What did you do to your MKIV today?

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PakProtector said:

Alright...on the genset. Need an 1800 rpm generator for one( no sense spinning it at 3600 ). Speed at varying power needs to be maintaiined carefully( this is what sets the line frequency of 60 Hz ). This bit is important. Not having it over freq, and over voltage( likely at the same time ) are not in the ALH's ECU behaviour. It could be a solid governer could be coded in...

However, a smaller engine would likely be better as one can run closer to the max efficiency island...an ALH will likely be quite happy running to 40 kW continuous...

Douglas

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I'd be more than happy with 40kw, and @burpod could write the tune for it lol.
Actually, my Kubota also runs at 1800. I'm not that wild about 3600 RPM generators; way too noisy for my taste.

PakProtector said:

WHAAAAAAAAT? You came *NORTH to the salt belt for a TDI?

Douglas

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UPDATE: So I took a medium-quick look underneath and the Jetta is indeed well maintained and does not look horrible. Sure, there's surface rust, but the metal isn't turning into flakes.

On the way home (driving the car back from PA) the a/c was weak. I figured it just needed some refrigerant, so I added some tonight. Then I took a look at the fans and found both fans there. The large one was spinning merrily away. The small one ... well I don't know if it was spinning or not because there is no blade disk. Hmmph! First time I've even heard of someone removing (breaking off in small parts?) the blades and not fixing the fan. Oh, well. I'll look in my stack of spare parts. I am sure I have a used fan in there.

And I think I have found the source of the boost leak, right at the impeller output on the turbocharger. I'll have to get under it to tell for sure. But the fix might be relatively easy. (crossing fingers...)

Cheers,

PH

Huh. Something changed on the forums. Got logged out apparently, and it asked to accept cookies.

anyway, mechanic did LCAs, neuspeed softsport springs (stock springs had WAY too much dip and dive, the new ones are far superior in every way), plus valve cover and vacuum pump seals.
Unfortunately apparently discount tire installed my wheels without hub centric spacers so I gotta deal with that.

What did my dumbass do today... fuse 34 kept shorting out yesterday and again today. Found the problem - my unused EGR connector melted to the exhaust. Whoops. Talk about a literally short to ground. What I get for not using a ziptie to secure it somewhere.

Tomorrow, I'm getting an OEM windshield on DSOL. My glass installer couldn't get stock on aftermarket and insurance amazingly approved OEM. Two days ago, on the other Golf, got replacement rear glass, and what a difference it makes. Now I can see out of it at night (old one had leftover window tint I couldn't fully remove.

Judson said:

Huh. Something changed on the forums. Got logged out apparently, and it asked to accept cookies.

anyway, mechanic did LCAs, neuspeed softsport springs (stock springs had WAY too much dip and dive, the new ones are far superior in every way), plus valve cover and vacuum pump seals.
Unfortunately apparently discount tire installed my wheels without hub centric spacers so I gotta deal with that.

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Sofsport springs are NICE! That's what I have on all three Golfs. Definitely a big difference in ride quality over stock.

pkhoury said:

Sofsport springs are NICE! That's what I have on all three Golfs. Definitely a big difference in ride quality over stock.

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I agree whole-heartedly.

Removed broken hard line to the egr cooler. Two of the three bolts on the cooler backed out and the resulting movement caused the hard line to fatigue in-between the ribs. Only thing left is a couple block-off plates, asv still in place, and a by-pass hose that came with the cooler delete kit from IDParts. No need for a straight pipe in place of the egr valve.

I also put a boot kit on the right inner cv joint. A straightforward, simple job (or so I thought) kicked my ass because the spring retaining clip on the splines was hard to remove, and even harder to replace. Snap ring pliers didn't work well on that clip with angled points instead of holes. I won't be surprised if the joint fails because the method I used to spread the new clip stretched it a little too far and I couldn't get it completely engaged in the groove all the way around.

