Finally got my TDI and want to get organized

[gwb5036]

Hey all! Some of you may have seen me on here during my long search for an ALH TDI. I finally picked one up last week in KY and its currently in my garage I washed and polished it and hit it with a ceramic coat to try and keep the paint as nice as possible up here in PA. The owner seemed to really care for the car (I actually found it on this site) and I'm excited to continue to do the same.

I have many service reciepts and have asked many questions of the previous owner but I feel like I need to establish a baseline for maintenance. She was nice enough to do the the oil change before my long ride home but thats the easy maintenance to track. I feel that I should do all the filters to start with. Fuel, air, and cabin. Is there a service interval for these I can find so I know when they will be due again?

Next is the big doozie we all love talking about. The timing belt was done in 2013 i believe and just about 80k miles ago. Is there a good way to inspect the belt or is that just false sense of security? Is there any reason to swap it early? I would like to hold off another 10k miles if I can so I don't ride right up to the 100k mark. Also if I should do it now or when it becomes time to do it whats everyones favorite kit? ECS has plenty of options from mild to wild and I have ordered through them a lot in the past. I also always enjoyed working with german auto parts in the past. The TDI is a new breed for me since all of my other vw and audi's are gas so I'm just looking to see what the opinion of the experts of this forum are! Not sure if people tend to just to the timing belt and tensioner or soup to nuts with water pump and all.

 

[mittzlepick]

Swap it for peace of mind, and its old 5 yrs seems to be a number tossed around. Full kit never trust a single part to not let you down. Thats how i got my last one. Waterpump seizure. Fella trusted. A slip stating timing belt replacement.

 

[hskrdu]

Congrats on the TDI!

We have a thread for almost everything, including a collection of all maint schedules:

***Official maintenance schedule for your VW [PDFs inside]***

2000 Model year Vws 2001 Model Year Vws 2002 Model Year Vws 2003 Model Year Vws 2004 Model Year Vws 2005 Model Year Vws 2006 Model year Vws 2007 Model Year Vws 2008 Model Year Vws 2009 Model Year TDI (Except Touareg) 2009 Model Year Touareg 2010 Model Year...

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Doing all the filters/fluids when starting with a older TDI is common, but not necessary if you received accurate records and the previous owner was diligent/trusted.

The TB itself usually lasts long past the service interval, and it is often another component in the kit which fails. A visual inspection of the belt itself usually reveals nothing, and a belt with a weak point may appear to be fine. That's why the TB gets changed as a kit with all components by mileage or time- and 2013 is past the point for a service. I would do it soon, and you will not be doing it early.

Many members here use vendors who support Fred's, since you'll be getting good parts at good prices and they are members themselves who will answer your parts and service questions. Their TB kits (and other kits) will give you a good idea of what must be used, or what is optional to "add-on" to a service. A few common ones:

IDParts https://www.idparts.com/
Cascade German https://www.cascadegerman.com/
Metalman (Marquette Automotive) https://www.metalmanparts.com/

Two kits for comparison:

Timing Belt Kit (A4 ALH)

Timing belt kit for A4 (98+ New Beetle, 99.5+ Jetta/Golf) with ALH engine. This is a complete kit comprised of OE quality parts by the best manufacturers. It includes all the timing belt comp...

www.idparts.com

High Mileage Timing Belt Kit (ALH)

The high mileage timing belt kit includes extra components and hardware that typically are worn or need replacing, but aren't part of the normal timing belt replacement interval. The timing belt ki...

www.idparts.com

You are going to find lots of parts to replace, or mods you'll want to do, or items to refresh, so it's best to read others' similar posts and stories, and develop a list. Full TB kit first, and soon, along with other items that are needed which can be done easily when the TB is done. If you have service records, take a look at when things were last done: Man trans fluid? I do it at 100k miles or less, depending on conditions. Brake fluid? Every 2 years, including the bleeder at the clutch. Power steering fluid? It's not a lifetime fill. Suspension refresh? Clutch condition? Exhaust or muffler rusting? Etc.

If you like ECS that's fine, but I highly suggest supporting the vendors that support us. ECS is about 5th on my list for VW parts, and last for TDI parts. Peter or Dennis or Aaron will provide help and answer questions, and they help keep this site going.

Also, it is super helpful just to add the year and model to your car, under your avatar on the left. Members know the ALH, but other issues will be year and model dependent.
HTH.

