The "What did you do to your B4 today" thread...

[Abacus]

We left PEI and returned home without fanfare. The roads were finally cleared for easier travel but it was a tad colder. The car started and ran fine though.

I was even able to use 6th most of the way home but did have to pick up a little fuel when we hit the states again, just for a margin of safety. Beautiful country up there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then yesterday I got a call from my brother who is borrowing the wife's B4, which was making a whining sound that varied with engine RPM's. I suggested checking the serpentine roller and he said the arm was too hot to touch. I recently had to change the one in the wagon due to a sudden failure. This one also failed with very little warning, like within 15 miles from starting to make a noise to near complete failure.

I have one in my wagon from when we went to PEI (don't leave home without one now) but that was at work 45 minutes away and I was in the company truck. So we robbed the one off his dead B4 and installed it on hers until the new one arrives.

The old one fell apart in his hands.

I ordered another from Amazon since it's the much better built Gates and not Meyle junk. Both the rollers I've lost recently were the inferior aftermarket ones which will no longer grace any B4 on which I work.

 

[Col Sanders]

Buffed out the paint in spots where I dug out the rust and repaired. ( IF YOU EVER SEE ME NEAR YOUR CAR WITH A CAN OF BONDO AND SPRAY PAINT, CALL THE POLICE ) I am not good with body repair !

 

[Abacus]

That's because Bondo is junk, use Rage instead. I have had excellent results with Rage extreme.

 

[Col Sanders]

Will try some in the summer time. No more body work indoors, too much of a mess.

 

[Campbellonh]

Added another quart oil-1k miles between last addition of a quart. Close to oil change time,I notice oil consumption goes up. Filled washer fluid and added isopropyl alcohol.Noticed ps fluid is at min. mark,need to get some more sealer(been using that to top off for past few years). I leave my radiator overflow tank cap 1 turn loose,and when I removed it today to peek inside(real dingy on the outside),there was a small whoosh of pressure being relieved(was still warm,not hot)-is this normal,or is headgasket on way out? I do have to add a little coolant every few months.....

I think a head gasket issue will keep coolant system pressurized for an abnormally long time. I think I might be having that issue now myself. I have to add a little every week or so, and I get a little whoosh even when it is stone cold. It is too damn cold to hunt for where it is coming out. If I could trust the Jetta in the winter, I would leave the Passat with Keith for some quality time fixing it for me. (New doesn't mean better....)

 

[FordGuy100]

I'm thinking I will try these out.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Volkswag...Parts_Accessories&hash=item339ca9d052&vxp=mtr

100% sure its chinesium, but at least they are glass.

 

[ToddA1]

I had a car that held coolant pressure for about 30 days. That was more than surprising.

I'm curious how an Ecode lens will work with a DOT reflector.

-Todd

 

[97B4TDi]

I'm curious how an Ecode lens will work with a DOT reflector.

-Todd

Same Here! Keep us updated on that project.

 

[FordGuy100]

I will let you know if/when I get those headlights.

This past weekend I got the door barriers back on. I bought a replacement barrier from VW...it came in and was just a piece of 1/8" foam, not formed or anything, which is a waste of $20. So it seems VW does not have any of the molded foam barriers anymore (the part had been superseded to the new one, which is just foam).

After I put them back on (to address leaks), I washed the car. After I got it all clean, I opened the doors and....it was DRY! Put the door panels back on, and called it a night.

 

[Steve Addy]

I will let you know if/when I get those headlights.

This past weekend I got the door barriers back on. I bought a replacement barrier from VW...it came in and was just a piece of 1/8" foam, not formed or anything, which is a waste of $20. So it seems VW does not have any of the molded foam barriers anymore (the part had been superseded to the new one, which is just foam).

After I put them back on (to address leaks), I washed the car. After I got it all clean, I opened the doors and....it was DRY! Put the door panels back on, and called it a night.

I had wondered whether they still had the formed foam or not, looks like you answered that question. On the B3 it's just sheet plastic (no foam) so the toughest part is finding an adhesive product that will actually keep it fixed to the door.

Every time I think about finding the formed foam from a B4 for my B3V what I find in the JY's has been ruined.

Steve

 

[ToddA1]

Good luck finding foam vapor barrier that's not ruined. On my B4V, I think that I may have been the first person in the front p/s door. The rear doors seem to always have decent vapor barriers.

I used to use heavy mil plastic on my Rabbits. I just cleaned the doors well and used clear, double sided, cellophane tape and never had an issue.

