What did you do to your MKIV today?

[Rrusse11]

The recommendation we went with was for the inlet adapter IIRC, we did get the adapter on with difficulty on the bench.
None of us can remember having much difficulty with the outlet to IC hose. Hopefully a new hose will have a bit more flexibility than the original hoses, should be here tomorrow. The one good old hose I've got has been sitting on the mandrel of a exhaust machine over the weekend. My guru seems to think that with a "fresh" flexible hose we'll get it on. Ahhh, the joys of mods.

I did take the time to pull the valve cover to deal with that leak. First time the cover's been off IMO. In the parts bin I came up with another OEM valve cover with a better condition gasket. It also gave me the opportunity to check the cam lobes. At a 191k a couple of the lobes had the beginnings of pitting. Just enough to see and feel with a fingernail. Not urgent, but clearly a new cam and lifters is on the cards within the next 10k. Dwayne had the VW recommended sealant, a light bead on the gasket channel and carefull torquing of the 7 bolts should fix the problem. Time will tell, lol, though if it don't work, I'll get a chance to try again with the upcoming new cam installation.

Thanks for the input, and regards to Chris. Still have an oversize airbox and MAF he supplied to install. What with the last year or so of upheaval, neither the Golf or Jeep have done many miles. And now with Judy's new 4WD Taco to do the towing, the "house" mileage has been spread around 3 vehicles.

 

[Andyinchville1]

I replaced my drivers side LED bulb (the low beam went out but the high beam was OK).

To make the bulb easier to get out I removed the battery.

When I opened up the headlight back cover to access the bulb I noticed the heat sink on the LED bulb as hot ( I had not used the car at all for over 12 hours at that point).

I could not figure out why the heat sink on the LED bulb was hot after inactivity for so long and the car was off / lights off ( I felt the LED box (not sure what it does but it is the electronics for the bulb and is plugged into the regular headlight wire on one side and the LED bulb on the other) and it was cool

How or why was the heat sink hot if the car was off / lights off for a long time ( on the other hand my battery was nearly dead the other day ... was it by coincidence the bulb went out and the heat sink was hot too ? the day after my battery was dead for no real reason I could think of?

Andrew

 

[Rrusse11]

Pleased to report that the new hose finally arrived, appreciably softer than the older used hose I have.
Still took quite a bit of persuasion to get it on.

Carefully chamfered the inside of the hose for an ez start. Used the exhaust pipe expander and some serious heat on the
recalcitrant end. First attempt failed, but at Dwayne's suggestion removed the axle boot heatshield and the inner flange
axle bolts, leaving a bit more wiggle room with the axle moved to the rear. With another round of heat and stretching,
and access to the turbo outlet substantially improved, it slipped on, huzzah!

I bttoned the job backup. Norm, the elderly sidekick, is prone to take as much off as possible for ease of access for the TB
job. Technically the pancake pipe and skid plate mount don't HAVE to come off, I can't argue with the point that it does make
things a bit more accessible.. The pipe was on the verge of a complete split at some stage, likely sooner than later.

At 70k, it was a bit early for a change, yet with the tune and torque, I got no problem with being pre-emptive. The catchcan
setup is doing its job, there was NO oil in the intercooler. Next major job is the cam, and I'll get rountuit to get the bigger
airbox installed. I'll get a set of Wuzetem .216 nozzles, the current .230s are really more than I need. I'll get Franko6 to balance them after NevadaTDI's review of the results he got.

Cheers folks!
R*2

 

[03TDICommuter]

Thought I had an oil leak (puddle on top of the transmission), then figured out it was coolant and only a few days ago found where it was coming from - the coolant temp sensor o-ring was bad. The old o-ring was hard and broke into pieces when I flexed it. Frankly, this is more likely where my coolant was going and not from the head gasket. I did have gases going into the coolant, which it's not doing anymore after the gasket change.

In regards to changing the coolant sensor o-ring, I followed tips in this thread but I do have an additional tip to add: put a screw into the cork so you can pull it out easier. I fought with mine after pushing it in too far. Even when not pushed in too far, very little sticks out and it's hard to grab.

Looking forward to not losing any more coolant, and FINALLY finding where this leak was. And I have to say, I love buying small parts from my dealer. Their online process is so easy and their prices are 20-40% off list (clip and o-ring were 40% off) and I just walk in and they hand me my order up until 6pm. Picked up screws for the lower engine covers too as I was missing a few.

