Corroded grounds- Req\'d Maint for ALL A4 cars
Hi Folks. I finally got a chance to do this bit of maintenance, and once again, I am really surprised.
When we had our 2000 Golf TDI, I removed the battery and battery tray when the car was new. Under the tray are three ground points. I cleaned/waxed and used dielectric grease on all the contacts, and Never-Seize on all the mounting bolts for the tray. This kept this area perfect for the four years we had our Golf.
Today, after nearly 7 months of ownership of our JWagon, I decided to do the same thing. It was time to detail the engine anyway, so I made this a project day /images/graemlins/smile.gif
Sure enough, the same three ground points were starting to corrode. I am surprised since VW actually does a very nice job of finishing things off, and all it takes is a few dabs of dielectric grease at the factory to prevent this from happening in the first place. I had to clean off the spade connectors as well.
If you have one of the black batteries with the little 'eye' to tell if the battery is OK or not, you CAN service that battery. The cell caps are hidden under the label. If you peel off half the label on each side, you'll expose the cell caps, and be able to check the fluid level. It turned out that the battery was a bit low, so I topped it off with some distilled water. Make sure that you DO NOT OVERFILL.
HTH,
Harry.
Hi Folks. I finally got a chance to do this bit of maintenance, and once again, I am really surprised.
When we had our 2000 Golf TDI, I removed the battery and battery tray when the car was new. Under the tray are three ground points. I cleaned/waxed and used dielectric grease on all the contacts, and Never-Seize on all the mounting bolts for the tray. This kept this area perfect for the four years we had our Golf.
Today, after nearly 7 months of ownership of our JWagon, I decided to do the same thing. It was time to detail the engine anyway, so I made this a project day /images/graemlins/smile.gif
Sure enough, the same three ground points were starting to corrode. I am surprised since VW actually does a very nice job of finishing things off, and all it takes is a few dabs of dielectric grease at the factory to prevent this from happening in the first place. I had to clean off the spade connectors as well.
If you have one of the black batteries with the little 'eye' to tell if the battery is OK or not, you CAN service that battery. The cell caps are hidden under the label. If you peel off half the label on each side, you'll expose the cell caps, and be able to check the fluid level. It turned out that the battery was a bit low, so I topped it off with some distilled water. Make sure that you DO NOT OVERFILL.
HTH,
Harry.