 

[gwb5036]

Many thanks I will look inte to these options! Really appreciate the link to the service schedule too. I will have to get organized and order this belt sooner than later. I probably won't have time for a month or so. I hope I'm not pushing my luck. Gotta take car of my wifes car first and I will have to keep my s4 on the back burner

 

[Keystoner16]

Congrats on the new car.
If it were me, I would do timing belt/ water pump as mentioned before. I would do serp belt & tensioner at the same time unless they were in extremely good condition, since they will already be off the car.

Add fuel filter to your filter list. Fill the new one with Diesel Purge from LiquiMoly, dump whatever doesn't fit in the filter in the tank.

Fluids. I didn't catch whether it's auto or manual.
If it's a manual I would change the gear oil. GL4 75w90 is what you're looking for there.
Auto is a little harder. I believe there's a filter in the transmission, and the pan will need to be removed. Might be easier to have a reliable shop do that one.

Brake fluid gets overlooked a lot. Moisture content is hard to get without the reader. I would flush it just for piece of mind.

P/S steering fluid can usually be judged by visual inspection. If it's dirty, I would flush that, as well.

Good with luck it!

 

[gwb5036]

many thanks! it's a 5 speed I will look into changing that oil as well

 

[Zak99b5]

RIP German Auto Parts. They were local to me and closed up shop like 3-4 years ago. Wish I had one of their stickers for my Jetta, but i sent it to my daughter when she got her Golf a couple years ago.

 

[gwb5036]

they're still there. it's all mail order. recently talked to them via e mail. I've got plenty of their stickers. they hired a guy to streamline their store and apparently had to take 6 months off to undo their work and go back to their own format.

 

[Mongler98]

RIP German Auto Parts. They were local to me and closed up shop like 3-4 years ago. Wish I had one of their stickers for my Jetta, but i sent it to my daughter when she got her Golf a couple years ago.

they're still there. it's all mail order. recently talked to them via e mail. I've got plenty of their stickers. they hired a guy to streamline their store and apparently had to take 6 months off to undo their work and go back to their own format.

WHAT are you talking about... yea they may have moved, but the site is still alive and well and doing just fine. they had a moment back a year or so ago when they swapped sites over but unless im missing something... they are still very much in business and you can order anything from there site right now. yea back a while ago it was a fiasco and they lost a lot of business for a short period but they are not going to be going anywhere anytime.
back when Eurotunning disappeared (there are some people who work for them both....) it was hairy and unforeseen who was going to be going forward but the company never had shaky legs. just some shady ppl

 

[gwb5036]

Mongler for some reason I've had to tell many people this same thing. it's unfortunate that they are probably losing business because of unawareness. they've always been such a nice group of guys to work with

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

RIP German Auto Parts. They were local to me and closed up shop like 3-4 years ago. Wish I had one of their stickers for my Jetta, but i sent it to my daughter when she got her Golf a couple years ago.

We have a former GAP employee who used to run their warehouse on our team. They are still operating, everything is direct shipped from suppliers. They use one supplier in particular, and I think they had a clone of that supplier's site for a while, a quick look at the site makes me think they might still. I think there are only one or two employees remaining. But they are still operating.

 

[Zak99b5]

Is Josh still involved?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Is Josh still involved?

No. He's at Atlantic British.

 

[slo13zx3]

Where in pa are you ?

 

[Zak99b5]

No. He's at Atlantic British.

The rover thing.

 

[Gothmolly]

many thanks! it's a 5 speed I will look into changing that oil as well

Is this a thing? Mine has 240k on it, never been done.

Also, look up the ventectomy, the DRL mod, and the 5 brakelight mod.

 

[hskrdu]

Is this a thing? Mine has 240k on it, never been done.

I change the manual transmission fluid at the 100k miles mark- notable improvement (esp in the winter), and the old fluid was tired. It's an easy DIY and is good to do along with other high mileage maint.

Manual transmission fluid change how-to with pics

Before doing my transmission oil change, I did some searching of old threads to get an idea of what to do. Someone (GeWilli, I think) asked about pictures for a how-to .pdf, which it seems no one had, so I took some pictures. I haven't taken the time to find out how to make a .pdf, but here...

forums.tdiclub.com

 

[Gothmolly]

I change the manual transmission fluid at the 100k miles mark- notable improvement (esp in the winter), and the old fluid was tired. It's an easy DIY and is good to do along with other high mileage maint.

Manual transmission fluid change how-to with pics

Before doing my transmission oil change, I did some searching of old threads to get an idea of what to do. Someone (GeWilli, I think) asked about pictures for a how-to .pdf, which it seems no one had, so I took some pictures. I haven't taken the time to find out how to make a .pdf, but here...

forums.tdiclub.com

Define "improvement" and "tired". My car shifts fine, am I doing something wrong?

