The "What did you do to your B4 today" thread...

[Abacus]

That will certainly fit since it's for a B4, but it's a bonded rubber mount and not hydraulic like the one I posted. I assume you want to minimize the noise, vibrations, and harmonics, so I'd go with the "L" suffix, which was not available on the B4 from the factory. The A3 and B4 shared the same engine and mounts, so it's the one to use. I have 8 years on mine and have been very pleased.

You want hydraulic on the rear motor and transmission mount and rubber for the front since it's under tension most of the time from acceleration.

 

[Digital Corpus]

DigitalCorpus - are those groupings of pitted areas in the CV from past weld+grind repairs from a rebuild shop or did those form on their own from the pressures? I saw that activity in mine when I did boots on an axle last year.

These are the factory CV joints. Just wear and tear. Accelerated due to the boot getting nicked by something in Spring. Didn't know it then, but that accounts for the tar-like substance that coated the inside of the wheel. It started making noise and vibration at the end of December.

I like your new axle nuts. If the outer circumference doesn't interfere with anything maybe you won't need the washer. Sometimes FWD cars use a washer that is slightly convex so when the nut is tightened, it prevents the nut from backing off. A bit of the blue loctite might be in order here.
I wonder what source Marty at Raxles uses for CV joints?

Thanks and depending on the hub, it might have the flange resting on the taper down to the flat area for the nut and washer. The washers I picked up do have a concave/convex side to them so this should help.

Same here.
Brake clean, compressed air, then red Loctite. I also stopped using a torque wrench on these. I lean into them with a cheater pipe, but don't go crazy. It's an educated lean and I've never had an issue.
-Todd

I've only ever had to pull out the impact to loosen one once, and it was on our B4. Breaker bar plus a 4' cheater pipe wouldn't budge it, in fact the tire just spun on the ground. 1/2 impact at 150psi finally did it, whatever that equates to in ft/lbs

Impact guns have a torque rating so it varies. With ours at 125 psi, it wasn't budging. I do agree its not hard to make sure they don't back off, but I rather not have to deal with this again. More thread engagement and some blue threadlock as a sealer will be good methinks.

I'm tall and skinny. Less than 150 lbs, and I was at the end of a 1/2" drive breaker bar with a cheater pipe bouncing up and down, 3 ft out, like I was on a trampoline. Because of the smooth concrete of the garage floor, the tire was starting to spin. I had no assistant initially, but then the friend dropped by and I sat on the brakes while he broke it free.

 

[Digital Corpus]

That will certainly fit since it's for a B4, but it's a bonded rubber mount and not hydraulic like the one I posted. I assume you want to minimize the noise, vibrations, and harmonics, so I'd go with the "L" suffix, which was not available on the B4 from the factory. The A3 and B4 shared the same engine and mounts, so it's the one to use. I have 8 years on mine and have been very pleased.

You want hydraulic on the rear motor and transmission mount and rubber for the front since it's under tension most of the time from acceleration.

I'm probably going to go with the BFI stealth mount up front myself. Need to get a rear mount soon too.

 

[cal327]

I have poly mounts and the solid rubber Trans mount and I like how it made my car drive, however you will need to repair a few rattles inside the car at idle with them... my sunroof is next on the list

 

[cal327]

I got mine from black forest industrys

 

[mrbrefast]

All of the above motor mount information is much appreciated, my spring project list grows.

The roads last night were really bad, and I typically engine brake anyways, though last night I started the baking earlier than usual - but in a few instances, I noticed almost a rubber burning smell in the cabin immediately after coming to a stop. SGII said 173 coolant temp, no blips there, heat output into the cabin stayed the same, car drove just fine.

Brake problem? Camshaft melting? Unrelated to the engine braking but some other known smell?

 

[TDIL3dad]

96 B4V project

Installed OEM VW smoked rear tail-lights made by SWF.
Checked on motor mount options -- thanks for the input from yesterday.
Noted leaking fuel pump as next on list of "must do" before car is roadworthy.
In pictures below you can see both front and rear bumpers installed -- I bought both last year when VW had them on deep discount.

 

[ToddA1]

Smoked tails for the wagons are pretty hard to come by. I always see them for the sedans.... me likey.