There's nothing like buying a tool needed for a completed job after the fact, but I wasn't even aware those pointy little bastards even existed beforehand.

I have the Knipex version of those ring spreaders. Good stuff there...

Douglas

pkhoury said:

Sofsport springs are NICE! That's what I have on all three Golfs. Definitely a big difference in ride quality over stock.

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dip and dive is greatly reduced, and braking is much improved.

as I guessed, it actually handles bumps better. Better matched with the koni special actives.

Judson said:

dip and dive is greatly reduced, and braking is much improved.

as I guessed, it actually handles bumps better. Better matched with the koni special actives.

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I actually like Konis. I put Koni yellows on DSOL, though there are times I've almost wished they were on DSEL instead. But this time of year, I have zero desire to swap out shocks and struts.

Are the Koni Special Actives like the yellows? Another member sold me 2 shocks and a strut (because the dealer tech who installed them f**ked up one of the struts and it had to be physically cut off from the car). Otherwise, I'm doing B8 in the front and B6 in the rear (only because I use it to tow).

i have no desire to ever buy koni's again... 3 sets.. thats enough. the reds i had in wife's car were decent. but blown out <80k. the other konis i had were worse... never again

I personally like the stock soft ride my 2dr Golf currently has. I had Billy HD's on my wagon and it was rough, rode like an 3/4 ton truck. My 2dr Golf absorbs bumps nicely, doesn't bounce nor rattle your fillings out.

I'm going HDs next go around. TCs are good, but I want a bit more stability when I lean into it.

I don't mind the 3/4 ton ride since I have one

I found hds much better than tcs. Smoother, bumpy but not bad. I haven’t dared push hds to limit they seem to hold road very well. I haven’t gotten on two wheels yet

Changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter (dirty!). Now that the valve cover and vacuum pump seal have been replaced, I’m going to watch the oil levels closely. There shouldn’t be any oil leaking now, so of she’s using, she’s burning but if not, that’s a great sign.

i did add one variable: using Rotella T6 instead of Mobile TDT. Been running TDT all her life. The few exceptions were with T6 and she lost more oil with T6 than TDT. We’ll see over time what she now prefers.

LOL...Billy HD are nearly firm enough. I think I can tolerate their softness to get another set for the Golf, which is a wee bit on the soft/worn side.

@Judson my entire herd uses more Rotella between changes vs M1 TDT( or Delvac1). So I stick with M1 when ever possible.

Douglas

Armrest latch broke months back, and the hinge started breaking. Got a whole new lid complete with latch for well under $20 off amazon. Clicked into place and fits/works perfectly!

PakProtector said:

LOL...Billy HD are nearly firm enough. I think I can tolerate their softness to get another set for the Golf, which is a wee bit on the soft/worn side.

@Judson my entire herd uses more Rotella between changes vs M1 TDT( or Delvac1). So I stick with M1 when ever possible.

Douglas

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Interesting, been using t6 in all my diesels for years now, save for a short time when I couldn't get it. Used delvac till I could get Rotella again. I haven't noticed any difference between the two as far as oil consumption. The car seems to take about half a quart between oil changes. (6k miles.) The truck doesn't use any and neither of the tractors use any either. I credit the cars usage to the poorly designed crank case vent system

PakProtector said:

LOL...Billy HD are nearly firm enough. I think I can tolerate their softness to get another set for the Golf, which is a wee bit on the soft/worn side.

@Judson my entire herd uses more Rotella between changes vs M1 TDT( or Delvac1). So I stick with M1 when ever possible.

Douglas

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i noticed that I used (lost) more oil with T6 than with TDT. It was a very noticeable difference.

BUT I don’t know if that’s because it just leaked out of the valve cover that much faster, or it bypassed the rings faster. My girl was broken in using TDT so there’s that bit of info too.

so, time will tell. I will use TDT for the next oil change. (I used T6 because I had it and didn’t have TDT. That’s all.)

