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

Chungus

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2022
Location
Vancouver
TDI
B4 Wagon
Been having issues with my blower motor not putting out as much as as it used to. At 340k miles I figured it was getting about time to replace, as I'd already put relays on the circuit a long time ago to keep the switch from getting hot. Old motor was pulling 10.68 amps on high. I took one out of a parts car with a lot fewer miles, and that one is pulling 9.71 amps on high. At first it seemed like a good improvement, but now I think this one is weak too. I can't help but feel like maybe there's something inhibiting airflow, but I already fixed the blend doors and there's not any more foam in there. Doesn't matter whether it's on hot/cold, fresh air/recirc, or vent/defrost. I might have to take a chance on the $50 chinese replacement to see if it's any better.

As part of my troubleshooting, I wanted to see if the airflow would change any with fresh air vs recirculating it. Many years ago I rigged up the fresh air flap with a pull cable because the rubber diaphram was bad. I guess it had been in one position long enough that the cable froze up, so I tried pushing down the flap from under the hood. The flap went down, but I think it broke off one of the mounting tabs. I took photos of a spare hvac box I had to examine the linkage a bit better.

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Unfortunately I don't think there will be any fixing the actuation of the fresh air flap until I need to change the heater core (hopefully never!), so for now I have a hard drive magnet holding the door closed. I rarely ever opened it anyway.

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I had the same issue when I bought my car years ago. The convenience fuse kept blowing and the switch got so hot the plug melted. I swapped in a chinese rockauto fan and its been fine for almost 50k
 

thechoochlyman

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2015
Location
Campbellsville, Kentucky
TDI
1997 B4 Sedan
Swapped out my front console for one without a lot of extra holes in it. lol I've tried a lot of various things over the years and wanted one that looked "whole" again.

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As part of this I wanted to redo all the wiring behind it, especially with how I had my switch plate wired up. I also repainted my plate and put in two matching blue switches.

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Put a super bright LED in the E-brake light holder just for the heck of it

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And moved that pesky relay from behind the console to on the side of the fuse box, where it should have been all along IMO.

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Starion_slider

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Location
CT.
TDI
1996 B4 sedan
Reluctantly put a “new” viaco window regulator in drivers door. Surprisingly it worked perfect first shot. My last oem one has had the last few teeth welded back a few times and I decided i’ll just try the new one on the shelf. Also cleaned and lubed up the drivers door jam switch and screw so the alarm stops re-arming after i open the door without quickly starting the car. Still trucking along as the daily 100+ miles a day. I think it’s sitting around 440k now.
 

gboss

Active member
Joined
May 24, 2010
Location
NJ
TDI
(2)1997 Passat, 2014 Golf
Did a rattle can job on the steelies, came out halfway decently. Gonna wait a few days for the paint to fully cure before I put the wheels on.
Self etching primer-> duplicolor wheel paint ->duplicolor wheel clear.

Put a 20w solar battery maintainer on it to keep the battery topped up between uses. Don't drive the B4 as much as I used to, so I am hoping this is a good solution. Solar (w/charge controller)-> SAE -> Anderson SB50->battery


 

gfletch71

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2024
Location
Winchendon, Ma
TDI
96 passat glx ahu swap
Reluctantly put a “new” viaco window regulator in drivers door. Surprisingly it worked perfect first shot. My last oem one has had the last few teeth welded back a few times and I decided i’ll just try the new one on the shelf. Also cleaned and lubed up the drivers door jam switch and screw so the alarm stops re-arming after i open the door without quickly starting the car. Still trucking along as the daily 100+ miles a day. I think it’s sitting around 440k now.
I love reading stuff like the end of your message, about to take my 96 b4 glx that was tdi swapped down to Va to visit my buddy’s! But first had to do the front and back wheel bearing breaks on all four sides both front coil over mounts because they where squished badly. Did my oil change like 300 miles ago, today I’m doing the lower ball joints and separate belt tension as it’s wobbling and squeaking a whole ton!
 

gfletch71

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2024
Location
Winchendon, Ma
TDI
96 passat glx ahu swap
I love reading stuff like the end of your message, about to take my 96 b4 glx that was tdi swapped down to Va to visit my buddy’s! But first had to do the front and back wheel bearing breaks on all four sides both front coil over mounts because they where squished badly. Did my oil change like 300 miles ago, today I’m doing the lower ball joints and separate belt tension as it’s wobbling and squeaking a whole ton!
Was up till 1:45am wrenching on the car cuz I leave Saturday. Ended up swapping the front lower ball joints and passenger side tie rod that broke doing wheel bearing and hubs. Swapped the new pads for a set from orielys because the R1m pads from amazing showed signed of being dropped before delivery and one side blew a part after touching the side. I’ll take a photo later today. Did the serpentine belt tensioner and pulley as those where wobbling and thought to be my squeaking, also greased it but it seems like my harmonic balancer is squeaking when cold and not when driving or on any throttle so I’ll replace after my trip down and back. Only got the little vacuum line in the ecu and my squished front motor mount to replace and it should be 100% caught up on maintence items. Still gotta look into the grinding breaks sounds like my dust shield is rubbing badly.
 

