Been a while since I posted here, but I've been up to all kinds of repairs in the last month. I tend to let things go or rather 'build up'
then with list in hand, down the car for a few days and get it all done. Last month saw new lower ball joints, new inner & outer tie rods, OEM rack boots new tires and an alignment. Discovered also that one of the tie rods was for a TDI/2.0 and this B4 is a GLX and always has been
A week ago I put on a new TB, did the 3 front seals, 2 rollers and everything but a new water pump since I could not remember if I did it last time but thought I did. I was about 14K miles overdue on the TB and it was about 70% of the width it should have been with rubber shavings spread all throughout the timing covers.
The TB will track differently when there is rubber stuck in between the crank sprocket teeth...a wire wheel would not take it all out, some had to be scrapped with a razor then wire wheeled to finish to get it all out. Anyway, it was a lot of clean up work but was nice & clean going back together and tracked well.
This was all in preparation for a road trip out to Ohio which went without a hitch save for a leaking water pump not 500 miles after doing the TB. While doing the TB I noticed a stain running down the front of the oil pan which turned out to be the WP housing to block o-ring and that at least in my mind accounted for the occasional need to add coolant over the last 4 months. Not a big deal. Anyway as the trip went on, the need to add more water grew ever more frequent until in Erie, PA on the way home the WP started just hemorrhaging water out of the deep rectangular weep hole. Any trace of actual coolant at this point was loooooong gone, rest assured.
I was able to put some water weld (made by JB weld...great product btw) to block the water from coming out which seemed to work but later on just before setting out for home again, water started pissing out of the shaft seal. Long story short, I was able to keep adding water enough to get around to Erie and buy tools to do the job at a friends garage down in Edinboro, about 20 minutes south of the city. I had tools with me but not as much as I would need. That took a full day since as we all know you can't just do these types of jobs with just 'tools' they need to be the right combination of compact to ultra compact design. aka dropping the power steering hard return tube as well as a couple other tight spots when you're removing the WP from the front by pulling the alt & moving the AC compressor.
A few hours later I had a new WP on and a nice little collection of 'cheap road tools' that will stay in the car permanently from now on. I was pleased to see the WP had the correct OEM style impeller. I got it at O'Reilly's and it was their 'import direct' line. The one I had on the car was the correct style just cast iron.
Got back from my little road trip 2 days ago and just now am starting to dismantle the engine again to do the WP right this time. I need to replace the block to WP seal and put a new T-stat in and the o-ring as well as a new PS belt tensioner gear. Might as well pop the pump off and upgrade the gasket too while I'm back in there. I hate doing stuff twice but it's really not that bad...it just HAS to be right.