-Todd

 

[Digital Corpus]

Where do you see them for the sedans? I've been thinking my silver B4 would be complimented by those

 

[Steve Addy]

Yeah probably my ageing eyes looking at the mechanic's hand written list
So its "no go" on 3A0199262D or 357199262D
I wonder why he thought these are the right parts?

As Abacus mentioned you want to get the hydraulic mount for the transmission too. Since VW doesn't identify any of the trans mounts as hydraulic it's difficult to determine which ones are and which ones aren't. The only thing I know is that I found a 93 VR6 Passat (with AT) with a failed hydraulic trans mount part number 357199402, so I've focused my attention on finding substitutes with that part number or one that covers a range of mounts including that number. I can't afford to buy factory mounts so this is all aftermarket production stuff.

The mount I ended up with covered only the following three part numbers:
357199402
1H0199402
1H0199402A

The trick with this is to find mounts that don't apply to older models, for instance any mount that says its also covers 191 part numbers I would not purchase since that's from the older Mk2 cars and might not be hydraulic. I have a new one of those around from BA and I don't think it's hydraulic despite looking almost identical to the 357199402.

I will say though that the 357199402 and both 1H0... part numbers have been superseded by 3A0199402 so in all likelihood the latter mount is hydraulic, or at least we hope so.

My .02 on the situation

Steve

 

[TDIL3dad]

Where do you see them for the sedans? I've been thinking my silver B4 would be complimented by those

German e-bay has lots of smoked Wagon tail-lights -- search for Passat 35i facelift variant.

The sedan smoked tail-lights were much harder to find and took me some time to find them, also on German ebay


Part numbers for the smoked tail-lights:
Sedan:
3A5 945 107 B Left Inner
3A5 945 108 C Right Inner
3A5 945 111 B Left Outer
3A5 945 112 B Right Outer
Wagon:
3A9 945 107 B Left Inner
3A9 945 108 C Right Inner
3A9 945 111 B Left Outer
3A9 945 112 B Right Outer

 

[ToddA1]

That's good info.

I think there were a couple sets of the smoked sedan tails on Vortex, recently.

-Todd

 

[TDIL3dad]

............ I assume you want to minimize the noise, vibrations, and harmonics, so I'd go with the "L" suffix, which was not available on the B4 from the factory. The A3 and B4 shared the same engine and mounts, so it's the one to use. I have 8 years on mine and have been very pleased.
You want hydraulic on the rear motor and transmission mount and rubber for the front since it's under tension most of the time from acceleration.

Done -- ordered 1H0 199 262 L

 

[Abacus]

Took a little trip...

Headed to the great white sandbar a few days ago (Prince Edward Island - PEI) for a few days of R&R and just making it out of the driveway was interesting. We were going to wait until the storm passed but needed to get out of dodge before something else came up and besides, we are used to driving in a little snow since we live in Maine.

Dragging the skid plate the whole way, not bothering to wait for the plow guy.

At least the road was cleared.

Yeah, that's packed in pretty good. Who needs a grill cover when you have snow?

I need to work on adding more coverage than the ODIN skid plate affords since this is just unacceptable. The snow is PACKED into the engine bay.

We knew it'd be a slow ride but it wasn't too bad and only took 11.5 hours instead of the usual 9.

Here are a few shots of the conditions during our 510 mile travel.

We elected to go the northern route since the storm was coastal and the snow did lighten up by the time we neared the Houlton border crossing but I was still only able to get into 6th gear for about 20 minutes.

Unbeknownst to us, the Province of PEI announced they were shutting down all plow activity until 3AM at about the time we reached the island. We were worried the Confederation Bridge would be closed but luckily it was still open. We listen to books on tape when we travel so we missed the announcements over the radio and our cellphones were turned off due to avoiding foreign charges. The drifts due to high winds were getting deep but we reached the Barachois Inn by dodging them while driving on the opposite side of the road (hey, no one else was using it).

The wagon pulled through the snow like a tank and we made it without issue. I did make the mistake of parking the car into the wind thinking it'd keep the windshield clear of snow but I never thought about the blowing snow.

I brushed as much off as I could and the rest melted off when we ran around yesterday visiting friends and family. The car started and ran fine so I'm not too concerned about it since I wash the engine bay regularly anyway.