I'm a T6 guy. Reason is, my motorcycle uses it, dirtbike uses it, car and truck both use it, and my girfriend's motorcycle and dirtbike use it. Only thing at our place that doesn't take it is her 4Runner.
It's nice to have one oil that works in everything. I'm glad it's back on shelves, because the shortage where you couldn't get it for a couple years there wasn't good! But I had enough to get by.

Working on stripping the interior of my car as well as removing bumpers, fenders etc as prep work for the rust repair I'm going to tackle.



Here's the reason I've been smelling exhaust in the cabin in the winter, and in the summer coasting downhill sometimes :



Those flaps are removable; has anyone here replaced them before? Wondering what kind of material I should get.

Another door card rebuild. This time I swapped out the top section of my original drivers side door card for one from a junkyard. The reason for this was due to the top of the door card flopping around where it‘s supposed to hang over the window frame. There’s a(nother) plastic piece that fails. What a surprise. It rattles a lot less now, but what amazed me was that the panel that holds the mirror switch and the manual door opener latch from my original 03 door card is about 3/4” shorter than the opening on the donor card. So now another trip to the junkyard is in order to try to figure this out.
Anyone else replace this top section before? Most of the drivers side door cards at the junkyard have this failure so it seems to be pretty common.

burpod said:

i have no desire to ever buy koni's again... 3 sets.. thats enough. the reds i had in wife's car were decent. but blown out <80k. the other konis i had were worse... never again

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What do you run? Bilsteins?

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted but today I tackled two jobs I’ve been putting off for years. I fixed my driver side window and replaced the lock actuator. After reading multiple posts and watching YouTube videos I found it easiest to remove the entire window carrier and lock actuator together in one piece. Thank you so much VW engineers (sarcasm)! But again for a 19 year old Mark IV BEW sedan daily commuter I really can’t complain.

I also replaced the plastic (nylon?) coolant flange on the drivers side of the block. I had a slow coolant leak with pink drips on the transmission. I don’t know if it’s psychological but the car drives much better after fixing the leak. Those hoses supply the transmission and EGR coolers. What would seem to be small problems seem to have a noticeable impact on how these cars run.

Running late for an appointment and in a rush backing out with the Expedition, I backed ever-so-gently into the left rear corner of my Jetta, parked across the street.

A little crack in the already beat-on bumper cover, and also crushed the taillight a little.

So I had a good excuse to order new RCRC tails to repair the damage.

Drove her. Surprised to find that the softsport springs raised the height of the back end. The stock springs with some of the stuff I carry (tools, etc.) sagged enough that the tailpipe would scrape when backing out of the driveway if I wasn’t careful. A nice benefit. More and more happy with how she’s handling the bumps (the roads in town suck).

Judson said:

Drove her. Surprised to find that the softsport springs raised the height of the back end. The stock springs with some of the stuff I carry (tools, etc.) sagged enough that the tailpipe would scrape when backing out of the driveway if I wasn’t careful. A nice benefit. More and more happy with how she’s handling the bumps (the roads in town suck).

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Really? Mine still sags in the rear. I carry a few tools in the back seat as well. Kinda bugs me.

J_dude said:

Really? Mine still sags in the rear. I carry a few tools in the back seat as well. Kinda bugs me.

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Not sure what’s up with that! How long have you had the springs?

Judson said:

Not sure what’s up with that! How long have you had the springs?

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Only about 3 tanks on them so far

J_dude said:

Only about 3 tanks on them so far

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Mine sagged in the rear since I ditched the Suplex towing springs, but nothing too crazy. I also tend to have a bunch of tools I carry, and a 12" subwoofer box in the back. I don't know how long it takes for springs to settle.

Also, another suggestion - putting a 28mm rear swaybar on our mk4's helps considerably with handling! It's the one outstanding thing I have left to have two almost identical Golfs.