Broke my antishudder valve arm a 3 years ago. The epoxy I fixed it with broke after a couple of years. Using a section of 3/8" water hose, two hose clamps and a 3" deck screw, it has been working great for over 6 months.
$1 antishudder valve arm fix
- Thread starter yumanord
- Start date
bailey1
Well-known member
That is hillarious. I'm sure its functional, but as an engineer I find that to be rather repulsive looking. Please please find a more elegant looking solution! I'm sure I'm going to have nightmares about dealer repair work again tonight.
whitedog
Veteran Member
If you ever get to Central Oregon, and need a job, my Dad would be glad to hire you. 
What was I thinking! Why its a VW and even though nobody will ever see the part I should have machined it and had it gold plated. It beats the tie down that the mechanic put on it or the $200 VW wanted for the item.
wny_pat
Top Post Dawg
There are a few engineering items on some big rigs that I would like to show some engineers who designed them. I've seen broken frames because they failed to call for fish tail welds and the like. Engineers should be looking for good design and not good looks.bailey1 said:
LNXGUY
Top Post Dawg
I had the same prob when I cleaned my EGR for the first time, snapped the arm right in half, lol.. All I did was get some aluminum siding, cut a strip the length of the arm and double the width, fold it over and pop-rivet both ends..
Its been working great
Its been working great
Blackknight
Veteran Member
I'll take cheap and functional over pretty and expensive any day...
whitedog
Veteran Member
This sounds like a line from a Country song.Blackknight said:
frugality
Top Post Dawg
Or the oldie song:
"If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
never make a pretty woman your wife.
So from my personal point of view,
get an ugly girl to marry you...."
"If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
never make a pretty woman your wife.
So from my personal point of view,
get an ugly girl to marry you...."
Matthew_S
Veteran Member
I never cease to be amazed by all the ways people find to fix their cars with sheet rock screws.
I superglued mine and its been working fine for a couple of months. Of course I probably just jinxed it now.
I superglued mine and its been working fine for a couple of months. Of course I probably just jinxed it now.
TooRoundTDI
Skunk Rocker
Sheetrock screws are overlooked when it comes to the duct tape/WD-40 fixes. Got some holding my grill on right now
Nice thing about this fix is that you can do it with the parts on the car. I used the sheetrock screw as a splint and I was able to screw it in after putting the hose and clamps on. I was going to use my dremel tool to cut off the part of the screw extending from the hose, but it didn't interfere with its operation so I left it.
Hooked it up to Vag-Com ang got this error, however:
XXXXy789 -- Wrong part -- too ugly
Hooked it up to Vag-Com ang got this error, however:
XXXXy789 -- Wrong part -- too ugly
mrchill
TDIClub Enthusiast, Super Secret Diesel Ninja Vend
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
- TDI
- 96 B4v red \ 98 Mk3 green\98 Mk3 Jetta black\ 99 Mk4 Jetta green x2\ 99 Mk4 Golf silver x2\ 99 Mk4 Jetta black\ 97 B4 sedan green\04 JSW gold\03 JSW silver
Form should follow function. If the solution is elegant.....and it works, who cares how attractive it is. On the other hand, if it were me, I'd have made it look good, but I do this for a living and anything less would make me appear a hack even if it works well.
bailey1
Well-known member
if you will look at the following thread you will see some simplistic "elegant" fixes to the broken actuator arm- and no it doesn't have to be "gold plated" or machined from billet to be an elegant solution. I really like the glue+'beer can' + shrink wrap insulation fix in the below thread, it was probably less than $0.30 if you neglect the cost of the beer. I would love to see other unique and interesting repairs to this actuator- if you have one please post a pic.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=719404
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=719404
deepseafortydog
Veteran Member
If you are looking for a non-repulsive, not-so-expensive, average Joe-shmoe fix, check out www.partsplaceinc.com They have used anti shudder actuators for a mere $34.95 and you can skip all the elegance of home repairs. Although there is something to be said about the ingenuity of a TDI owner!
nicklockard
Torque Dorque
You can't neglect the cost of the beer. It is absolutely essentialbailey1 said: