Recent content by tgray

Are you sure it is blowing it out the reservoir? It may be loosing it through the egr cooler? No heat or low heat means no warm coolant in the heating core. When you develop an air bubble or air lock your cabin heat will stop or go down. The issue is to find out where the fluid is going. If...

Just know if you disable the ABS these cars have no proportional valve. This valve (on pre ABS VWs) sends the correct pressure to the rear and and front end of the car that need different pressures when stopping hard. Yes the car will stop and I have drove them that way but in the slippery...

Now you have no fun stories to tell like coasting into your garage without power. Years ago I ran a 2 stroke dirt bike with no charging system. It had old school brush generator I could not get to work. I would run it on a battery and it would work until I had almost burned a tank of gas. As...

Good to keep everything electrical off that is possible. Things like radio, fan motor or a/c can draw a lot. You can even unplug one of the cooling fans. The other option I have done is keep another charged battery in the car with a couple of tools for a swap. The one time I drove 65 miles...

I had one once that didn't damage the rods but melted a hole right through the piston and cracked rings. However, the car would not start after the runaway. You never know.

You can buy a new one at IDPARTS for $8 plus shipping.

I always take a propane torch and carefully warm just the inside race. Shooting the flame through the hole. Never let the race get too warm where it is smoking and/or turning blue. The inside wheel bearing installed with the seal after it is warmed will slide right on as far as you need to go...

sounds like a bad wheel bearing. It doesn't hurt to just replace them both anyway at this age and miles.

Not sure what details you are looking for. You clean the pan bottom, glue the heater on and plug it in and it works. With these my cars start fine in the 15-20 below range I may see in a winter. The start seems to be about like a start on a 50 degree day when it is 10 below in blowing wind...

I probably have a good one around. That is - because I just just the glue on silicone heater pads. They stick on the bottom of the oil pan. I have found over the years that the ones that go into the coolant lines caused me more problems - things like corrosion that caused leaks - than they...

Fluid film is better than oil or grease I found. I put it everywhere and it not only lubes hinges and latches good but it prevent rust.

Don't ever do what one guy did to a car before I bought it. He cleaned the aluminum up with a chemical that cleans the aluminum. The problem was it ran down on to the lower parts of the engine and was never rinsed off properly. It rotted off both pans on an automatic transmission and other...

I should have a pair of wagon rear lights if you don't find any out your way. Did you post in the forum want ads?

The engine is the same. There are some minor things like glow plug wires but the engine still has the same 4 glow plugs to connect to the car. The ecu doesn't care about the connection to the different engine but you may need to adjust some settings with the VAG com software. All you need is...

The only thing I find for this kind of condition is to spray something like fluid film on everywhere you can find. It will stop it from spreading or slow it down if you keep it covered. It creeps into the rust and cracks. Rust converter sounds good but it will never reach through the thick...