 

[hskrdu]

Well, I won't define them, but I'm happy to explain how I'm using those descriptions.

After 100,000 miles (my) '03 02J was getting increasingly notchy during NE winters, and the two gurus with whom I spoke both suggested 100k was a decent milestone for manual transmission fluid, depending on driving conditions. The claims of "lifetime fill" are likely best read in relation to what determines "lifetime." I read all the old man trans fluid threads and went with the Pennzoil Synchromesh, which not only improved the cold shifting, but also made all shifts feel buttery- I hadn't really noticed the slight degradation over those miles. The old fluid was amber, not golden and not dark, compared to the new fluid which was notably different in color. The "tired" fluid looked just like old gear oil, not molasses, but not new. I used "tired" since I've seen fluid which was just plain bad (one ALH Jetta we had for only a few years with decent maint, but no man trans fluid change after 200k). That oil was dark, and a magnet in the drain tub collected a fair amount of metals. The man trans fluid change on that Jetta also saw a pen and paper improvement in FE over the same roads and conditions. I then adopted a 100k service interval for man trans fluid for each of ALH's, and have used the VW G70 / Pennzoil Synchromesh / and something else...Mobil 1? Liqui Moly? I'd have to check my notes. All of this also requires a better description of "notchy," "buttery," and "bad," but hopefully those are more obvious.

In terms of doing something "wrong," I guess that depends on the owner and their approach to maintenance. I believe the ALH in the MkIV platform with 5M is one of the best cars ever made, and I not only keep up on maint, but like working on them. The 02J, IMHO, is a robust and durable transmission that can withstand high mileage and years of city-constant shifting driving. That being said, I think 100k miles is a reasonable interval for the gear oil, and given the ease of the service (open drain plug, drain oil, fill from top), and the cost of service (OEM G70 costs $12 a liter at IDParts), for me it's an easy item to include in my routine. The only thing I'd add is that gear oil is just like all other oils in the car, its lubrication properties don't last forever.

Lastly, I apologize for not saying anything new here. All the old threads have covered this stuff, but hopefully it adds one more experience to the list.

Do's and Don'ts for manual transmission fluid

OK, 227000 miles on my tdi jetta wagon 5 speed. Change the manual transmission fluid or not because VW says it's lifetime filled. thank you :rolleyes:

forums.tdiclub.com

I recommend at least every 100K miles. I change mine every 30.

There is no point in subjecting the transmission to floating metals when you can change the fluid for $15-30 worth of fluid and 20 minutes time.

The definition of "lifetime" fluid is a bit ambiguous. Whose lifetime? Yours? Mine? The transmission's?

If one can extend the lifetime of the transmission by doing regular fluid changes, then is the factory fill still considered "lifetime"?

 

[gwb5036]

Ok so basically I plan on doing filters and timing belt sooner than later. My questions are basically which timing belt kit to go with. I want to do the water pump and all while I'm at it bc I would rather be at a good starting point than a cheap one but I also don't want to overdo it because I need to get the car done in a weekend and don't want to replace a bunch of parts for the fun of it. Also are the timing tools neccessary? I'd hate to buy them just to use once in a blue moon at most. Is there anywhere to rent them?

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Ok so basically I plan on doing filters and timing belt sooner than later. My questions are basically which timing belt kit to go with. I want to do the water pump and all while I'm at it bc I would rather be at a good starting point than a cheap one. Also are the timing tools neccessary? I'd hate to buy them just to use once in a blue moon at most. Is there anywhere to rent them?

You can't beat the timing belt kits from www.idparts.com I tried but they have the best deals. Best to replace the most stuff as needed while you're in there. I'd pay a shop to do it. Call around the ask mechanics if they've done timing belts on alh engines. If they don't know what an alh is, maybe try the next shop?

You can cheap out and buy an off brand water pump and save a few bucks but it's not worth it. At the minimum I'd buy the 100k kit from idparts. Replacing a timing belt and not doing the water pump at the same time is dumb. It's also dumb to not replace the tensioner and rollers. I'm about to buy the 100k kit I think.

Apparently cam sprockets can fail eventually too. Not really sure how much is necessary to replace after a certain mileage. Maybe some advice can be generated in this thread.

 

[Zak99b5]

I went with the ID parts kit. Gates. Good kit.
Get the long reach cam lock (no need to remove Valve cover) and tensioner tool. You can use a drill bit of appropriate size for the IP lock tool. I used a normal 3-arm puller for the cam sprocket. And kept checking the flywheel mark to ensure the crank was at TDC.

