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

[PD41]

The floor and tranny are there. I don't recall seeing any rust when I pulled the plastic oil pan cover. Loose timing belt and the cam only rotates a little.

They have great prices, better than Pick a Part. I paid $100 for the IP, $20 for a big bag of all relays, overhead light and window switches, $25 for 7 spoke factory alloys.

If turbodyke doesn't have a door then let me know. I will check when I go back down there for a 4" mid fender section (rust repair). You can call them for a price. They are open today and traffic will be light.

 

[PD41]

My head seal is now dripping on my wagon, thinking about taking it to Wild Rose since I don't have Vagcom and my sedan head seal was a ***** with frozen bolts. Keeping the wagon and selling the green sedan both are 96.

Any info on Wild Rose ? Good Bad ?
Martin 310 350 2543

 

[Steve Addy]

i think i have a green pass.front door, and you wouldn't have to drive to Gardena.

I'm gonna have to hit that yard today. I'm already dreading it, since the last time I was there, the [edit] *special person in charge* [/edit] behind the counter was making up prices out of thin air; not using a real (published) price list like LKQ.

moderator's note: please try to refrain from using derogatory terms to describe people. I'm not saying things should be kept PC to the Nth degree but some terms go against forum decorum. Thanks.

[okie doke]

When I hit a Upull and in the past I've been to several, I try and assist them with identifying the part so that figuring out what price to attach to it is easier. I also do it within easy reach of the trash can so if gibberish starts to flow out of the 'special snowflake's' mouth I can just throw it in and be done with it.

Steve

 

[Digital Corpus]

i think i have a green pass.front door, and you wouldn't have to drive to Gardena.

I'm gonna have to hit that yard today. I'm already dreading it, since the last time I was there, the [edit] *special person in charge* [/edit] behind the counter was making up prices out of thin air; not using a real (published) price list like LKQ.

The floor and tranny are there. I don't recall seeing any rust when I pulled the plastic oil pan cover. Loose timing belt and the cam only rotates a little.

They have great prices, better than Pick a Part. I paid $100 for the IP, $20 for a big bag of all relays, overhead light and window switches, $25 for 7 spoke factory alloys.

If turbodyke doesn't have a door then let me know. I will check when I go back down there for a 4" mid fender section (rust repair). You can call them for a price. They are open today and traffic will be light.

I'll be off the next two days and today is no good. I'm not particular about the paint color unless one of you has a silver one.

My head seal is now dripping on my wagon, thinking about taking it to Wild Rose since I don't have Vagcom and my sedan head seal was a ***** with frozen bolts. Keeping the wagon and selling the green sedan both are 96.

Any info on Wild Rose ? Good Bad ?
Martin 310 350 2543

I bought my B4 from Leonard. Depending on schedules, I can pay you a visit to assist if you wish. However, a head gasket isn't a VCDS issue per se. Are you talking the head gasket, valve seal, something else?

 

[PD41]

Talking about my Fuel Injection Pump head O-ring.
My green sedan was leaking so I ordered the parts, watched the video.
I did then head (i believe it is called that) where the 4 injection lines are.

I used a small drill bit to IP cam lobe up, then backed off the IP head enough to get the o-ring replaced. It still has a leak so I will do it again.

The main problem I had was getting the torx bolts loose. Ended up cracking them loose with a pair of pliers.

On my red wagon I just bought I changed the oil/filter, tranny oil, T-stat, all new hoses from Gee-Bee (red silicone), expansion bottle, and other stuff. It will be my daily driver.

I figured I'd let Wild Rose do the red wagon so it can be Vagcom'd and all o-rings done.

I'll tackle the green IP. Both cars are dripping diesel from the IP head O-ring. The wagon just started leaking. Going to sell the green sedan.

 

[turbodieseldyke]

PD, whatever you need Vagcom for, I can swing by today. I'm maybe 5 minutes away. I'm puzzled why you didn't take the IP pulley from the yard yesterday. They couldn't have charged extra for it.