We brought the snowshoes but I left the snowbike at home since the snow is too deep here to use it. Today we'll see what mischief we can get into.

 

[Abacus]

Before I left home, I was asked to diagnose a low power issue on my older brother's B4 (not tacsat's B4, the other brother). I loaned him my Vag-Com cable and he took some logs while I was at work then sent them to me for analysis. I have not digitized them but will later and will post up the graphs.

I concluded he was not getting full boost from his turbo but it was tracking perfectly within a few PSI of requested, so I suggested boost hose issues or intercooler. He said he was using a lot of oil since he had to add more than normal recently. He checks it frequently since it's winter and he's under the hood often anyway to fill the coolant since his radiator is leaking. I told him to check the intercooler to make sure it wasn't pooling and I check mine often.

He mentioned wanting to change the oil and asked about some engine cleaner since he thought maybe his rings were sticking, so I told him I'd pick up some BG109 on my way home and deliver it, then retrieve my cable and have a look over his car.

When I arrived, he showed me the oil he drained from his intercooler, which historically has none in it (a fact of which I was very envious).

Yeah, that's 800ml, or about 4/5 of a quart.

So he added the BG109 and ran the car up the road about a half mile and let it idle for the rest of the time for the BG109 to work. He shut it down and changed the oil & filter, then drained another 350 ml from the intercooler.

Not good.

I asked him what oil he'd been running since he is notorious about adding whatever oil he can find and changing the oil whenever he feels like it despite my harping about the correct oil and normal OCI's. He is pretty bad about his maintenance but the car has survived to 349K without major issues. He was switching to T6 but had been running this since it was cheap:

After changing the oil he ran the car up the road another 1/2 mile because he didn't want to believe his turbo was blown. Well, after that 1/2 mile the engine oil was down 1/2 quart after letting it sit and drain down.

I advised him not to drive the car the 5 miles home like he wanted and luckily he agreed. He has a spare AHU in his barn with only 64K on it (transplant into his Westy) and will pull the turbo to install next week when I get back home.

Until then he's borrowing the wife's B4 to use since his B4 was his only car. I managed to get the rear window up by moving the wires (I saw no apparent breaks) and then using the dash switch. It's been an issue but the wife usually drives her 2014 Kia in the winter and I was unwilling to mess with it when it's been below zero during the day and very cold at night.

At least he has access to a heated garage in which we can swap turbos. I just hope the low mileage turbo he has is still fine after sitting for the last 8 years in his enclosed barn.

His B4 was going along fine and showed no symptoms of a problem until recently. Don't let down your guard people, and know your car inside and out so you will recognize a problem before it becomes too large to deal with. Luckily we caught this in time and prevented a runaway.

 

[TDIL3dad]

.... wow, who needs a Ski-Doo when they have a B4 TDI?
Impressive demonstration of what a well maintained B4 can do.

 

[john.jackson9213]

Last time I drove in snow was Christmas Day 2011 (I think). Interstate 40 from Albuquerque to Flagstaff coming back home from San Antonio. Nothing like those pictures at all. But we still passed several dozen cars and trucks spun out on the side of the road. We were driving our 4wd Isuzu Rodeo. I figured it would do better in the snow than the B4V. Besides, I would rather crash to Rodeo than the B4V. Mark, the snow was nothing like your pictures. That is a LOT of snow. Anita's son and nephew just left San Diego this morning to go snow boarding. They are driving 400 miles to Mammoth for some good snow at over 9000 feet in the Sierras

 

[Layerz]

Friends Polo strip down is nearly finished so diesel transferred to my A3

Quickly made up some connectors and used spade connectors on the stereo power and ground. And used some 8mm hose from the HL pump straight into the A3.





Also I've been working on a full stereo build, will loose a little boot space but I love my music.
I was looking to progress the build today and get a template for the fibreglass.


Idea was use expanding foam in a bin bag to get a shaped mould....



The result of an entire can was this..... think the fact is wa 3 degrees C here in the UK didn't help!

 

[lisab4]

I was still only able to get into 6th gear for about 20 minutes.

What engine/gearbox do you have? My 1Z/CTN only has 5 gears.

