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

[kooyajerms]

Re-keyed my trunk lock with tumblers from some junkyard locks, now I can lock/unlock it with the key, just like it's supposed to work. It actually wasn't that hard.

Also repaired the broken trunk lock actuator rod with a 10ga electrical butt-connector. I'll get another from the junkyard this weekend.

Abacus, are you talking about the the metal bit with the ball end? or the rod itself that goes from keyhole to locking mechanism? I've been having trouble with the metal bit as it's not getting pressed in correctly to manually open the hatch.
Hope that makes sense.

 

[Abacus]

Abacus, are you talking about the the metal bit with the ball end? or the rod itself that goes from keyhole to locking mechanism? I've been having trouble with the metal bit as it's not getting pressed in correctly to manually open the hatch.
Hope that makes sense.

Sorry for the confusion. The rod itself snapped in half, just fatigued until it broke on a bend. Do you need the metal bit with the ball end? I'll be going back there this weekend and grabbing the whole mechanism if you need something.

 

[h2oskibum]

Today I pulled the grill and headlights out to straighten out the right side of the "lock carrier" as Bentley calls it, it is the sheet metal part that the headlights and grill mount up to. The right side was bent a little and that head light was pointing up too high...I hate that!!! All better now and I polished the lenses while I am waiting for the ecodes to get here, at least I will be able to see a bit better till then. Reinstalled the belly pan that was off ever since I repaired the head this summer, seems a little quieter on the road now. Gave it a wash and will take it on a 900 mile road trip in the morning.

 

[Windex]

Installed my MFA finally.

Old and busted:

New hotness:

Thanks to DeWhite for converting the cluster. Great job.

Note, if you are from Canada or any other metric country, converting a US MFA cluster will get you all readings in L/100 and Degrees C, but the MFA display will indicate Miles and F. So now my B4 is good for 5.0 MPG.

Oil temp sensor should be showing up at the local VW dealer tomorrow.

 

[BolaB4V]

Dropped off a nice condition B4 hood and one pint of Crossfire base coat, Black Magic Metalic, to the paint shop. When I came back out a Dodge Neon was upside down in the ditch in front of shop, two dudes shaken up a bit, told me they were ok, so I left, met the Sheriff going to the seen. Bags deployed-front hood/roof crushed. First snow and the roads were not sanded.

 

[Redlabel6]

Replaced the wiring harness for the front clip, previous owner had butchered it. I found one with the fog light plugs, I have the switch, all I need are the lights!
Replaced the defective high tone horn while I had the clip off.
Next up, find out which wheel bearing is starting to roar....

 

[bikeprof]

Dropped off a nice condition B4 hood and one pint of Crossfire base coat, Black Magic Metalic, to the paint shop. When I came back out a Dodge Neon was upside down in the ditch in front of shop, two dudes shaken up a bit, told me they were ok, so I left, met the Sheriff going to the seen. Bags deployed-front hood/roof crushed. First snow and the roads were not sanded.

Sounds like Colorado winter...

 

[h2oskibum]

Replaced the cabin air filter and washed it after thawing out the garden hose

 

[TonyJetta]

Started up the Passat in ~25F weather. Nice cloud of gray for ~10 seconds! Then it smoothed out and ran fine! Also the longest pre-glow I have ever seen.

Keep in mind that AZ doesn't get as cold as the northern states!

Tony

 

[Windex]

Ventectomy. (finally!)

There must have been 5 lbs of dirt crammed on top of the filler neck.

 

[Redlabel6]

Replaced both rear wheel bearings, right side looked OK, left side had "issues". No more roar at highway speed!

 

[john.jackson9213]

Monday I found a B3V - pulled the vac. pump for the locks and the motor for the sun roof. All the nylon gears look good. Will replace my sunroof motor and vac. pump later.

Last week I picked up a nice set of tan GLX leather heated seats from a B4V. Also got a full set of GLX door cards at the same time.

Tonight I finally got the rear seat backs out. Spent hours trying to figure it out, then the second seat back only took 3 minutes to remove. Will be cleaning all the leather before I install the new seats. Also will be cleaning the bucket seat tracks and the nylon glides.

Any suggestions what to use to clean and condition the leather seats?

 

[kooyajerms]

tan leather, u bugger!!
Nice find John

 

[97B4TDi]

Any suggestions what to use to clean and condition the leather seats?

I've heard good results from Hyde Leather Cleaner & Conditioner

 

[dieseljunkie]

You didn't have DeWhite advance the odometer of the new cluster to match the old?

Installed my MFA finally.

Old and busted:

New hotness:

Thanks to DeWhite for converting the cluster. Great job.