Anyways, that JY car is now missing the rear seat, rear cup holder, vacuum pump, fuel lines, injector lines, injectors, N18, N75, the 5th injector (heh), and the fuel tank is no good, because someone (probably the JY) punched a hole in the bottom. Still has the BK ecu, tranny, shifter, block, head, air intake box, turbo, both manifolds, intercooler (i think) and all pipes, and the instrument cluster. The black pipe running from the EGR/puck down to the turbo is broken (mea culpa). Engine condition is questionable, since the oil around the camshaft is like grease, and it looks like the thing was parked under a weird tree for months with the hood up. The threaded openings for the injectors were all clogged up with whatever, so I'm assuming the injector lines were removed, and the injectors were exposed for a few weeks as well. Also, the upper timing belt cover had some wear from the tensioner pulley.


Digital, both my door,and the JY, are green. Theirs will be complete (whatever they charge for that) with a decent beige door card (the moldings were all removed, but put inside the trunk. Go figure). The only thing that might be wrong with it is, the front fender is beat in, and part of the door rubs the fender when it opens/closes. Mine will be basically the shell with a crappy door card that's been outdoors for 2 years. I'll take $20 for it. I'm working in Loma Linda M-F, so you could pick it up from me there, or I could swing by Ontario before 6am or after 5pm.


Steve, what happened at that JY years ago was no language mixup. It was a ripoff, pure and simple. I had some pedal assemblies and stuff for a AT-MT swap. The guy was just willy-nilly making up prices at whatever he thought he could get away with. "Wait, how much for this one?" "$35" Thinking... thinking... calculating the time/labor I just wasted... screw it... "Forget that piece then." "Ok, $25." If this was a mom-n-pop place, and he was Mom or Pop or Sonny, that's fine. But this is a multiple-site corporation, and Pancho there was definitely not the Owner. I can't wait to see "good family-values natural conservatives" like him get sent home next January, so they can improve their homeland with their fine moral character. There's no reason our country should be so selfish, and keep all the good ones for ourselves.

 

[Steve Addy]

Steve, what happened at that JY years ago was no language mixup. It was a ripoff, pure and simple. I had some pedal assemblies and stuff for a AT-MT swap. The guy was just willy-nilly making up prices at whatever he thought he could get away with. "Wait, how much for this one?" "$35" Thinking... thinking... calculating the time/labor I just wasted... screw it... "Forget that piece then." "Ok, $25." If this was a mom-n-pop place, and he was Mom or Pop or Sonny, that's fine. But this is a multiple-site corporation, and Pancho there was definitely not the Owner. I can't wait to see "good family-values natural conservatives" like him get sent home next January, so they can improve their homeland with their fine moral character. There's no reason our country should be so selfish, and keep all the good ones for ourselves.

I'm not suggesting it was a language mixup, I'm suggesting I've run into the same type of situation with people who just make it up as they go along, just to see whether you'll put up with it. I've had yards with posted prices still charge me for something that was not in the pile of stuff I had. It's very frustrating and one reason I don't go much anymore.

Today however I decided to hit the local upull, Wrench-n-Go, where 1) I have friends who still work there and 2) I used to work. I wasn't expecting to see anything but knew I needed a couple screws for the passenger visor install so I went out anyway.

Found a car that is perhaps even more rare than the B4 TDI, a 1996 Passat with the 2.0L ABA 4 cylinder and manual transmission. I have to say that it really did deserve to be there too...



And as some of you know I had been looking for this little bracket for a while, and there it was! This holds the lower radiator hose up enough so the bottom doesnt sit and wiggle on the front engine mount. I was glad to see it.



Also, managed to snag this, which will come in handy if a spare is needed. It's not the same as the TDI lower radiator hose but based on a quick glance it should clear everything when installed.



Steve

 

[ketchupshirt88]

Found a car that is perhaps even more rare than the B4 TDI, a 1996 Passat with the 2.0L ABA 4 cylinder and manual transmission. I have to say that it really did deserve to be there too...

mines in worse shape than that... i got the trophy to prove it. lol

i would snap that shell up and rebuild it if it were on the local craigslist.

speaking of shells: Mr jackson told me to hit up digital corpus on that green B4V... So, DC, please let me know when you decide what to do with the shell as i may be interested if timing and $$$ work out right.

its a long haul, but a relatively rust free shell just doesnt exist up her in WI.

