Doin's at Dan's

terrydtdi

Veteran Member
Joined
May 16, 2006
Location
Charleston S.C.
TDI
2000 MK4 TDI Jetta 5spd
Dan,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time last week to spend some time teaching me some more VCDS applications.
Thank you and I will try to pass on what I've been taught.
 

ncroadwarrior

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Location
Beaufort, NC
TDI
04 JSW bew
Dan,
Looks like I am still good-to-go for friday 5:30-6:00 pm touchdown and saturday wrenching...

The country buffet is looking good ...let's not pass it up:D

later
bill
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
My wife's 2010 Jetta OEM steel skidplate is re-installed. The front strap was rubbing on the AC pulley. Steel skidplate install on 2010 Jetta.

I had the front strap re-bent by a local metalworker. $15 to reshape it and repaint it.

It has been installed for 10 days now, and does not seem to be rubbing. I would not expect it to, given the increased clearance that it now has.

The skidplate fits perfectly and I am glad to have it.

Dan
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DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
I actually plan to work on my own car today. Minor maintenance, strut bushings, spacers, maybe some lighting for the trunk.

My radiator fans would not work the other day when I tested them while refueling.

This was the first maintenance issue on my Jetta since I bought it used 2.5 years ago.

It turned out it was due to my taking the car apart to help others, a self-induced failure - not a defect.

I had taken my ambient temperature sensor out to help another owner troubleshoot his car at the Asheville GTG last fall. Aparently I broke the clip in the electrical connector, it worked its way loose, and would not allow the clutch to engage or fans to turn on.

A redneck repair with a ty-wrap and I am back in business.
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
Installed new strut buffers, spacer and bearings.

Flushed the brakes using VCDS, pedal is now rock solid again. I had not noticed it getting a bit soft.

Modified my skid plate to bolt to the front strap, by cutting the welds and drilling for bolting. I need to get the nuts welded to the top of the front strap tomorrow.

NCRoadwarrior came down today, we did some interference removal in prep for the TB change tomorrow (8 am) on his PD JettaWagen.

DidJettaRun and his friend Rick came over and helped.

DJR's daughter came by and changed the oil in her 2005.5 Jetta.
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
Got the nuts welded to my front strap on the steel skidplate. This finishes the conversion such that only the plate comes off for maintenance, not the plate and front strap assembly.

Finished up ncroadwarrior's timing belt (04 PD JettaWagen). Also installed new temperature sensor, new thermostat. No problems with the TB job, until we went to start it. No start. No fuel admission.

Checked VCDS - bad engine speed sensor (ESS); it had a wiring problem on the pigtail. Hold it one way, good signal and the engine ran, hold it an inch over and the engine dies. It was bad insulation in the plug on the end of the pigtail. This explains a slight erratic miss he had in the engine when he came in. It seems that moving these wires while doing the thermostat was the final straw.

We robbed the ESS off of my 2005 PD Jetta, and he is on the way back home.

I will try to fix his ESS to limp until I can get a new one.

Piper109 and DidJettaRun stopped by to shoot the breeze and help. Piper had noticed an abnormal noise on an 8K old timing belt job we had done on his wifes ALH. Bad bearings in the tensioner is what we found using a hose for a stethoscope, then a screwdriver on the stud. It will have to be re-done. The car also had a slight coolant leak on a plug fitting, we found a replacement o-ring from the junk drawer and fixed that.

Piper borrowed my engine hoist to start a 6 cylinder TDI swap into a RangeRover, removing a V-8. Piper went to England a while back and removed the engine, transmission, transfer case, pedals, intercooler (and on and on) from the donor car. He crated it up and it finally arrived in Charleston. Interesting project.
 

ncroadwarrior

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Location
Beaufort, NC
TDI
04 JSW bew
Dan,
Arrived home around 7:00 last night...tired , sore but no problems,, coolant topped up that's it....:)


cannibalism of your 05 to get me home...:cool: :)

thank you...
bill
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
ncroadwarrior, I cobbled together some wiring to hook up your ESS on my 2005 Jetta. It works fine, but the rig is not too robust. I had to grind some male spade lugs out of some female lugs I had laying around. Three individual lugs crimped on the wires but just taped together, and taped in place.

It just has to last until next weekend. Now I can drive my own car to work, the gas guzzlers will just have to sit a while longer.

I reinstalled my skid plate, with the bolting mod.

Frankly I doubt if I will ever unbolt the plate from the front strap again. With the front strap attached my 'plate will hang from the holes in the side skirts the front strap goes through, and I only have to hold up one end of the 'plate at a time while installing or removing.

