JeffUIT
Member
Hi!
So I am new to the VW/TDI/diesel in general club. I do quite a bit of my own stuff on the other family cars, but this is a whole new beast on the farm. Seeing how I'm a newbie to this, asking questions seems to be a great way to figure out what's going on, Here goes...
I replaced the oil filter after sucking the old oil out of the system. I used Castrol's Turbo Diesel Edge (in the gold bottle) primarily because it seemed to be recommended as a safe oil. It also has the VW standards on it, so that's a win. FWIW: I am using 5W40. But it seems that after running the engine for about 30 minutes, the oil is as black as the old stuff I took out. Is that normal?
I also learned that you can't add oil to a running engine - there was so much ?air?exhaust? coming out of the oil filler neck that I managed to get the 25cc of oil that I poured in all over my arms. I had to shut it down to add oil. Again, is that normal?
I replaced the fuel filter/water separator. It was probably the original one, as there looked to be the number 2006 on it. How long is a fuel filter good for? And how often should I unscrew the bottom to drain out water? I was smart enough to prime the new filter so that there were no issues starting it up.
I'm debating the value of a coolant flush. Is there any voodoo/magic that's required more than a standard engine? Is this one where you need special vacuum gauges and the like? Is there a preferred brand of coolant (or a suggested color to use)?
What's the opinion on getting the transmission serviced? It runs fine - no slipping or hesitations - and I don't want to open a can of disaster if I don't need to. As I said, there's 113K miles on it, and it probably has never had anything done to it.
Thanks so much for helping me. Once I make sure that she's road worthy, I'll probably start trying to mod it up a bit.
j
So I am new to the VW/TDI/diesel in general club. I do quite a bit of my own stuff on the other family cars, but this is a whole new beast on the farm. Seeing how I'm a newbie to this, asking questions seems to be a great way to figure out what's going on, Here goes...
I replaced the oil filter after sucking the old oil out of the system. I used Castrol's Turbo Diesel Edge (in the gold bottle) primarily because it seemed to be recommended as a safe oil. It also has the VW standards on it, so that's a win. FWIW: I am using 5W40. But it seems that after running the engine for about 30 minutes, the oil is as black as the old stuff I took out. Is that normal?
I also learned that you can't add oil to a running engine - there was so much ?air?exhaust? coming out of the oil filler neck that I managed to get the 25cc of oil that I poured in all over my arms. I had to shut it down to add oil. Again, is that normal?
I replaced the fuel filter/water separator. It was probably the original one, as there looked to be the number 2006 on it. How long is a fuel filter good for? And how often should I unscrew the bottom to drain out water? I was smart enough to prime the new filter so that there were no issues starting it up.
I'm debating the value of a coolant flush. Is there any voodoo/magic that's required more than a standard engine? Is this one where you need special vacuum gauges and the like? Is there a preferred brand of coolant (or a suggested color to use)?
What's the opinion on getting the transmission serviced? It runs fine - no slipping or hesitations - and I don't want to open a can of disaster if I don't need to. As I said, there's 113K miles on it, and it probably has never had anything done to it.
Thanks so much for helping me. Once I make sure that she's road worthy, I'll probably start trying to mod it up a bit.
j