-Todd

 

[mrbrefast]

I have had a very intermittent oil pressure beep in the cabin over the past couple of months, and only ever while going faster than 65 mph. I got to my grandma's house for her birthday dinner, unloaded the car, and when I backed it into the parking spot next door... this:



The return trip involved a LOT more sensor beeping, even as low as 58 mph, which is more than a tad concerning. Too bad it was -12 this morning, making it a bit cold to be wrenching, even for me.

And my car was drip-free for a few weeks, too. I have this replacement braided turbo oil feed line on hand, just no time to install it yet. I am THINKING that this side of the line will be a direct fit, into the side of the head:



And I am also under the impression that I could swap the high oil pressure sensor into that space on the side of the head, and have the oil feed line go to the current space for the sensor:



Abacus was telling me some people on the boards have done that change with their 96 (because the 97 already has this change, for both improved oil flow AND better high pressure sensing).

All told, once I figure this out, looks like the firewall needs cleaned again



1) can anyone confirm to me if the line and sensor swap will allow the engine to still work alright?
2) anyone else put one of these oil lines in, and know if I need an adapter for the side which goes right into the turbo?

As a general question, is there such a thing as turbo maintenance/rebuilding I could DIY?

 

[Digital Corpus]

We left PEI and returned home without fanfare. The roads were finally cleared for easier travel but it was a tad colder. The car started and ran fine though.


I was even able to use 6th most of the way home but did have to pick up a little fuel when we hit the states again, just for a margin of safety. Beautiful country up there.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then yesterday I got a call from my brother who is borrowing the wife's B4, which was making a whining sound that varied with engine RPM's. I suggested checking the serpentine roller and he said the arm was too hot to touch. I recently had to change the one in the wagon due to a sudden failure. This one also failed with very little warning, like within 15 miles from starting to make a noise to near complete failure.

I have one in my wagon from when we went to PEI (don't leave home without one now) but that was at work 45 minutes away and I was in the company truck. So we robbed the one off his dead B4 and installed it on hers until the new one arrives.

The old one fell apart in his hands.


I ordered another from Amazon since it's the much better built Gates and not Meyle junk. Both the rollers I've lost recently were the inferior aftermarket ones which will no longer grace any B4 on which I work.

I managed to track down the INA version of the roller for what its worth. It's on the car now.

 

[Steve Addy]

I managed to track down the INA version of the roller for what its worth. It's on the car now.

It's also available here.

 

[Digital Corpus]

The roller I linked is the tensioner roller.

 

[Steve Addy]

The roller I linked is the tensioner roller.

Sorry, didn't realize it was in reference to the serpentine belt tensioner pulley. When I see roller I think timing belt, not serpentine belt.

Steve

 

[Digital Corpus]

Sorry, didn't realize it was in reference to the serpentine belt tensioner pulley. When I see roller I think timing belt, not serpentine belt.

Steve

It would have been obvious if I didn't remove the images from Abacus' post.

Anyhow, new CV joint has been on for 24 hours. I had to cinch 2 wires down around the clamp as it wasn't tight enough, despite best efforts, to stop the leak that was present. Test drive shows minimal extra grease on the wheel, though I suspect that it's just the stuff I couldn't clean off the outside. I used Redline CV-2 for the Febest joint and the old boot since its considerably larger. I guess CV-2 is expensive as far as CV joint grease goes, $11-$13 for 14 oz cartridge, but for a 100,000 mi joint, I don't view it as a considerable cost and insurance in case the Chinese joint is has crap metallurgy. All of those associated noises and vibrations are gone but the inner and outer CV joints on the driver's axle are OE so I really should have a look at them at some point.

I also decided to add a splice into the 1/4" line feeding the manual boost controler, which I keep installed as a safety. The splice goes to a needle valve that tees into the ECU's boost sense line. The idea is that a small bleed from immediately after the turbo will help the ECU control it a tad better. A few photos and spelled out theory from my mind will show up in my build thread in a few hours once I finish a few cleaning up tasks. Tasks like the kitchen counter after a CV joint rebuild

Still need to grab the hardware to reverse bleed the damn clutch. Hopefully that is in the cards tomorrow. It's either that or exhaust since I don't like going deaf with the location of the downpipe's exit...

 

[Digital Corpus]

Speaking of the tensioner rollers, I decided to go for complete disassembly of my old one to see what is what on it and even though I love photos, I'm not going to wait to take and process some to write this bit up:

It appears that the rollers are a complex injection molded part. The bulk of the material is a composite and since I'm not heavy into material sciences, I cannot tell you more about it. However, there are really 5-6 parts to it
[LIST[*]2 bearings - Though having not grabbed dimensions, they are 2RS bearings
[*]Inner threaded sleeve/bushing
[*]Pressed on washer on opposing end of bushing
[*]Composite structure
[*]Dust cap for bearings[/LIST]

I don't know the exact process used to construct them, but it was clearly evident that the bearings are held together in a mold and the poly composite is injected around it. I'm certain of this due to how there was composite in the chamfer-created groove between the two bearings.

