What did you do to your car today?

Shawnz

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Location
Peoria, AZ (Phoenix)
TDI
'02 Jetta GLS TDI, ex-O1M
Re-sealed my injectors again since the exhaust leak noise under load is back.

It didn't help. I see evidence of soot behind the motor so I'm looking at replacing the exhaust gasket(s) next.

I suspect my stock cat might be on it's last leg with the PP764s and 17/22.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Fixed an oil leak on my son's '98 Jetta. We thought it was the oil cooler gaskets, but apparently the oil pressure sensor had sprung a leak. First I'd heard of that. Quick fix. Maybe that's not all, but we'll see.
 

Killabee228

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Location
Shelby, IA
TDI
2013 Sportwagen manual
Towed back my moms 06 MKV FSI jetta. The clutch is on the floor and smells of dead clutch. Can't wait to tear into it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2002 Golf 6MT; 2015 Sportwagen 6MT; 2016 A3 e-tron 6DSG
Took the lower control arms out to swap out the bushings for Audi TT solid rubber ones.
I struggled using the bench vise last time I did this (different car), so this time, I looked around the garage, came up with a couple of bike tools, an old bike cassette carrier, a long bolt; put an impact wrench on it and in less than 10 minutes had both of them replaced. :D
 

MikeS_18

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Location
Bow, NH
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon, '13 Passat SE, '64 Ford Econoline
Just got two boxes of parts from IDParts. Woohoo!
Passat: oil, filter, fuel filter, cabin filter, air filter, oil filter cap wrench, wipers
Jetta: oil, filter, fuel filter, cabin filter, air filter
1 gallon optilube, 2 optilube container boxes.

I like it when the cars' service intervals line up. :)
 

Sootman

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Location
Maine Coast
TDI
2011 Golf TDI
Finally took my Conti DWS's off and put on my Conti Extremes. Wondering if those will be enough for winter or go for 4 snows. The DWS's were embarrassingly worn. I think I got 50K out of a set of 40K tires. No wonder they were noisy. Sure are nice on corners though.
 

TDikook

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 15, 2003
Location
Biloxi, Ms
TDI
'06 Golf Anthracite Blue
did a diesel purge to the Golf, have over 150K on the PD150 injectors. haven't really driven it yet to see if it helped any, but I am sure it did.
 

skully

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Location
Peninsula, Bay Area, CA
TDI
2004 Jetta TDI, 2013 GLI Autobahn w/nav, 2014 BMW 328d wagon
Finally got it back from the dealer today!

Almost 3 weeks ago my dash lit up like a christmas tree. The dealer said a module was bad and the replacement would have to come from Germany. Today they finally got the new one installed and it turns out the squirrels had chewed on something, too.

However, I have it back now and that means I can finally install this bad boy:



I couldn't decide between brushed metal and black:



In the end I decided that brushed metal was better on the car.
 
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mech644

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Location
Blue Hill, Maine
TDI
'00 Golf, '16 Touareg
Finally took my Conti DWS's off and put on my Conti Extremes. Wondering if those will be enough for winter or go for 4 snows. The DWS's were embarrassingly worn. I think I got 50K out of a set of 40K tires. No wonder they were noisy. Sure are nice on corners though.
Do you mean Extreme Winter Contact? If so those tires are the bomb for winter, I run them on both the golf and jetta, never had a day I could not get to or home from work regardless of the weather. They hold their traction capability much longer then the Blizzaks do, little wiggly at 85 mph on I95 but you can't have everything.
 

That Guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Location
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
TDI
2001 MKiv Golf TDI
Any Winter tire is better than none :), but Nokian's are supposed to be the best and my experience with them seems to back that up.

Have had Hakkapeliitta R's on the GTI for a while now, and they work great.
So I replaced my aging Michelin Arctic Alpine's with a set of Hakkapeliitta 7 studded tires last year on the TDI.

My biggest worry now is that I can stop faster than the people behind me.;)

Have to replace my summer tires too, and was thinking to try their eNtyre tires.
 

donDavide

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Location
Severna Park, Maryland USA
TDI
2003 Jetta ;2006 Golf; 2015 Jetta S
Any Winter tire is better than none :), but Nokian's are supposed to be the best and my experience with them seems to back that up.

Have had Hakkapeliitta R's on the GTI for a while now, and they work great.
So I replaced my aging Michelin Arctic Alpine's with a set of Hakkapeliitta 7 studded tires last year on the TDI.

My biggest worry now is that I can stop faster than the people behind me.;)

Have to replace my summer tires too, and was thinking to try their eNtyre tires.
And the General Altimax Artic's tread pattern looks the same as Nokian's. And I can attest to them being excellent. I have used them since 2007. Much less expensive thatn Nokians to.
 

mech644

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Location
Blue Hill, Maine
TDI
'00 Golf, '16 Touareg
The Nokians are spendy. Most all the winter tires are great the first winter, its the 2nd and 3rd were the differences really become manifest.
From personal experience the Blizzaks and IceX were great 1st winter (8 to 9k miles), second ok (another 8 to9k miles), 3rd no better then a common snow tire (8 to 9k miles).
For me the Extreme winter contacts have been almost as good at the end as they were at the beginning. Run them for three winters and after the 3rd leave them on until june to get all the legal life from them.
 