 

[powerstrokeless]

Every so often I feel like have low power, kinda like my 03, but you could tell when the 03 got in limp mode. So I get suspicious. I do have the original hoses, probably need to replace them. But now spending $ on the 03, will wait.

Wanted to get that skid plate Abacus, but never have yet- because it didn't look like it covered much. If you make one, let me know how much $!

 

[ToddA1]

Idea was use expanding foam in a bin bag to get a shaped mould....

Why not tape the area off and glass it? Even if your bag method worked, I foresee a lot of voids and open seams.

-Todd

 

[Windex]

What engine/gearbox do you have? My 1Z/CTN only has 5 gears.

His CTN has six.

 

[Layerz]

Why not tape the area off and glass it? Even if your bag method worked, I foresee a lot of voids and open seams.
-Todd

That's probs the thing I have to do now. It's an awkward shape so the foam idea was to give the shape and sand/fill etc... and glass that.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Added another quart oil-1k miles between last addition of a quart. Close to oil change time,I notice oil consumption goes up. Filled washer fluid and added isopropyl alcohol.Noticed ps fluid is at min. mark,need to get some more sealer(been using that to top off for past few years). I leave my radiator overflow tank cap 1 turn loose,and when I removed it today to peek inside(real dingy on the outside),there was a small whoosh of pressure being relieved(was still warm,not hot)-is this normal,or is headgasket on way out? I do have to add a little coolant every few months.....

 

[PeeWee]

Headed to the great white sandbar a few days ago (Prince Edward Island - PEI) for a few days of R&R and just making it out of the driveway was interesting. We were going to wait until the storm passed but needed to get out of dodge before something else came up and besides, we are used to driving in a little snow since we live in Maine.
Dragging the skid plate the whole way, not bothering to wait for the plow guy.

At least the road was cleared.

Yeah, that's packed in pretty good. Who needs a grill cover when you have snow?

I need to work on adding more coverage than the ODIN skid plate affords since this is just unacceptable. The snow is PACKED into the engine bay.

We knew it'd be a slow ride but it wasn't too bad and only took 11.5 hours instead of the usual 9.
Here are a few shots of the conditions during our 510 mile travel.

We elected to go the northern route since the storm was coastal and the snow did lighten up by the time we neared the Houlton border crossing but I was still only able to get into 6th gear for about 20 minutes.

Unbeknownst to us, the Province of PEI announced they were shutting down all plow activity until 3AM at about the time we reached the island. We were worried the Confederation Bridge would be closed but luckily it was still open. We listen to books on tape when we travel so we missed the announcements over the radio and our cellphones were turned off due to avoiding foreign charges. The drifts due to high winds were getting deep but we reached the Barachois Inn by dodging them while driving on the opposite side of the road (hey, no one else was using it).
The wagon pulled through the snow like a tank and we made it without issue. I did make the mistake of parking the car into the wind thinking it'd keep the windshield clear of snow but I never thought about the blowing snow.

I brushed as much off as I could and the rest melted off when we ran around yesterday visiting friends and family. The car started and ran fine so I'm not too concerned about it since I wash the engine bay regularly anyway.
We brought the snowshoes but I left the snowbike at home since the snow is too deep here to use it. Today we'll see what mischief we can get into.

Well it did come from the great white north after all.

 

[97B4TDi]

Did a front brake job and replaced my air filter.

 

[Col Sanders]

Changed the trans. oil and new bulbs in rear tail lights. In the month of Jan. I did over 20 repair items on my brand new car. Going to take a break until my new OEM front pass side door handle arrives.

 

[powerstrokeless]

What is my B4 doing to me?

Flashing GP light and no brake lights, just happened when I pulled in to check on my 03. Crazy! Now what...

 

[TDIDaveNH]

Gave my B4 a hot water spray down at garden hose pressure, undercarriage too..it was happy. I didn't do anything else but instead added to the list of items that soon need to be addressed:
e-brake light no longer working
heated seats both non functioning now
reverse lights also non functioning as well.
All in due time...

 

[PeeWee]

What is my B4 doing to me?

Flashing GP light and no brake lights, just happened when I pulled in to check on my 03. Crazy! Now what...

Brake Light switch