If someone wanted to be enterprising enough, you really only need a good poly composite wheel, the threaded bushing, and the pressed washer. From there you can make your own rebuildable roller. Using epoxy or other durable, yet semi-permanent fixer, you can seal the bearings inside until they wear out, remove the epoxy, swap bearings and reseal it.

I know it's a cheapskate way to do it, but given the bearing prices I found for the alternators, which btw I'll be having to tear mine down to swap out the large one in the new couple of weeks, I suspect 2RS bearings aren't necessary, and a pair that size should only be about $10-15 total. Considering parts for our cars are getting scarce, it beats buying $35-$50 for a replacement if the epoxy of choice holds up and you don't mind waiting for it to cure, imho.

I'll post a few links to bearing replacements if anyone in interested, once I measure them.

 

[TonyJetta]

Abacus was telling me some people on the boards have done that change with their 96 (because the 97 already has this change, for both improved oil flow AND better high pressure sensing).

1) can anyone confirm to me if the line and sensor swap will allow the engine to still work alright?
2) anyone else put one of these oil lines in, and know if I need an adapter for the side which goes right into the turbo?

As a general question, is there such a thing as turbo maintenance/rebuilding I could DIY?

I have made the change, 3 years ago, when my turbo died. I now have ~60k miles and all is well.

I used the factory hard line. Personally, I think the oil going to the turbo is now cooler, which helps bearing life. By feeding oil that has been pumped through the engine oil galleys, it is now at least 90C. By feeding oil that has come directly from the oil cooler, and not seen the engine oil galleys, the oil temp should be 10-20C cooler. No, I have not take measurements to verify this assumption.

To your questions:
1) Yes: I have 60k miles on mine. I, too, relocated the blue pressure sensor to the side of the cylinder head.
2) No, I have not used Darksides' oil feed line. I used the factory hard line. I do have a "-4" line that will mate to the turbo that was made by a local hose shop. I just haven't installed it yet.
2a) As far as an adapter, if you buy the hose from a reputable source, i.e. Darkside as you listed, or Kerma that I have seen, they appear to come with the adapters needed.

Tony

 

[Abacus]

Speaking of the tensioner rollers, I decided to go for complete disassembly of my old one to see what is what on it and even though I love photos, I'm not going to wait to take and process some to write this bit up:

It appears that the rollers are a complex injection molded part. The bulk of the material is a composite and since I'm not heavy into material sciences, I cannot tell you more about it. However, there are really 5-6 parts to it
[LIST
[*]2 bearings - Though having not grabbed dimensions, they are 2RS bearings
[*]Inner threaded sleeve/bushing
[*]Pressed on washer on opposing end of bushing
[*]Composite structure
[*]Dust cap for bearings
[/LIST]

I don't know the exact process used to construct them, but it was clearly evident that the bearings are held together in a mold and the poly composite is injected around it. I'm certain of this due to how there was composite in the chamfer-created groove between the two bearings.

 

[mrbrefast]

To your questions:
1) Yes: I have 60k miles on mine. I, too, relocated the blue pressure sensor to the side of the cylinder head.
2) No, I have not used Darksides' oil feed line. I used the factory hard line. I do have a "-4" line that will mate to the turbo that was made by a local hose shop. I just haven't installed it yet.
2a) As far as an adapter, if you buy the hose from a reputable source, i.e. Darkside as you listed, or Kerma that I have seen, they appear to come with the adapters needed.

Tony

Thanks for the info, Tony. I went back and looked at Darkside's website and actually looked through their photos after reading your post - and it looks like my concern ("the new line which I have in hand looks NOTHING like the old compression fitting") is not a real problem - apparently, there is a taper fitting on the turbo side which comes off!

For the oil pressure sensor relocation, did you have to splice in a longer wire to get it to reach?

Going to be -15 or so tomorrow... and 33 on Saturday.

I will tackle this project... Saturday

 

[TonyJetta]

No, there was enough wire length on mine, such that i did not need to splice any additional wire.

Tony
Sent from my e-diesel fleet

 

[Digital Corpus]

My old one that I destroyed with a hammer and a few sockets:
All "parts" - Click to enlarge


Detail photo on one side of the roller - click to enlarge


Detail photo of opposing side - click to enlarge


You can see a casting seam and the fracture seam from the thin composite that was in between the chamfered edges of the 2 bearings in the above 2 photos.