Sootman

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2003
Location
Maine Coast
TDI
2011 Golf TDI
Do you mean Extreme Winter Contact? If so those tires are the bomb for winter, I run them on both the golf and jetta, never had a day I could not get to or home from work regardless of the weather. They hold their traction capability much longer then the Blizzaks do, little wiggly at 85 mph on I95 but you can't have everything.
Turns out they're Conti Pro Contacts. Grand touring all season (good for nothing) tires. Where I have a set of spare wheels I think I'll buy some snows and be done with it. I drive about 30K per year and although mine's a Quattro it will be peace of mind to have real snow tires on. As far as driving 85 mph northern Maine's speed limit on I95 is 75 and everybody drives 85-95 mph cause there's never any traffic.
 

donDavide

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Location
Severna Park, Maryland USA
TDI
2003 Jetta ;2006 Golf; 2015 Jetta S
The generals have been great, 2010-11 season I remeber easily going around SUVs up hill in Rock Creek park, that was 4th season on them, I just moved the to back this past winter.
 

79TA7.6

Veteran Member
Joined
May 8, 2006
Location
Live: Wilbur/Creston; Work: Moses Lake Washington
TDI
2003 TDI Jetta, 2002 TDI Golf, 2005 TDI Golf
The Nokians are spendy. Most all the winter tires are great the first winter, its the 2nd and 3rd were the differences really become manifest.
From personal experience the Blizzaks and IceX were great 1st winter (8 to 9k miles), second ok (another 8 to9k miles), 3rd no better then a common snow tire (8 to 9k miles).
For me the Extreme winter contacts have been almost as good at the end as they were at the beginning. Run them for three winters and after the 3rd leave them on until june to get all the legal life from them.
I have well over 30k miles on my x-ice2. I have been running them four 5 seasons I think. The last 2 years I have averaged 30k miles a year. I bought them after my first full winter with the car. Anyway, they still grip great on snow and ice.
 

dremd

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2007
Location
South Louisiana
TDI
06 sprinter. 03 jetta wagon premium with 6 speed ALH swap, 14 JSW
Closed shop "early" today at 5 (yea, it's Saturday) and got some work in on my 03.
Shimmed rear axle to have toe in vs toe out. I now have the special wrench for the purpose which is well worth it. Swapped out original rears for Akebono pads and Bosch rotors despite the fact that there was about 1/4 remaining just because they were off.
Also re-balanced rear wheels, I was in a massive rush when I did them last time and one was an ounce off, the other was 3/4 ounce off.
The car behaves a little different on straight roads, but I can't say how. My 71-80 mph vibration is gone now as well, I'm pretty excited about that, but now I can hear a wind noise coming from my passengers door that I'll need to investigate otherwise ill have an OCD attack.

For those considering to special alignment wrench, I got all of this done (shimmed both sides of rear beam, changed brakes and re-balanced 2 wheels) in 1 1/2 hours. I have done the same with an assortment of wrenches, but it t was closer to 2 hours for 1 side.
 

WindsorFox

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2012
Location
Louisiana
TDI
2012 Jetta
I disconnected the power wire for my after market fog lights and reconnected the positive battery cable where it bolts to the fuse block. Somehow it suddenly stopped making contact and the car died last night. Had to be towed home. Now I know what was making random glitches and causing the low battery tri-light to come on
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Sheridan Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle, 2003 jetta wagon, 2002 jetta wagon BEW swapped, 2001 Audi TT
Closed shop "early" today at 5 (yea, it's Saturday) and got some work in on my 03.
Shimmed rear axle to have toe in vs toe out. I now have the special wrench for the purpose which is well worth it. Swapped out original rears for Akebono pads and Bosch rotors despite the fact that there was about 1/4 remaining just because they were off.
Also re-balanced rear wheels, I was in a massive rush when I did them last time and one was an ounce off, the other was 3/4 ounce off.
The car behaves a little different on straight roads, but I can't say how. My 71-80 mph vibration is gone now as well, I'm pretty excited about that, but now I can hear a wind noise coming from my passengers door that I'll need to investigate otherwise ill have an OCD attack.
For those considering to special alignment wrench, I got all of this done (shimmed both sides of rear beam, changed brakes and re-balanced 2 wheels) in 1 1/2 hours. I have done the same with an assortment of wrenches, but it t was closer to 2 hours for 1 side.
Link or part number for wrench?
 

blarg

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Location
Auburn, MA
TDI
Jetta TDI, 2009, Blue, 160k
Brought my wife's MKV 2.5 gasser for its 160k and to have rear wheel bearings replaced. It's been running rough and leaking oil for a bit. Bottom line, needs a lot of work, and it just doesn't make financial sense to put 5k into a car that's only worth 3. So we bought an '09 Jetta TDI with only 57k miles. What a find! VW CPO too. Let the good times roll once again!
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
M-B got an oil change (7 quarts Rotella 15w40 :eek:) and tire rotation. Fuel filters (two) change and alignment coming soon.

I've only driven this car about 20K since purchase 3 years ago, but after replacing shocks, tires, rear brakes, filters and fluids when I purchased I've done nothing to it but oil changes. Pretty impressive for a 21 year-old Mercedes.
 

WindsorFox

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2012
Location
Louisiana
TDI
2012 Jetta
M-B got an oil change (7 quarts Rotella 15w40 :eek:) and tire rotation. Fuel filters (two) change and alignment coming soon.

I've only driven this car about 20K since purchase 3 years ago, but after replacing shocks, tires, rear brakes, filters and fluids when I purchased I've done nothing to it but oil changes. Pretty impressive for a 21 year-old Mercedes.
Is that one old enough to pour peanut oil in and go? What addative do you use?
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I probably could, but I don't even run bio in it. Seems that if you want to run high percentages of bio in these it's best to have the IP resealed first. Might do that in the Spring, as I'd really like to run it on B100.

As far as additives go, I tend to use what got damaged in shipment. Stanadyne mostly, but PowerService, too. I use Opti-Lube in my fuel tank at the house and in the newer cars.
 

Smalls

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Location
Chambersburg, Pa
TDI
Mk4 Jetta TDI
Conquered a full manifold cleaning, intercooler and pipes. Did the EGR cleaning aswell. Threw a gasket on the vacuum pump. A new brake booster to vacuum pump hose (I have brakes now!). Also, installed a new CS upper strut bearing.

That was Friday. Today's tasks include:

Oil change in the MK4 and a fuel filter in the Mrs.'s MK5.
 

SD26

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Location
WI
TDI
1998 Jetta TDI 5sp, 2002 Jetta TDI 5sp
Radio stopped working in the Mk4 the other day. Chased through some threads here. Most of the talk was about the #42 fuse...remove it for a bit, then put it back in, and..magic! There was one short discussion of a voltage issue.

So, pulled the fuse, cleaned it off. Pulled the Scanguage II out of the van, and I put it back on the Mk4. Well, I was under 12v statically. Decided that since I didn't know how old the battery was in this new-to-me-since-February car (340k), I should replace it now while it's reasonable outside. Easy swap, did some cleaning the battery box, put the fuse in...radio works.
 

dmoonen

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2014
Location
Blue Mountain, Dominican, Bahamas
TDI
04 Jetta 1.9L TDI, 00 Jetta Alh and several others.
I guess this is my second ever post on the forum :rolleyes: My newest addition to the family arrived yesterday a 2000 Jetta GLS TDI which will become my winter mule. Had a bunch or work already done to it which includes a full paint job, turbo back 3" exhaust, Turbo, SMG clutch, breaks and timing belt. Records all line up too and all work done within the past 7000km which is a relief. Ironically the lady I bought it from it was given to her from her ex prior to the breakup and I picked the sucker up for only $800 cash and 242k on the od as she wanted the cash and not the car which works out out for me ;) Only thing it needs for safety is a windshield and new tires which I have new winters anyways.
So today started working on it so put it on the hoist and went over it as I do any new car:
  • Did a scan with VCDS and only the passenger mirror heating element seems to be bad (not the end of the world). Changed a few things with VCDS: extended the glow plug time and also turned down the egr. Not going to bother deleting this one for a bunch of reasons
  • Checked for any leaks and strangely none.
  • Drained and flushed all the fluids, went through everything with a magnet and a strainer all checked out fine. G12 (oem coolant), Rotella T Synthetic 5W-40 (oil), lucas Dot 4 (breaks), Royal purple syncomax (transmission)
  • Changed the fuel filter
  • Tested the battery all good
  • Removed the 17" summer rims that came with the car and installed my 17" BBS LM Reps with new ws60 winters.
  • Checked out all the bushings, the control arm bushing are starting to crack as predicted so I'll be installing the TT bushings this week when they arrive.
  • Struts and springs look good, all mounts and bump stops and boots look good also. Pretty sure they were replaced within the past two years just from the condition of them. The top strut caps were also missing so just replaced them with ones I found in the yard.
  • Replaced the coolant glow plug connections with another set grabbed from the wrecking yard. Most of the connections were broken originally so cut solder and heat shrink.
  • Replaced the intake pipe with one from the yard due to wear and tear
  • Removed the egr to check the intake for blockage and it's clean as anything my guess removed and cleaned when they did the turbo and the exhaust so one less thing to worry about.
  • Cleaned the exterior and did a full clay bar and treatment then a polish
  • Carpet cleaned the interior (ugh cloth interior. .)
  • Removed the tinted windows, far too dark for my liking. Going to book an appointment for an install 30% tints all around
So to do list: TT bushings, install the bosio sprint 520's and adjust the iq, get a new windshield installed and get the sucker safetied, visit known for rust proofing then tints. Then the 04 goes into hibernation with the other toys for the winter
 
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