 

[c3k]

That is a rare car indeed, Silk Blue was only offered in '96. I keep hoping to find one in a local yard but every time one seems to pop up in a junkyard, its half way across the country.

 

[Stromaluski]

Steve, what happened at that JY years ago was no language mixup. It was a ripoff, pure and simple. I had some pedal assemblies and stuff for a AT-MT swap. The guy was just willy-nilly making up prices at whatever he thought he could get away with. "Wait, how much for this one?" "$35" Thinking... thinking... calculating the time/labor I just wasted... screw it... "Forget that piece then." "Ok, $25." If this was a mom-n-pop place, and he was Mom or Pop or Sonny, that's fine. But this is a multiple-site corporation, and Pancho there was definitely not the Owner. I can't wait to see "good family-values natural conservatives" like him get sent home next January, so they can improve their homeland with their fine moral character. There's no reason our country should be so selfish, and keep all the good ones for ourselves.

Unless he was the owner or manager, I'd bet that he got fired for doing that. I know I would have if I had done that when I worked at LKQ. There's no reason to be racist about it. And even less reason to bring that crap here.

 

[Digital Corpus]

Creating a listing for the car under the west coast thread now. I'll edit this post with a link to it shortly.

Part out thread

 

[Col Sanders]

tubodieseldyke is 100 percent correct. It's not racist at all. It's the truth ! Some folks can't handle the truth.

 

[Abacus]

Now now, keep it civil please. Don't make me put the moderator hat back on. Truth or not, please be nice.

 

[Col Sanders]

Yea, I suppose. Hate to see people do the Ostrich thing. Now back to getting the Demons out of my very possessed green B4.

 

[vanbcguy]

Stole the harmonic balancer from my Jetta and put it on the Passat - the one on the Passat has been squealing like crazy lately making me insane. Absolutely silent belt drive now plus a noticeable improvement in cabin vibration that I wasn't really expecting but am absolutely happy with.

Later this week I need to do one of my stub axles. Having bearing noise on one side after just 10,000 km (6000 miles) on a new quality set. Also had a 3° the in on that wheel when I did my last alignment. The car had been damaged in that corner previously - realized the hack reused the old stub axle after replacing the rear beam. Like duh, the wheel was bent, the axle beam was bent but the stub axle was going to be completely undamaged? Wanker.

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[kooyajerms]

Unless he was the owner or manager, I'd bet that he got fired for doing that. I know I would have if I had done that when I worked at LKQ. There's no reason to be racist about it. And even less reason to bring that crap here.

Assuming the "Mexican" (no wait Honduran? No, Puerto Rican? Wait did you check his ancestry.com?) clerk is an illegal immigrant is racist?! What you don't say.

And it's NOT 100% fact old man sanders. Unless you just expect all Latino's are being targeted.

 

[PD41]

I bought my B4 from Leonard.

Leonard of Wild Rose has relocated to Anahiem, next to Santa Ana River Lakes off the 91 and 57. 3901 E La Palma Anahiem. 800 341 1012 (new ph #)

Going to re-do my pump seal today on my sedan. IP head o-ring only then
do the intake manifold. It has lost much power. sitting for 6 months and hopefully I can get it running again today. I think the shut-off plunger is stuck from sitting.
Not getting any fuel to the injectors even with a elect fuel pump hooked up to the banjo fitting.

Dropping off my wagon tomorrow at Leonards.
He is going to pull the IP off for a re-seal. I want that wagon dialed in good
and don't want mess with it.

 

[ToddA1]

While I had the seats out, I chose to do something about my horrid carpet. Tons of stains that I never did anything with, since I bought the car In 2011. This car got ignored, once the sedan joined the family.




I had a spare carpet that I pressure washed years ago, that was stashed in storage. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than I had and I wasn't in the mood to pull the pressure washer out.

It has a decent tear, that runs along the exhaust tunnel, but the center consoles would hide it. I was being anal and stitched it together with a few small zip ties.... totally unnecessary.




I tempted fate and lifted the sound deadening mats, looking for the usual rust at the drain plugs. Dry as a bone and rust free.... it's what I was expecting.






Gave the floor pans a quick vacuum and sprayed some 409 degreaser/disinfectant in the storage tub under the rear seats.