To me this mod is not worth doing to an OEM steel skid plate if you have side skirts that it will hang from during removal and installation. It is worth doing if you have no side skirts.

I did not get around to doing the trunk light addition. Maybe after a long nap?

Or maybe Manana?
 
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ncroadwarrior

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Location
Beaufort, NC
TDI
04 JSW bew
Nice to hear that you were able to get my **##**sensor working so you could use it until the new replacement comes in...
eases my anxiety a little ...

regards
bd
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
The BBQ place near the house is FarmBoy's. It is only 2 miles. Shealy's is about 45, so I rarely go.

This sounds heretical, but I think I like Farmboy's better anyway. We often go there for lunch on Friday or Saturday when we are wrenching. One of the reasons our project times run a little long.
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
DanG144 said:
The BBQ place near the house is FarmBoy's. It is only 2 miles. Shealy's is about 45, so I rarely go.

This sounds heretical, but I think I like Farmboy's better anyway. We often go there for lunch on Friday or Saturday when we are wrenching. One of the reasons our project times run a little long.
I need to find some work to be done to my TDI so I can have an excuse to visit Dan's shop...and have BBQ.:D

Hmm...I do have *some* TDI projects in the queue...
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
dieselfueler said:
Bob,

I think we need to check the torque of the lug bolts on your wheels........
I have a nicktane 1 mu fuel filter, new trunk struts...I could install those there...
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
I am planning on purchasing a two post lift for my workshop. All advice is welcome.

An OEM steel skidplate just came in for a New Beetle. I expect to put it on some evening this week, or perhaps Saturday. I will also do a 40,000 mile type service on it, and one of my ALH inspection checklists.
 

MKIInut

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Location
Montpelier VA
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon Spice Red
Lift ideas

_Get a lift that is wide enough to open the doors at least particially to get in and out of the car.
- Ensure garage door tracking and motor is mounted so you can raise the car up high enough for you to stand comfortably under it.
 

dirtysouthjacket

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2012 Jetta TDI Premium 6MT, 2004 Jetta TDI GLS (sold)
Dan, not sure how thick your concrete is, but definitely talk to the company you buy from about the concrete. If need be I can help you put in concrete pillars. The guy in the cubicle next to me just had to put some in. Basically just cut a 3x3 ft hole in the concrete floor, dug down 3 feet, put in some rebar and anchor bolts and filled back in with concrete.

I think the only issue is the doors, which someone already mentioned. Might need some rollups.

PS - Are you going to be around Friday or Saturday with the holidays? I need to drop by and give you the magnifying light and other goodies! Car is still running great!
 

DidJettarun

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2008
Location
South Carolina
TDI
A5 2005.5 Jetta A4 2003 Jetta
Dan,

Here is an article that I found about choosing a 2 post lift...some interesting points


When purchasing a surface mounted two-post automotive lift, it is important to decide what type of lift you will need to best suit the vehicles you want to pick up. An automotive lift is a tool and just as you know that a pneumatic wrench is better than a monkey wrench for changing tires, it is important for you to determine which type of lift is best suited for each type of vehicle.

Symmetrical Vehicle Lifts

Approximately 30 years ago, when cars were built out of steel, men were strong and women wore skirts…..The symmetrical lift was designed as an alternative to the hydraulic inground lift. The lift wasn't known as "symmetrical" right off the bat; it was called a surface lift because it bolted to the concrete floor, rather than being installed through the floor. At the time of its inception, the surface lift was being designed (often times poorly) to pick up rear wheel drive vehicles that had a pretty good front to rear balance. The cars were big and heavy and mechanics relatively skinny and strong.

In order to balance these behemoths six feet up in the air, the columns were placed across from each other and the arms were all of equal length. Some lifts were connected from side-to-side overhead; a base plate connected others down below. One thing was certain about these lifts; if you were a mechanic with a beer belly trying to get out of the car after it had been driven into place, you were going to have a tough time. Since the lift was balancing the vehicle between front and back, the column needed to be located somewhat close to the center of the vehicle. What else is in the center of the vehicle? We all know the answer to that! The doors! What happens when doors meet columns? Door dings!

It took the lift manufacturers a while to figure it out, but eventually they did. Currently, very few lifts are sold as "symmetrical" lifts. The ones that are sold are usually being sold for a particular purpose, such as working on vans or trucks. (Vans and trucks have the door in front of the centerline of the vehicle, so a column really doesn't get in the way.) Some customers will purchase a symmetrical lift because they want a "drive thru" capability, and sure enough, the symmetrical lift usually gives a few more inches in that regard.

