Things I learned this weekend

[The Turtle]

I learned a bunch of stuff on the way to learning other things.

First, I learned that Car_54 is indeed a wizard, even if my 1996 B4V's leaky IP put him through hell. The car is now clean and tight, and thanks to a side-excursion into repairing the case pressure relief valve with extreme prejudice, it pulls clean and fast all the way through the power curve and feels much happier. And my girlfriend no longer complains about smelling like diesel.

Second, I learned again that as a TDI owner, I am a complete failure in that I do not have a spotless white repair lab staffed by guys in white coats who are prepared to pull the entire engine and driveline to address the most minor of maintenance or repair items.

Some of you might have read this thread from a couple of years ago when I had to replace the AC drive pulley on my other B4V:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=275570

Well, this time, I have a few more choice words about Volkswagen and its approach to ease-of-repair.

So, THANKS, VW! I really appreciate that to remove the alternator, I need to remove the serpentine belt tensioner pulley, and that removing the tensioner pulley is a lot easier when the alternator has already been removed!

I also appreciate it how on some cars, including mine, the upper alternator bolt can't be fully removed without also taking out THE FRICKIN' AIR FILTER BOX.

I also appreciate how you designed this car to be maintained by humans whose fingers are as thin as feeler gauges but with the grip strength of the Incredible Hulk.

I doubly appreciate those weird steel insets in the flanges on the alternator mounts that ensure that when you remove the alternator, you can't replace it because the insets provide about -0.2mm the clearance you need to re-mount the alternator. Fortunately, I have a huge frickin' bench vise and I pressed those suckers back out about two millimeters, otherwise I'd have laid into that thing with my ever-present 16lb sledge. Nobody was videotaping it, so I couldn't even have made money off YouTube ads with the mayhem.

And last, thanks for putting the right frame rail so close to all this that the back of my hand was required to do a good job cleaning off all the crud from said frame rail. I was really gonna wash that some day (and I mean it) but now all that crap is on the back of both of my hands.

Just wanted to say how much I appreciated that.

Turtle
PS: the car is now charging very well, and the wabbits and I will be headed to Wichita Thursday for national convention.

 

[Abacus]

Too funny.

The alternator bolt can be removed without removing the serpentine belt pulley, I have done it many times. You just need to keep it up and out of the way for the bolt to clear. Lube the alternator 'sliders' with some anti-seize and you'll never fight with them again.

I also replaced the serpentine belt pulley last night when I did the timing belt, it's a pain, but can be done with some patience...like most things on the B4. Incidentally, I had to add a washer acting as a shim to the pulley side so it would clear the arm....so much for aftermarket parts from reputable vendors.

Those are the easy parts, however. Do a heater core sometime (I swear they started with the heater core and built the car around it), or replace the swaybar main bushings under the K-frame, or replace the tranny mount with the rear bolt that is too long to come out. Makes me hope the engineer who designed them was FIRED for stupidity. They could have been so much easier to replace/repair if they were designed just a little better. And don't get me going about the cheap pot-metal door handles, the window regulators with the hardness of warm butter, and the rear axle beam bushings that just scream "fail".

Despite the shortcomings, once the procedure is known, they're somewhat easy to work on, but they could have been so much better and last longer without a whole lot of effort.

 

[TonyJetta]

Turtle,
That is too funny. Poignant and accurate, but too funny!

With all that frustration in mind, and, yes, I have experienced nearly all that and more. I still feel this era VW is the easiest to maintain and generally work on. No, my fingers are not "as thin as feeler gauges but with the grip strength of the Incredible Hulk".

Sharing frustration...

Tony

 

[oilhammer]

I must have worked on a very different B4 TDI, never really thought of the alternator as being too terribly tough to R&R on them.

Of course, it is all relative.... getting an alternator out of a 3.4L DOHC V6 GM W-body would make ANYTHING under the hood of your B4 Passat look easy, LOL.

 

[bigred177]

I must have worked on a very different B4 TDI, never really thought of the alternator as being too terribly tough to R&R on them.

Of course, it is all relative.... getting an alternator out of a 3.4L DOHC V6 GM W-body would make ANYTHING under the hood of your B4 Passat look easy, LOL.

I love when step one involves pulling the engine.

 

[butteAK]

I have you topped, I once went to replace the alternator on my girlfriends integra and found out from the dealer you need to remove the right cv axle in order to pull it out.

 

[robzuk]

car54's day got even worse after you left. All of the fuel return lines on my car cracked, luckily we had the b0rked Jetta there to scavenge off of. Then my car didn't want to prime. Today it lost prime again so I took off the fuel filtre and it was LOOSE!! I did learn how to reseal a pump on the car though. And my clutch is slipping, wonder if that's car54's fault?

 

[The Turtle]

car54's day got even worse after you left. All of the fuel return lines on my car cracked, luckily we had the b0rked Jetta there to scavenge off of. Then my car didn't want to prime. Today it lost prime again so I took off the fuel filtre and it was LOOSE!! I did learn how to reseal a pump on the car though. And my clutch is slipping, wonder if that's car54's fault?

Wait, that was YOU??

I felt bad that I chewed up most of the daylight. In my garage, it can actually be warmer working after dark because I light up the halogens. Sometimes I can heat up a 7-Eleven burrito in front of them, so we can eat good, too.

I always worry about the hard fuel lines, they always look like they wanna shatter like glass.