All of the plastic trim that came out was cleaned with the same 409. I'm actually pretty impressed with how that stuff cleans.








The 409 didn't budge what appears to be s juice stain in the right footwell. I didn't try it on the stain by the heated seat harness.

The floor mat covers the stain and the seat covers the other stain, so I'm not too worried about it. I tried some Sem Light Buckskin, but it was too dark.




FWIW, this was a sedan carpet that went into a wagon. No fitment issues, at all.

Gave the center consoles a good cleaning and applied some vinyl and leather treatment.

Pulled the AC 135 relay and jumped terminals 30 and 87a.

Replaced a led bulb in one of the lower console gauges. I've been putting that off, since pulling the consoles are a pain.

Flattened some warpage on the panels that cover the spare tire area. Pulled the spare tire for the first time looking for rust. A little bit of surface rust, but nothing that can't be brushed off and treated. Vacuumed this area out, too.

Charged the battery, since it's been dying from not being driven.

-Todd

 

[vanbcguy]

I really really wish someone would make new carpets for the B3/B4 platform! Looks like you did a great job.

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[FordGuy100]

No doubt! I find black carpet hides dirt easier, which better suited us with the 2 kids.

 

[Abacus]

I agree, and switched the interior from tan to black in the sedan because of this.

 

[Steve Addy]

Ditto, black carpet / mats shows much less dirt. I switched the carpets in the B3V to black from light grey because of it. The grey carpets were plain nasty.

I had good luck with used carpets, just gave both sections a big cleaning with the pressure washer.

Steve

 

[ToddA1]

There's no way I can deny that black would hide dirt better. Tan is what I have, so I'm stuck using it.

Once cleaned, my interiors tend to stay pretty clean. The tan carpet in the sedan came out near perfect.

Pulled the molded carpet off the seat backs and knifed the booger glue off. Somewhat reminiscent of (but nowhere near as bad as) the pine based adhesive that VW used to use under the carpets of old Rabbits.




Soaked the carpets down with soapy water and degreaser and put them in a plastic bag. I'll scrub them down tomorrow.

-Todd

 

[Yblocker]

My B4 lost its ability to track nicely over the road, and it turns out the right side inner tie rod was very sloppy.

After disconnecting the tie rod ends from the knuckle, the old boots came off petty easy as rotten as they were. Using a 1 1/4" open end wrench through the opening in the sub-frame worked well in removing the inner tie rod, and the new ones went on just as easy.

The struggles began with getting the new boots on there. There are two styles of steering racks that VW used, ZF and TRW. I wound up with boots for the ZF rack, and of course I have the TRW. I didn't know this before, but after comparing the two, I thought they would work, and that the aftermarket part was probably designed to fit more that one application. The ZF boot is on the left.



They will go on there, but not without a fight. Then I come to find out that the zip tie can't secure them properly because of the air balance tube that's in the way. The tube runs along the steering rack and is provided to allow the boots to accordion without collapsing.



What a waste of time. Plus, with all the pushing, my air tube got loose, so I had to zip tie it to the middle of the rack to immobilize it.



In the end a couple of things made the job easier; pushing the big end of the boot over a bottle to expand it, heating the rubber with a hair dryer to soften it, and using some silicone grease. I also dropped the control arms down to get more room to get my hand in there.

One other thing helped to make the job easier; using the correct part!

 

[ToddA1]

In 2013, I purchased a wrecked B4 for the engine and driveline. The seller was a VW tech and mentioned he replaced the glass sunroof panel. It was supposedly one of the last available, in the country.

It has standard tint rather than the dot matrix tint, that I'm used to seeing. It was posted for sale with no interest, and it's been sitting in the shed.






Yesterday, I was moving stuff around and finally took notice of the felt gasket. It was in perfect shape. What I have in the sedan wasn't leaking, but a lot of the felt was missing.




Time to swap the panels... It was the first time I pulled just the glass and it wasn't a bad job at all.

For a wind-noise free ride, Bentley specs are that the front edge of the glass needs to be 1mm lower than the roofline, measured at the center of the panel.

The rear edge of the glass needs to be 1 mm higher than the roofline, measured at the center of the panel.

I used a torpedo level at all 4 corners, then verified at the front and rear center. A dime was used as my 1mm spacer.