"6002RS" Bearing - click to enlarge


These were produced by "NGTB" - click to enlarge


The bearing is also known by the designation 6002 with dimensions of 32x15x9 mm. The 2RS indicates that it's sealed on both sides and since 2 of the bearings are pressed against each other and clamped by the pressure of the bolt holding the roller on the tensioner arm, one sided seal is all that should be needed. However, if cheaper bearings are sealed on both sides, then it matters not.

Boca 6002RS from Amazon - $10 ea. + $2 s/h
SKF W 6002-2RS1 - ~$5.37 ea. + ~$4.45 s/h
McMaster 6002 2RS - $8.24 ea.
NTN 6002LLU - $9

 

[Chris]

"Ningbo General Bearing Co., Ltd. was established in 1997 and located in Yuyao Industrial Zone in Yuyao City."
http://ngtb.en.chinaningbo.com/

 

[97B4TDi]

I washed and let 'er thaw out.

While I was washing one of the rear wheels I noticed some movement, got under it to take a look and it looks like my rear beam bushing are torn. Is there anyone in Wisconsin(Fox Valley Area) that can replace them inexpensively?

I know its a difficult job, but I'm going through the process of purchasing a house and this came up really unexpectedly...

I love the B4 but these things are constant projects.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Put the new Wal-Mart battery in-H8(Group 49). Should be a major improvement over the group 41 battery the PO put in the car. I used one of those "memory keepers" that you plug into the cigarette lighter-my radio stations were saved,but my trip meter reset,and the clock is 2 hrs. fast now.....I also installed plug-in LED bulbs for the license plate lamps-they look pretty nice in the garage-we'll see how they look at night.

Well,I need to get this battery load tested(just over 2 years old). Been super cold this week,and Monday when I went to start after work,scangauge said -6 water temp-glowed twice-real slow turning over,volts on the gauge was jumping between 8-10 volts. Put a battery charger on it for about 20 minutes and it started(begrudgingly). Airbag light now on. Forward to today-water temp was -3 on scangauge,glowed twice,same thing happened-had to put charger on it for about 15 minutes,started up. Now my radio display is gone-(aftermarket)-turns on and off and works,but no display. Guess I'll go to Advance tomorrow and see how it tests out. I don't need to mess the cluster up. Now I need to find the receipt for battery,just in case. When I glow the car,the volts drop to 10.8-11 on scangauge-what should the normal range be?

 

[Digital Corpus]

So the small hose right above the thermostat housing that is apart of the famous 3 way hose of death partially slipped the clamp. I lost enough coolant about 5 minutes before getting off the freeway to work. After making preparations with my brother to drive down, I got to my car after my 9 hour shift and noted a nice pool. Filling up with ~3/4 of a gallon of spring water, no distilled at this hour, and tried to find the leak. I thought this leak, too slow to notice any fluid drop over a couple months, was originally power steering fluid. Guess it wasn't. Lost about 4-6 fl oz on the 30 mile drive home. I guess this is a good sign that I need to pickup a silicone replacement soon...

 

[Steve Addy]

So the small hose right above the thermostat housing that is apart of the famous 3 way hose of death partially slipped the clamp. I lost enough coolant about 5 minutes before getting off the freeway to work. After making preparations with my brother to drive down, I got to my car after my 9 hour shift and noted a nice pool. Filling up with ~3/4 of a gallon of spring water, no distilled at this hour, and tried to find the leak. I thought this leak, too slow to notice any fluid drop over a couple months, was originally power steering fluid. Guess it wasn't. Lost about 4-6 fl oz on the 30 mile drive home. I guess this is a good sign that I need to pickup a silicone replacement soon...

Was this the upper hose of death that goes to the cylinder head or the lower three way hose of death that feeds the pipe and cooler? Was it a crimp clamp that failed for a spring clamp?

Steve

 

[mrbrefast]

Turbo line is off and my fears are confirmed: the new banjo bolt is different threading:

The old bolt at the very VERY end of it (3.5mm):

The new bolt is 3.5mm thick for several millimeters:

The old bolt is approximately 3.15mm thick for the remainder:

Anyone know if I can use the old bolt on the flex line fitting and have it work properly? I will be able to reach the fitting really easily off the oil cooler and change it if it doesn't work... but I don't want to damage anything with a test drive and insufficient bolt thickness...

 

[Abacus]

What is the ID of the banjo fitting?