 

[gwb5036]

Which one? The high mileage kit seems like an extra 100 bucks for some parts to replace along with it but I'm not positive that I need to do them all now. It's one thing if those parts are only accessible while the timing belt is off but it doesn't seem to be the case. I am not trying to go crazy a week into owning the car. I'm happy to replace and upgrade along the way. Is there any reason I shouldn't just do the regular timing belt kit? It has the water pump and 250 bucks worth of stuff. Seems like a thorough replacement. The previous owner seemed to take care of whatever the car needed along the way.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

If the car's been neglected, if the serp belt tensioner is bouncing around (indicating it's worn and the alternator pulley is probably dead), and you want to clean the intake and replace the front crank seal, the high mileage kit is worth it. Otherwise you're better off with the regular kit (same TB parts) and buying other items individually. Thermostats do fail on these cars, so you might want to replace that while you've got the coolant out of the car.

 

[gwb5036]

I was going to do the Thermostat since it isn't much more $$ and it does make sense to do it while the coolant is being flushed. I will stare at the serp belt as it idles. I figured I could always do serp belt parts down the road and clean the intake any time also since thats just from the top. I would like to limit the time and money spent on the first service just bc of the amount of other stuff going on right now.

 

[hskrdu]

If the TB kit is being done, t-stat and housing (OEM) along with serp belt components might take a little more time, but save you time (and money?) down the road. Your TB components were due (by time) almost 3 years ago, so a check of the previous owner's records may reveal the other components are also in need of replacement. The serp belt tensioner shock is less than $20, and the alt pulley is like $30. That's just my .02, it sounds like you have a good plan.

 

[Keystoner16]

Define "improvement" and "tired". My car shifts fine, am I doing something wrong?

Fluid exchanges are the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Saying "my car shifts fine" as a reason for not exchanging gear oil, is like saying "my car doesn't have a rod knock yet" as a reason for not doing an oil change.

 

[Zak99b5]

Which one? The high mileage kit seems like an extra 100 bucks for some parts to replace along with it but I'm not positive that I need to do them all now. It's one thing if those parts are only accessible while the timing belt is off but it doesn't seem to be the case. I am not trying to go crazy a week into owning the car. I'm happy to replace and upgrade along the way. Is there any reason I shouldn't just do the regular timing belt kit? It has the water pump and 250 bucks worth of stuff. Seems like a thorough replacement. The previous owner seemed to take care of whatever the car needed along the way.

Sorry--I went with the normal one. Previous Owners had actually taken fairly good care of the car. I got a folder full of receipts from them for maintenance work since they bought it in '09, eleven years' worth. So I didn't feel it necessary to include the extra parts. I do wish I had gotten harmonic balancer bolts, as I had to use a bolt-out on one of them that stripped.

Like you, I also bought the car recently and didn't want to go crazy with it. Just sticking to things that NEED replaced first, like tires, wheels, radiator, and front fenders (in my case).

 

[gwb5036]

Zak I think this is the route I will be taking. I appreciate the bolt comment I think I will add those to the kit. I put an ad up in the regional forums to see if anyone local has the timing tools. I won't have a weekend to do it until August 6,7, and 8th. If someone wants to barter I might get it done sooner but realistically life is a little to busy to dedicate a weekend any sooner. The current setup has 75k miles and was done in 2013. Hopefully the next month doesn't bother it too much. On the optimisitic side the car was kept really clean and spent most of the last 11 years between KY and CA so at least it wasn't in my crappy humid, salty, and rust loving area.

 

[Zak99b5]

Zak I think this is the route I will be taking. I appreciate the bolt comment I think I will add those to the kit. I put an ad up in the regional forums to see if anyone local has the timing tools. I won't have a weekend to do it until August 6,7, and 8th. If someone wants to barter I might get it done sooner but realistically life is a little to busy to dedicate a weekend any sooner. The current setup has 75k miles and was done in 2013. Hopefully the next month doesn't bother it too much. On the optimisitic side the car was kept really clean and spent most of the last 11 years between KY and CA so at least it wasn't in my crappy humid, salty, and rust loving area.

Get the long reach tool for the cam lock so you don't have to remove the valve cover. Also get the two-pin spanner. Both of those should cost you like $45 in all. I used a drill bit for the pump lock, and I just kept on checking the flywheel to make sure the crank was at TDC. I used a normal small 3-arm puller for the cam sprocket. You could also drill a hole in the back timing cover to use a drift to pop off the cam sprocket. I also used tools on hand to counterhold the cam sprocket--a long pry bar. I did all turning of the motor from the crank bolt (12-point socket).

I actually didn't have the tensioner spanner, so I used a pair of 90* needle-nose pliers. But I'd get the proper tool.