Sure Fire Ways to Tell a Symmetrical Lift:

The columns face each other.
Front arm length is the same as rear arm length.
The lift states "symmetrical".
You have a difficult time getting out of the car when you drive in.
You don't have a difficult time getting out of the truck when you drive in.
You have an account with a body shop to repair door dings.

Asymmetric Vehicle Lifts

Sometimes Europeans are smarter than Americans. I don't like to admit it, but it's true. It turns out, some guy named Günter was using his symmetrical lift (not a Rotary Lift, mind you), when he realized that those last two lagers had pushed his belly past the point of no return. That's right, he was stuck in the car and couldn't get out. Since he had some time to sit and think, he did what most mechanics do with their free time; he tried to design a better lift so that he wouldn't have to lose his bought and paid for beer belly.

What Gunter came up with seemed to be a pretty good design. By making the rear arms of the lift longer than the front arms, the vehicle would theoretically sit far enough back to allow him to open the doors. Not only that, since most of the cars being manufactured in Gunter's day were front wheel drive, the balance of the vehicle on the car lift would be better. (Gunter had never forgotten the time that he had pulled the engine out of a car, only to have the car flip backwards off the lift due to the newly created weight distribution imbalance). It would also help to reduce the number of times he had to have a customer's door fixed after dinging the door on the column.

Gunter's design worked for about two years. He still dinged a door occasionally, but he was able to continue growing his belly and was always able to get out of the vehicle. One day however, Gunter raised a car with his vehicle lift and heard a horrendous squealing noise, metal on metal. He also noticed that the arms of his lift were shaking and rocking and he stopped to make sure that the vehicle didn't bounce off the lifting pads.

After some serious investigative work (and several snaps of his suspenders), he noticed that there were metal shavings on the floor near the columns. It soon became apparent that when he had changed the load center of the lift by extending the rear arms, he had caused excessive wear on the load bearings that ride inside the column. Soon, all of Günter's beer drinking buddies (who had copied Gunter's idea) were shaking their heads and refusing to buy Gunter beer anymore. Gunter was not a happy man.

Thankfully, those smart engineers in the United States don't drink beer while they are trying to solve a problem. (Most of the time….) They had seen Gunter's design and saw the problem right away. They also realized that their solution would have an added benefit to the beer belly problem. Rotate the columns to face the new load center and you automatically get extended door-opening clearance. Ever wonder why American automotive lift engineers have big beer bellies? Because they CAN!

Enough about Gunter; A TRUE asymmetric lift has columns that are rotated 30 degrees to point the load center of the lift in the general direction of the load center of the car as it is being lifted AND front arms that are shorter than the rear. A semi-asymmetric lift only has the front arms shorter than the rear, without addressing the load bearing issue.

Very few manufacturers take the time to make this distinction on their auto lifts. The good majority of two-post auto lifts that are advertised as "asymmetric" are the exact same as the symmetric auto lift with different arm lengths. Does this concept work? Of course it will for a while. But remember what happened to Gunter and his buddies, you will experience severe wear on the bearings (or slider blocks) over time.

We highly recommend purchasing a TRUE asymmetric lift when you purchase this design. A quality auto lift manufacturer will also include a wheel-spotting dish to help you or your techs spot vehicles properly when positioning the vehicle.

Sure Fire Ways to Tell a True Asymmetric Lift:

Columns are rotated 30 degrees from each other, facing the load center of the vehicle.
Front arms of the automotive lift are shorter than the rear arms.
You have a beer belly bigger than Gunter's and don't have a problem.
A Rotary Lift engineer tells you it's a True Asymmetric Lift.
Reduction in bill from the body shop allows for a bigger beer belly.

Sure Fire Ways to Tell a "Semi-Asymmetric" Lift:

The columns face each other, rather than the load center of the car.
The front arms of the vehicle lift are shorter than the rear arms.
The lift squeals, shakes and whines when lifting a load.
You have metal shavings on the floor near the column.
You bought the lift so you wouldn't bang the door on the column, but continue to bang the door on the column.
You pay a company like mine to replace slider blocks every few years.

"Versymmetric" Design Auto Lift

If you have been really doing your research, you will have probably heard the term "Versymmetric" thrown out there from a few manufacturers. The theory behind this term is that they have designed an automotive lift that is capable of being both symmetrical and asymmetric at the same time.

One opinion is that this design takes the worst situations of two different types of lifts and combines them to really confuse a technician.

