and just nailed the problem. Yeah i was getting a little excited.

I had to start my car in 3rd and have only 4th gear to shift into. It was fun. After conferring with him we did not want to risk burning the clutch up by having too many 3rd gear starts. Impex would have been an hour drive and toms would be over 1 hour.

Found a dealer nearby who only charged 3 dollars more than impex for the part and only half hour labor.

For me this is what the club is all about. People looking out for each other.

Tom hats off to you. You made a life long customer yesterday and impressed my wife and that is no easy thing.

Tom is what he says he is, and does what he says he can do. He has saved me alot of money and time by diagnosing things other shops could not. He's a good guy and a good mechanic. Tops.

If you care about your car take it to Tom

Tom was a great help to me the other day. I rolled in with a very undermaintained 99.5 Jetta with 182k on it. I had just bought it used and it was in need of a professional. Tom fixed my diesel leak (that the shop said they fixed), changed my TB, water-pump, V-Belt, and ran diagnostics on the car. We then drove it around the block and Tom was laughing at me, pointing out that I had NO BOOST! What did I know, I was a total TDi noob. Long story short after a few mins in the driveway he figured out that the Turbo was in one piece but the ?wastegate? lever had seized up. So he freed it up manually and then we seemed to get good boost after that! Looks like the previous owner babied it too much and it hung up, I am excited to learn that shifting over 4k several times each drive is going actually be healthy for me and keep the oil out of my intake.

I can guarantee the stealership would have charged me thousands, Tom did not. Also I am sure the stealership would have made me replace things like the Turbo because they would have had trouble diagnosing the issue, Tom does not have this problem. He chills out and thinks, and then figures out what is wrong. He does not jsut replace things willy-nilly to see if it works. Tom also scrounged up many bolts, fittings, vaccuum lines and other random stuff that saved me a ton of time from ordering, that was invaluable!

Bottom line, Tom rocks and I plan to go back to spend some QT learning about my car, getting my hands dirty and getting her up and running for many more years.

Thx Tom!

I emailed Tom before I saw the comment about being out of town. I just bought a 2000 Beetle with only 62k miles and apparently it has the original TB, so after reading this thread unless anybody else around NoVa is recommended and available I will wait for Tom to return.

Turbo and I just had an hour of fun on the local beach where he chased sand crabs into their burrows and tried to chase the waves back into the river, all the while I just chased the mosquitos and sand fleas away from my ears. All of the pm's and emails have been answered.

Tom, hope all is OK in SC. Would love to swing by Stafford and meet you sometime.

i don't understand why this thread was moved. It seems pretty random after all these years in the original location.

Do we expect people from CA to visit Tom? Maybe huh. Though it was in the East Coast section he was clearly marked as a vendor by his ID.

What gives?

tomo366: Big Brother is watching!

how this place has changed..

My thread was moved as well. I was told I was reported.

My business took much longer than I thought it would have, and since the beach was so inviting it took twice as long to get things finished up. I do have to return to SC before the beginning of December and I'll probably stay down there until New Year. So....

Tom

so, does this mean you are open for business for the next couple of weeks?

Rose

My neighbor who is ASE LT1 certified has done several tdi clutch jobs for me so we're capable of doing those jobs now.

tomo366 said:

how this place has changed..

Click to expand...

The movement of this thread from East Coast to Vendor/Group Buys was unfortunate and unecessary. The post by Tom was for members of a specific area, was not a group buy, and marginally falls into the category of "vendor." (Tom does not sell products, nor does he have a website selling TDI items. He's registered as a Vendor as required, but sells only his mechanical services). Having lived in MD, MI, VA, MO, CA, NV, and NY over the last 24 months, I regularly read the regional threads b/c they are the easist way of finding help that is specific to an area. The same is true for those of us who drive all over the country- I look in a regional thread to find help and service (as TDIMeister did when he needed help in Saratoga). A look through the regional threads reveals cars for sale, parts for sale, discussions of biodiesel and fueling stations, etc.- all topics that can found elsewhere, but are posted in a regional thread b/c it was the intention of the OP to religate the dialouge to a smaller community. Have we become so suspicious and cold that every vendor will be pushed to the F/S section, to the detriment of the regional communities and spirit in which the Club has operated so well over the years? I hope not.

PS: Tom has never worked on my TDI, only on my g/f's old Mark III Jetta Wolfsburg, for which he charged nothing and reluctantly accpeted some cash after I insisted.

Tom Completed my TB job last week and I have to agree with everything I read here about what a thoroughly professional job he did, and how much I learned watching and listening.

ditto thread should be moved back and recent service

I started a thread recommending tom at the east coast regional section. That one is filling up with folks stating the great service they have received.

Technically that thread I started in the East coast region is legal. It is helpful to have the thread locally. Both threads should be combined and placed in the East Coast section because otherwise Tom will have two threads saying how much folks like him which may be grossly unfair to other vendors.

I want to post about my recent service experience so should I post on this thread or the one in the East Coast section?

Yah..... all of the customers projects have been completed (including some of my own) which have been put off for months. I'm off to SC tomorrow morning to finish up my business down there which must be completed before the calendar strikes 12/31.

Sorry to push a post of someone trying to sell things to the second page, but this is where the powers of the website have moved my thread. I'm back from SC until the first of February when I'll return to SC again.

Just a "drove through Stafford a few times recently" bump. Wish I'd had time to stop in and say hello. How's Turbo?

He's growing like a weed and has to be the largest Chihuahua in recorded history. Here he is on the beach in Beaufort SC on New Year's Eve.

After many trips to SC for business down there, I'm back for the next three weeks, then one last final trip to SC to conclude what I need to do there. I don't want to spend too much time down there as the State Birds, the Sand Flea and Mosquito, have awoken and alive, well, and hungry.

I've been back and forth to SC a few times and going back again around June 15th and will be there for a month. Please pm me to schedule any work you need done.

On 15 June I close up again and head back to the beach for another 30 days. It's great being semi-retired.

Hey, ninedee_golf_tdi's back in the "Eastern USA" section!