Recent content by oilhammer

Defective, or Chinese (same difference). There should never be a "below freezing" point anywhere in the system.

I feel the A4 is a quantum leap better platform , and most of the trouble areas don't really show up usually until most of the A3s have long since fallen to pieces. Things the ALH does not suffer from that the AHU does: crank snout pounding itself apart shifter bits falling to pieces (early...

We've had safety inspections in Missouri since the late '60s. It is not a bad thing, really. It is cheap ($12), and while it used to be every year, it more recently went to every other year, and even more recently cars do not require them until they are 10 years old or hit 150k miles...

ANY soot in the tailpipe of a CJAA is "excessive". It should be "white glove" clean: And not like this one: I know the difference may seem subtle, but that's all it takes. Has nothing to do with fuel quality.

I never have had to do anything beyond an IQ tweak on any 11mm pump upgrades I've done either, and I have put a lot of them on manual cars. Stock, minor tuned, major tuned with bigger turbo, you name it.

They were stellar reliable when they were new. The issue now is age. Rust was a thing, and the ever dwindling list of parts that are no longer available and the shrinking number of used parts to chose from. At this point, they are really going to be as much a hobby car as they would be a...

Yep, called a surface charge, and it will not be enough to reliably crank an engine. The rule of thumb is 12.6v nominal (6 cells, 2.1v each), and can drop to 10.5v during cranking. Most ECUs struggle to function below about 9.6v. If I had a dime for every car that comes in our shop with the...

Go to your local dealer and get a new, proper, good battery.

Never seen a CJAA need an accessory belt tensioner, so I cannot really say.

"Milking the warranty" just means you have people wrenching on things without need. Would you have your dentist give all your teeth root canals just because if someone else was footing the bill? I wouldn't.

Aural semantics I suppose. Clicking, rattling, whatever. DFIS will fix it, and tell you why.

No. No speakers and any noise like that will end up fairly worthless across the intarwebs. I've heard oodles of clicking VE pumps.

See post #25.

Beyond OBD, fuel filter has 20k service intervals. They are not kidding.

It got a minor facelift towards the end. But since they only get chain-chuckers under after 2015, it doesn't really matter. Lots of 'em at auction, though! With the ubiquitous "not in running condition".