Cheap Ebay Parts review.....

eddieleephd

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
I opted to have a line made at hydraulic store and used a swivel 90 and a straight connector engine side. The benefit of the swivel 90 is that you can pull the line off without loosening the nut, or adapter, at the turbo. Next time I can get a straight hose (much cheaper) to replace the present one.
 

KAT90

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Mass
TDI
99.5 Jetta
Bought a set of bumper grills for the Jetta for $15 on Ebay. Had a hard time getting them to snap in, nothing a quick screw couldn't fix.

 

toolmangary

Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Location
USA
TDI
1999.5 TDI 2004 Jetta 2004 Passat
I bought some replacement Projector headlights for a 2004 Passat from a seller on ebay for $118.

These things are absolutely JUNK, typical Chinese quality, the headlight bulbs didn't fit the sockets, the wire clip needs to be bent to hold the bulb in, instead of a metal mounting surface for the bulbs it was 100% plastic and the heat from the bulb will probably melt the plastic.
Then the adjusted for the reflector that is on the bottom wasn't snapped into the adjusting screw, I had to put a plastic tie strap around it to keep it in place. :(

But the bigger problem was the turn signals. These would cause the turn signal to flash like a strobe light, I could plug the originals back in and they would return too a normal flash. Also the amber bulbs were dim at best :(
Junk, Junk, Junk

I'll take some pictures when I take them back out and post them up.
 

SpeedyR

Active member
Joined
Sep 8, 2008
Location
Atl
TDI
2005 Jetta
I bought some replacement Projector headlights for a 2004 Passat from a seller on ebay for $118.
These things are absolutely JUNK, typical Chinese quality, the headlight bulbs didn't fit the sockets, the wire clip needs to be bent to hold the bulb in, instead of a metal mounting surface for the bulbs it was 100% plastic and the heat from the bulb will probably melt the plastic.
Then the adjusted for the reflector that is on the bottom wasn't snapped into the adjusting screw, I had to put a plastic tie strap around it to keep it in place. :(
But the bigger problem was the turn signals. These would cause the turn signal to flash like a strobe light, I could plug the originals back in and they would return too a normal flash. Also the amber bulbs were dim at best :(
Junk, Junk, Junk
I'll take some pictures when I take them back out and post them up.
the turn signals might be LED or a different voltage so the system thinks it's burned out and flashes quicker so you know something is wrong. that's pretty common on bikes where people put LED turn signals on the bike and then it flashes quicker. you either have to replace the relay with one designed for LED"s or wire in a resistor to add resistance to the line to fool the relay into thinking it's not burned out.
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
Bought a set of bumper grills for the Jetta for $15 on Ebay. Had a hard time getting them to snap in, nothing a quick screw couldn't fix.

Should the grill have openings for air to the turbo?
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Yea, they should be wide open.
It's a good idea to zip tie them from behind. They will pop right out when the spoiler hits a parking block. I was shocked when I got these from the dealer for like $6 each!
 

dogdots

Vendor
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Location
Kansas City
TDI
None
Should the grill have openings for air to the turbo?
The one that goes on the passenger side has a snap out solid blank that once removed allows full airflow through just like the factory piece. I have used those cheap ones, I think they were $2 or $3 each at RockAuto.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
Replaced my injectors today, here's a link to what I've just posted with
details.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=5298052#post5298052

The nozzle set was $80, injectors $60, $120 for the pro install and calibration of same. Got the metalnerd slide hammer for $35,
the craftsman flare nut wrench was about $5, it's rugged! Most of
my wrenches and sockets are, shudder, Harbor Freight, but they
work just fine for the amount I'll be using them.

About $300 for everything on the road, and an hour or two for the install. And of course I still got the tools.

Baaaaaargain! {:eek:)

Thanks to all on these forums, couldn't have done it myself without
this resource.

Cheers All!
R*2
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
Nice! How does it run?
Runs good, idles great. Not the big increase in fuel I was expecting but.
I suspect the nozzles I replaced were well worn, a lot of soot on the tips
after 15k. I was expecting some smoke at WOT, but no.

Some VCDS tweaking with IQ and timing are in order, as well as adjusting the IP. Currently I'm smack dab in the middle of the timing
graph. I'd like to get it closer to the top line.

Next step is to replace the turbo with a VNT17, upgrade the tune, and
get a better clutch. The goal is circa 150hp and pushing 275#'s. That'll
be plenty, hopefully without sacrificing reliability and longevity.
I'm leaning towards DutchAutoParts 17 in a 15 housing to keep it
plug and play without the need for hose adapters. The DC stage 1
clutch should handle it.

Very happy with the way the car's coming together, a huge improvement over what it was when I started a year ago with it.

Cheers,
R*2
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Some B5 Chinabay parts craptasticness I recently experienced:

Customer brought in an HVAC control head for his 2000 Passat. Said his A/C did not work, was not sure why, but since the button was stuck in the head he figured he'd try this first. Makes sense, it was obviously bad anyway. But he could not get the radio to come out (did not have the tools).

So I agreed (reluctantly) to replace the head using his part. I got the dash apart, only to find out that the metal tabs on the selector levers attached to the knobs were SO POORLY CAST that the cable ends would simply not lock on. I though I was going to mangle the cable ends trying. Gave up, got an OEM head and put it in. Cables snapped right on, of course, no problem. Still no compressor operation. Find out his BRAND NEW crappy A/C relay was bad right out of the box (he had previously put that in thinking that may have been the problem). Put a new one of those in from a reputable source, and now the whole system is working fine. :rolleyes:

Then, 2005 Passat, had a recent minor collision in front that necessitated replacement of the lower grills and foglamps. Customer asked me to check why the fogs were not working. After fighting to get the ill-fitting grills out that were clearly molded wrong, I find there are no bulbs in the Chinabay foglamps. And, you cannot even PUT bulbs in them, because once again the casting of the pot metal base inside is so bad. I was able to get one bulb in after some use of the Dremel, but the bulb was sitting at such an angle that the light beam was all askew anyway. And the other one was even worse, there was NO getting a bulb in that one. Installed proper Hella lamps, everything fits and works. The grills are still the cheapos, but they are in there. They'll probably warp and fall off soon anyway. :(
 

justynd

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 16, 2015
Location
Central WI
TDI
02 Golf, 04 wagon, 00 Golf
I agree on both sides. A guy can get a deal here and there on the old flea bay but it is extreme buyer beware. You don't need parts from the dealer but I prefer to stick to item parts from a reputable vendor for most stuff.

As far as the turbo feed line, that's by no means vw specific stuff. A quality hydraulic shop should be able to fix you up in a pinch. The fittings are both 8L on the line and there is an o ring on the back of both fittings (block and turbo) which is called a vsti ring. It's v cut on one side and that side goes to the surface. The flat side goes up inside the fitting.
 
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