Note, if you are from Canada or any other metric country, converting a US MFA cluster will get you all readings in L/100 and Degrees C, but the MFA display will indicate Miles and F. So now my B4 is good for 5.0 MPG.

Oil temp sensor should be showing up at the local VW dealer tomorrow.

 

[Windex]

You didn't have DeWhite advance the odometer of the new cluster to match the old?

Good eye.

No, I'm not rolling her back, the cluster with 400k on it is a spare I picked up cheap out of quebec. it allowed me to take my time and still drive the car while the cluster was being worked over by Derek.

My "old" old cluster actually had 275k on it and I asked Derek to put 285k on it so that I could get the other stuff needed for the MFA (connectors, terminals and oil/air temps sensors: (pic with pegged fuel gauge for reference a few months back)

I got it finished sooner than I thought, so now my car has 2k more than it's supposed to.

It's Ok, High mileage on these cars is a badge of honour.

In keeping with the thread, I finally got the outside air temperature sensor hooked up yesterday, and found and fixed my sticking N75 - causing a limp mode issue.

 

[dieseljunkie]

Installed one of 2 rear doors I got from Abacus on my B4V. A T45 torx was needed to get the door hinge bolts off but the 3/8 drive T45 bit I have won't fit in the tight spot . I couldn't find a 1/4" drive T45 and there'so gurantee it will fit either without having one on hand. Finally found a set of L shaped Torx set for $9.99 from Autozone. With added leverage from a foot long box end wrench, got the torx bolts off and door swapped over. A floor jack with a plank of wood supporting the door while leaning against the bumper of another car made R&R of the doors a snap.

My old (rusty) door didn't lock. The push/pull knob moves up and down when car is unlocked/locked but the door is always unlocked. The new door was missing the door handle and after swapping the door handle from the old door onto the new door, same thing! Pulled door handle and noticed the spring loaded pivot came undone from the upper pivot arm and was cocked. I set the pivot back in, hammered the pivot arm down with a 1/4" dia. punch so it won't pop off again, lubed all moving parts with lithium grease, re-installed problem fixed door handle action nice and smooth!

 

[dieseljunkie]

Windex, can you post a pic of the harness/ connectors you made for the MFA? That and the oil temp sender are the only items I'm missing to add MFA.

 

[Abacus]

Tapped the EGR weep hole and will hook up a catch can. Replaced glow plug harness and soldered connections. Took out all glow plugs, tested, cleaned, then re-installed with new anti-seize. Replaced trunk locking solenoid and new latch arm, works like new. Replaced passengers rear backup/fog light assembly so it no longer has to be held in with zip ties.

 

[TonyJetta]

Pulled the passenger door handle...found that the roll pin damaged the hole enough to require a replacement! Now I gotta wait until after the holidays. Fortunately, I don't cart a lot of passengers around.

Tony

 

[Abacus]

Just drill it larger and soldier on with a larger pin.

 

[TonyJetta]

Just drill it larger and soldier on with a larger pin.

Already did that... Now I have some bent metal in the handle.

Tony

 

[Abacus]

Autohaus has them for $28 last time I checked. I'm assuming a front handle? I may have a spare somewhere around here...

 

[TonyJetta]

Autohaus has them for $28 last time I checked. I'm assuming a front handle? I may have a spare somewhere around here...

Thanks for the tip.

Has anyone used this manufacturer before? That price seems too good to be true.

Tony

 

[Abacus]

That was the one I was referring to. Yes, the prices are good and my brother bought his handles from them, they seem to work OK and he hasn't had any problems since he put them in last year. I get all mine from the junkyard.

But, some people seemed to have a problem with them. I'd do some research on Jopex.

 

[BolaB4V]

Ive had a Jopex handle on the passenger front for about a year...so far so good!Those are a good price.

 

[dieseljunkie]

Autohaus has them for $28 last time I checked. I'm assuming a front handle? I may have a spare somewhere around here...

Does it come with a gasket? Will it accept the OEM tumbler?

 

[Abacus]

I do not remember if it comes with the gasket, but it will accept the tumbler.

 

[Digital Corpus]

Since the frame for that the headlights bolt onto has somehow gotten some wear and tear where the bolts screw in, I bought some larger ones so my headlights can be bolted on by all 4 instead of 2 or 3 each

 

[TonyJetta]

Replaced the e-brake handle. The old one had teeth rolled over in the middle. Now I can park the car on hills with confidence that my son won't trip the lever accidentally and let the car roll!

Next weekend: oil change in both VW's!

And, possibly star the "Tug Project"...

Tony