Beyond the Maintenance Schedule

tditone

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Location
Central NY State
TDI
2003 Golf GL 4-dr, Reflex Silver
I have a question for those of you with experience maintaining vehicles over the long run (TDI, and otherwise).

Is VW's maintenance schedule a safe, comprehensive checklist, or do you recommend any additional kinds on maintenance at certain intervals (not covered in the schedule)? In other words, is there anything important that's missing from the schedule? Or anything that's on there, but that often gets skipped by the Service Technician?

Thanks,
-Tone
 

kwhiner

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Location
Sparks, NV USA
TDI
'00 Golf GLS Silver
Along with the AF change it might not be a bad idea to check the Snow Screen if your car is fitted with one. Book recommends changing AF @ 40k intervals. Here in Reno, fairly dusty conditions 20k about the max. Tire rotation also wouldn't hurt every 5k depending on your driving style. 60%+ of the weight on the front can chew-up the tires fairly quickly.
 

20IndigoBlue02

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2001
Location
Was North NJ, now SoCal
TDI
2002 Golf TDI-- deceased
Changing the gear oil or tranny fluid
Is there a recommended interval for such changes? Or a way to test the integrity of the fluids?

-Tone
On my old car, I changed the the gear oil every 60,000 miles. For automatics, I did, drain and refill one year, the next year complete flush, then drain/refill, etc.

Supposedly the automatic transmission is sealed...that's what I heard
 

concours

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2001
Location
Kensington, NH
TDI
2006.6 Jetta GLS 5 speed 125,000 miles, 2001.5 Jetta GLS 5-speed, Tornado Red, Monsoon w/CD changer
I see you live in the salt belt as well. Grease everything that could possibly rust or corrode. I use an arsenal of various spray greases, motorcycle chain lube, neverseez and LPS #2 preservative. Let's see... rear license plate screw threads, brake bleeders, wheel bolts, tie rod adjustment threads, electrical connections (don't forget the ground under the battery), wiper arm pivots and everything else that might rot. 25 years of fixing rotted junk provides plenty of motivation to cover all the bases. Have fun.
 

golfstream

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 10, 2001
Location
Balmer, Hon
TDI
Golf, 2000, Black
I've heard lots of A4 owners saying that the OE shocks & struts are pretty much toast after about 50-60k miles. Change them out with some nice Bilsteins or other high quality suspension that will last a long time... replace strut mounts and strut bearings too.

-Mel
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Do the EGR adaptation, regardless of mileage. It's a one-shot deal that will save you aggravation in the long term.

Changing waterpumps isn't on the maintenance schedule, but should be: If you have an A4-chassis and you have the "new" style timing belt, change it and the tensioner every 128,000 km / 80,000 miles and change the waterpump and replace the coolant along with it at every timing belt change (since you are in there anyway). On the 2003 models, that belt is claimed to be good for 160,000 km / 100,000 miles but I wouldn't go that far myself. On an A3 or B4, change the waterpump and replace the coolant at intervals of 250,000 km or whatever timing belt change comes closest to that. It's much easier to change the waterpump if you have the timing belt off so you might as well do it all at the same time.

On all of them, at every oil change, remove the upper timing belt cover and have a look at the condition of the timing belt. It's easy, and it gives you a fighting chance of catching abnormal belt wear or oil leaks before they cause disaster.

Manual transmission, replace the tranny oil every 200,000 km or thereabouts. Auto tranny, they say it's lifetime fill but I'd be changing it at every timing belt change interval ... more frequently if you've hot-rodded the engine and drive like a madman.

Deal with the "snow screen" ... either clean it periodically, or clean it permanently!

In the rust belt, grease all the slider pins for the disk brakes every year with the special grease intended for that purpose. The right stuff is Poly Butyl Cuprysil, or "Sil-Glyde", or some other equivalent.

Flush the power steering fluid out, perhaps every 200,000 km, and use the correct replacement fluid.

Don't forget to flush the brake fluid every 2 years. That one is in the scheduled maintenance, but often gets overlooked.
 

GoGolfing

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2000
Location
Forsyth County, Georgia USA
TDI
Golf 2000 Candy White
I would recommend changing the air filter every 20K miles instead of 40K.

I couldn't believe the sheer quantity of dirt and debris at 30K miles... they've GOT to be kidding to wait until 40K miles.
 

itsmejerry

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2002
Location
Birmingham, AL
TDI
2015 Passat SE TDI Nav, 2015 Passat SE TDI, 2015 Beetle Convertible TDI, 2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI All Phase 2 Emission Modified complete. 50 State Legal Diesel!
I had an 89 Jetta Diesel that went 623,000 miles. I did a lot of things preemptivly instead of waiting for the parts to break. Keep in mind that this car was driven 4-5000 miles a month, and about 45-65,000 per year.
These things were done preemptivly, never have I replaced a broken part in section 1.
Section 1.
1.Alternator- every 150,000 miles. (2.5 yrs)
2.Alt. Belt, V-belt, 65,000 miles. (1 yr)
3.Rear wheel bearings 65,000 miles (1 yr)
4. CV boots sprayed with Lithium grease 2x year. Repels water, keeps rubber supple.
5. CV joints replaced every 120,000 miles. Never needed replacement when I did, but it was done "just in case"
6. Struts/ coil assembly (as a unit) every 120,000 miles.
Section 2. (filters and usual stuff)
1. Air filter - 10,000 miles.
2.Fuel filter - 30,000 miles.
3. Brake fluid- 2 yrs.
4. Gear oil-- 150,000 miles. (3 yrs)
5. Engine oil- 5000 miles. (it was Castrol 20w/50 non synthetic) of course, the car wasnt a turbo.
6. Fuel treatment- every tank. (STP diesel anti gel or Power source)Which ever was available at the pump.
7. All moving parts, latches, hinges, etc, sprayed with white lithium grease, never had a stuck bolt, squeek, etc.
8. Windshields every year or so. (pitted beyond belief)

Some unexpected suprises:
1. Diesel fuel injection pump seals/gaskets-- 360,000 miles. ($800)
2. 5 speed gear box- 425,000 miles. (5th gear wore out.)bought used for $325 at junk yard.
 

ruking

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
San Jose area, CA
TDI
2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
What do you figure is the cost per mile driven?
 

itsmejerry

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2002
Location
Birmingham, AL
TDI
2015 Passat SE TDI Nav, 2015 Passat SE TDI, 2015 Beetle Convertible TDI, 2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI All Phase 2 Emission Modified complete. 50 State Legal Diesel!
What do you figure is the cost per mile driven?
ME? I tried to figure it out once and came up with something like 7 cents per mile. Does that sound right?
Car: $13,000
Fuel 623,000/43 mpg= 14,488 gallons. x $1.30= $18,834
Oil Changes $25 per month (avg) x 12= 300/yr.=$ 3,300
Maintaince and Repairs:avg $450 yr. x 11 yrs.=$ 4,950
Tires: (12 sets)@$375 per set. =$ 4,500
TOTAL =$ 44,500
$44,500/623,000 = 7.1 cents per mile.
 

ruking

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
San Jose area, CA
TDI
2003 VW Jetta, 5 M, Reflex Silver: 09 Jetta, 6 Sp DSG, Candy White: 12 VW Touareg, 8 Sp A/T, Flint Gray
Yes, actually that tracks pretty well. In deciding whether to do a TDI Jetta I calculated a projected cost something like .0581 cents per mile over like 300,000 miles. The differences being, you have track record as to ACTUAL parts that have needed unscheduled maintenance and you have gone more than double the miles
. This is serious bang for the buck!!
 
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