gfletch71

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2024
Location
Winchendon, Ma
TDI
96 passat glx ahu swap
Was up till 1:45am wrenching on the car cuz I leave Saturday. Ended up swapping the front lower ball joints and passenger side tie rod that broke doing wheel bearing and hubs. Swapped the new pads for a set from orielys because the R1m pads from amazing showed signed of being dropped before delivery and one side blew a part after touching the side. I’ll take a photo later today. Did the serpentine belt tensioner and pulley as those where wobbling and thought to be my squeaking, also greased it but it seems like my harmonic balancer is squeaking when cold and not when driving or on any throttle so I’ll replace after my trip down and back. Only got the little vacuum line in the ecu and my squished front motor mount to replace and it should be 100% caught up on maintence items. Still gotta look into the grinding breaks sounds like my dust shield is rubbing badly.
Day late but I drove down to Va, no issues besides my limp mode which genuinely has me stumped for a few reasons, maf and map are still reading low vs specified. Mafs usually 100 or so low and only gets to 700+ usally sits around 400-550 tillfull throttle around 3500rpm or so(glx auto cluster ftw) and map only gets to 14000 at the same rpm and throttle and usually stays around 12 until then. Ive smoke test the intake twice checked all my vacuum lines even after I replaced them a month ago. Started to adjust the way but my laptop keeps crashing on me so yay. It was at 4.6-4.8 fully warmed up on idle and never got to more then 34 on full throttle. But I did have to replace the snapped serptine belt and torn power steering belt, fun on the side on 81 espically when I had no idea the power steering pump was held on by 4 bolts and needed to be moved over serval inches, anyone know why the pump was at the end of the adjuster in the old belt and the new one half way? anyways I gotta make a form for Leslie the green gaint. So I stop spamming this thread
 

thechoochlyman

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
May 7, 2015
Location
Campbellsville, Kentucky
TDI
1997 B4 Sedan
Got in my new shift boot from RedLine Goods. Really great quality and product, really can't recommend them enough! It was a long wait for shipping from Poland, but first-timers can get a decent coupon. This one was about $55 shipped, with the upgraded Nappa leather and white stitching. My previous one came from a seller in the UK and lasted about 4 years, but it was much thinner leather and I had worn through it in a couple of spots.

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gboss

Active member
Joined
May 24, 2010
Location
NJ
TDI
(2)1997 Passat, 2014 Golf
I had the "the wing mirrors are shaking like crazy and it's not from the stereo or the engine" so I figured I was on borrowed time with the glue on those mirrors. Got an aspherical, heated driver's side wing mirror and convex, heated passenger side wing mirror. Aftermarket, ebay from Latvia. Seems to be OK quality. ~$20/ea delivered
 

JordanTr

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2022
Location
Kimberley, BC
TDI
1996 B4V x3, 2006 Dmax, 2005 Allroad, 2005 BHW
I learned a painful lesson this week on just how useless these cars are when they lose prime. Discovered a no start condition when we returned to the car at the park and jet after being away for 8 days (and after 13 hours of planes, trains, and busses). The bottom of the IP was wet and there was a puddle on the ground. Since we were 250 miles from home still, I hailed an Uber and got a few useful tools (vac bleeder etc) but the leak was bad enough that I couldn’t pull enough vacuum to get fuel into it. Took a rental car home, had a short sleep, got a dolly for the truck, dollied the rental back since 1 way rental was not an option, picked up the car, and returned home after another 12hr travel day.

The worst part of all of this was that I squashed the little voice in my head that said maybe it wasn’t a good idea to take the car with the IP in this state. It never stumbled or had a hard start previously so I thought I still had some time before doing the seals since it was just a tiny bit wet on the bottom. Guess not!
I know what I’m getting up to later this week…
 

alanack

Veteran Member
Joined
May 10, 2022
Location
Rhode Island
TDI
1998 Jetta

Got the new turbo in the B4 GLX....
No more overboosting, builds a healthy 14-17psi.
Oil consumption is way down... went from a quart every 600 miles to a less than a quart every 1,000. Still need to work on that. Definitely a bit high, but for 320,000 ehhh.
Going to change the oil a few times and see where that goes.

Car is still bucky and runs crappy at low rpm in parking lots... I think its from the grabby clutch and the tune.... clutch grabs hard but slips at higher rpm with your foot in it.... i guess the south bend clutch is weak..

Going to do a new exhaust with weight reduction, definitely needs rear brakes and need to get some better 5 lug wheels for it. I would like to stay with 15s or 16s. Gotta figure out why the ac wont kick on, ( if you Jump the compressor it works) and the heated seats dont work either.

Body's really nice on this car, Black GlX leather is mint, and the 5 lug vr suspension and brakes is a good plus.
 

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
I had the "the wing mirrors are shaking like crazy and it's not from the stereo or the engine" so I figured I was on borrowed time with the glue on those mirrors. Got an aspherical, heated driver's side wing mirror and convex, heated passenger side wing mirror. Aftermarket, ebay from Latvia. Seems to be OK quality. ~$20/ea delivered
I need me some of those!!!

Steve
 
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