First off, a symmetrical auto lift will cause door dings and clearance problems with cars, no question. Second, an "asymmetric" lift that doesn't have columns rotated will still cause door dings. Third, if the technician isn't properly trained on how to set up each and every vehicle properly, the lift will be used improperly. The end result will be an unsafe lifting situation with the vehicle, door dings and excessive bearing wear.

Some of these lifts are listed with the ALI and pass 3rd party testing. They can be constructed well and the sales people selling the concept really have their pitch down. Having seen the products used improperly in the shops and having serviced numerous "Versymmetric" lifts that have had failed bearings (slider blocks), our opinion isn't very positive.

We here at Standard Industrial & Automotive Equipment are happy to discuss various issues regarding automotive lifts, quality and what is best suited for your shop. Feel free to contact us if we can be of any assistance.
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
A New Beetle should come in tonight for an OEM Steel Skidplate, oil change, air filter, fuel filter cabin filter, and general checkout. May not finish until tomorrow.
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
Dan: Steve Glover (mtbr297) in Ft. Worth just put a similar lift in his shop (I don't know the exact brand). You may want to chat with him regarding selection, use, performance, problems, etc. Just some food for thought.

Tony
 

DanG144

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2007
Location
Chapin, South Carolina, USA
TDI
2005 A4 Jetta 5spd
Called Richard, good to hear from him today.

I put the steel OEM skid plate on the New Beetle today. Oilhammer, as you might expect, nailed it. It fit perfectly, there was a bit of interference from the power steering support, but it just took hand bending.

Also changed the oil, filter, fuel filter, air filter, and cabin filter. I found the cabin filter in the New Beetle to be a pain. I had to call EuroJulien for a tip to get me started.

Thanks, Julien, you were right, that center forward plate slide forward to get things moving.

The car is essentially solid but needs some TLC. About 194k miles on it, and it has been driven without getting any but the essential maintenance on it.

Thanks to jcrews for his read on the QA issue on this car. I may try to diesel purge this car tomorrow morning.

These were my notes to the owner.

1. Timing belt is a 60k model. With 193k miles, this is very suspicious. May fail at any time, though it looks ok, no wear or cracks, but it is VERY LOOSE. I would address very ,very soon.
2. Steel OEM skid plate has been installed.
3. Fans cycle on and off in fast speed, with the AC. No slow speed fan operation – both bad? Need to try to investigate and repair.
4. MAF electrical connector latch is broken, but no impact yet. Watch for it to come loose.
5. Battery hold down gear is missing.
6. One of your side skirts is in good shape, the other is very poor. I put both back on, if abnormal flapping noise, come back by and I will remove it.
7. Engine lopes very badly when first started or when AC is turned on.
8. Your Quantity adjuster is worn out or faulty. This is causing a check engine light and a flashing glow plug symbol. This is causing poor fuel management. This is an essential module in your injection pump. The injection pump needs to be rebuilt.
9. Your injectors are very imbalanced. Perhaps cleaning may help, but it is probably time for new nozzles, at least, if not injector service.
10. Your air bag light is on because of a faulty connector under the driver’s seat. This requires putting in a splice to replace the faulty connector.
11. Your timing was too retarded to measure . I adjusted it back in spec. It was difficult to adjust because the TB was loose (or at least that is what I will blame it on.)
12. The transmission should get new fluid and filter every 40 k miles, if you want it to last.
13. The brakes are soft. They need to be bled and the fluid changed (keeps water out, lets the expensive ABS system last a long time.)
14. Your front brake’s outer pads look new. Your outer rear brake pads are worn. I did not inspect the inner pads. The inner rear pads are normally the first to wear out (they last the shortest time.)
15. Your MAF (mass air flow) is low this is causing a bit low power; you have gone down from 90 Hp to about 70-75 hp. This could be caused by a bad Mass Air Flow sensor, but the intake manifold probably also needs to be cleaned. They get choked closed with soot from the EGR and oil from the crankcase vent. Often they only have a finger sized hole in them.
16. There is a fair chance that the catalytic converter is also clogged. This can be cleaned out to test for it being clogged.
17. I changed the oil from the top with a vacuum pump. This is fairly normal for these cars, but I did it this time because the oil pan drain plug was VERY tight. I was afraid it was cross threaded, so I did not pull it, or even get it broken loose.
18. Your mirror heaters have burned out because you have left them on all the time. Never leave the knob in the middle on a VW - that is heater on.

Though all of this sounds terrible (and is pretty bad), it is all the things that previous owners have neglected over the last 194k miles. The engine will be good for at least another 100K miles (many of these go over 400k). The transmission seems fine. I think you said it had been replaced? If so then it should last another 100K also.
 
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