I'll take the car on a highway speed test, later.

Last night, I searched for the glass panel, and like most things B4, it's NLA. When it was available, it was over $700, but it came with the $120 seal, already mounted.

-Todd

 

[Steve Addy]

I replaced the drive axles on the B3V today. Repacked some CV joints from a set of axles for a 91 GTI and installed them on the axle shafts from the 96 B4 2.0 ABA MT car I got last weekend.

The GTI CV's were in very good shape but just to be safe I flipped them from one side to the other, both inner and outer. Additionally, installed new boots on everything, hopefully will last a couple years without giving me trouble.

Initial run I noticed less road vibration and the slight rumble I'd detected at around 80 mph is diminished though not gone, but it's not really bad, I'm kind of anal about that stuff..

CV shafts are a mess to work on but I had promised myself I was going to do this way back before the car was put on the road so it was just another thing crossed off the list.

Steve

 

[vanbcguy]

Hopefully dealt with the final bit of cruddy work done by the shop I bought my B3 from...

To recap the car had been hit in the passenger rear corner. The damage was almost entirely contained to the rear wheel with only a very minor ding in the body. The rear axle beam was damaged along with the shock and the wheel on that side.

The suspension and the rear axle beam have both been replaced. However I went for a 4 wheel alignment a while ago and the right rear wheel was toed in quite a bit. The alignment shop shimmed it 0.040“ and didn't feel comfortable going any further though it was still a little out of spec.

Now you might be thinking, how could this be, everything was replaced, right? Well you'd ASSUME if the wheel was bent and the axle beam was bent then the stub axle probably deserved to be replaced too, right? Not those guys...

Noticed some wheel bearing noise getting progressively worse - the bearings only have 8,000 km on them so no reason whatsoever for that. Then it hit me... Tweaked alignment... Bearing noise... I bet those reused the original stub axle....

Ordered a new VW one (B3 ABS drums, happy there's still some out there!) Yanked the old one today and installed the fresh one. The bad one has a significant bend to it. Even better there's 8 evenly spaced gall marks on the stub, like someone saaaayyy put a socket on the end of it and tried to bend or hammer it back. Jackasses. I'm lucky I didn't loose a wheel on the freeway with my family in the car.

Of course while I was in there I found a leaking wheel cylinder. Sigh. Never ends.

Oh and for the record the outer bearing race was pretty galled. Obviously putting fresh bearings and races in.

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[cal327]

I finally had it with the sunroof rattle and pulled the glass to inspect I tinkered around in there for awhile and made a couple changes lubed everything up and reinstalled the glass I guess tomorrow I will find out if the buzz/rattle is gone. yesterday I detailed the car and did some surface repair to the black paint it sure shined up nice! Then I ended my day playing contortionist under the golf dash to replace the defective clutch cable. Makes me appreciate my hydraulic clutch so much more!

 

[vanbcguy]

Dealt with part 2 of my earlier efforts - replaced the leaking wheel cylinder I found. Decoded to replace all the stub axle bolts while I was in there - a few of them looked a little iffy while I was replacing the stub axle yesterday and I know they've been in and out several times over the past year already. Figured I'd rather not take chances!

Driving the car afterwards was a treat. No more bearing howl, there was a vibration I was hearing from that corner inside the car which is now gone and I had a bit of a steering wheel shake prior to this which is also gone. I guess that means the car was fighting itself while driving, maybe I'll see a little fuel economy boost from this. There's definitely more wear on the affected tire so I've been spending fuel grinding up my rubber.

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[ketchupshirt88]

i did pads and rotors on the front of my 1996 passat, it got rid of my inability to stop and the grinding noise but it didnt get rid of the shudder after using the brakes.

for instance: if i come to a stop at a light, it will shudder when i first start to pull away. Im thinking the caliper is sticking, as it is noticeably variable with how hard i apply the brakes at each stop. after a hard stop, lots of shuddering. a slow easy deceleration to stop, light shuddering.

i worked the piston back and forth a few times will it was apart. piston moves fairly easily in and and the caliper slides move very freely.

anything i can try before replacing caliper? if i have to replace caliper, is there an upgrade that will still fit under stock 14 inch rims?