Sensor clip pn 032121142
O-ring pn - N90316802
lower cover screw pn - N90974701

 

[ekincaid]

I bought one of these dent pullers a few weeks ago on a whim.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DDBXX2H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Decided I would give it a try on all the dents and dings I have accumulated. All I can say is WOW! Wasn't necessarily expecting it to work as well as it did.

Now if you want professional results, you better go hire a professional. But with a little patience, this does work really well. It took a couple hours to get a feel for what I was doing. I'm extremely pleased with myself. Can you tell?

 

[csstevej]

Ok so what’s your kick back on this?
Lol only kidding , yeah I’ve seen videos on various dents being pulled and it’s amazing how well that works.
I may need to try this as I have a dent from my last encounter with a deer on my front fender.

 

[csstevej]

Lol I just ordered one…….

 

[ekincaid]

I will say it seems like having the outside temperature around 50-60 works best using the black sticks with wait times of 5-6 minutes. I have a few that would be hard to find unless you were really looking. The big dent on my hood from a tree limb has taken around 40 pulls, but is almost gone. The small dings from acorns are taking 2-3 pulls usually. Have fun!

 

[ekincaid]

How big is the deer dent by the way?

 

[KrashDH]

Got my lift pump swap all installed and finished up today.

It's great to be able to prime the system!!

 

[csstevej]

The deer was a doe, I believe the dent was from its head from the way I hit her. About the size of a grape fruit….. it took the hood, grill and drivers side head light out though…..also a couple of vents…

 

[Judson]

Well, I didn’t do anything, but my mechanic installed a new 120amp alternator, did the serpentine belt and tensioner, and even managed to get ahold of a red-painted factory right rear GLI caliper! Yay! Now all calipers match.

i also have one of those little trash cans for the door pocket off of ebay. Small, overpriced and uses a plastic bag. Basically it’s a spring loaded lid that’s sized to fit with a bag tacked on. Not really worth it but what the hell.

 

[Fix_Until_Broke]

Regarding the below - Did a bunch of stuff to this Beetle this weekend. All Vacuum lines, Turbo Actuator, Brake Booster Line, Both Headlights, Engine Oil Change, Gear Oil Change, Power Steering Rack & Fluid, CV Boot, Dipstick Tube, Engine Cover, Dog Bone Engine Mount, Parking Brake Cables, Glow Plugs, Starter, Repaired Ground Wire, Repaired Headlight Wire and, as is typically the case, found a bunch more work that needs to be done...next weekend . Finish rear brakes that now includes both calipers (and a brake line that broke trying to un-stick the caliper ), Radiator, Thermostat, Coolant Temp Sensor, Install Skid Plate, Find wiring issue on right headlight low beam and continue the general fixing of all the previous owners "fixing"

Special thanks to the team at IDParts for getting everything shipped out and delivered on time! Great products and customer service.

Specifically regarding the timing belt tensioner...It was tensioned in the correct direction, however not tight enough. I rotated the inner part ~45 degrees to get the two marks to line up. Now, no more slack in the timing belt when you turn the engine over by the cam gear. The timing belt system has ~60k miles on it (40k "to go", not "ago"). The nut on the tensioner was crazy tight so I'm reasonably confident that it was set that way 60k miles ago. I decided to not replace the tensioner since it was slightly tensioned in the proper direction and had lasted this long. What's everyone's thought?

Looked at a 2002 Beetle TDI that a family member bought. Needs a bit of love, but nothing that $ and time won't fix .

Timing belt was done ~40k miles ago - mark & pray, injection timing was spot on though... I rolled the motor over via the cam pulley and the timing belt tensioner moved quite a bit, enough to have noticeable slack in the belt between the cam and injection pump. Wondering if the tensioner was tensioned backwards maybe?

I did the same thing on my car and almost zero tensioner movement and no slack between the cam/IP. If you tug/jerk on the tool, you can make the tensioner move just a little if you look for it but if the cam moves, so does the IP.

The Beetle is parked until further notice

Rotating the cam pulley pulls on the slack side of the belt - the tensioner moving isn't a surprise. Should be rotated from the crankshaft side.

If you puled hard enough on the cam to move a tensioner, I would say you have that many cars awaiting service.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Zak99b5]

Specifically regarding the timing belt tensioner...It was tensioned in the correct direction, however not tight enough. I rotated the inner part ~45 degrees to get the two marks to line up. Now, no more slack in the timing belt when you turn the engine over by the cam gear. The timing belt system has ~60k miles on it (40k "to go", not "ago"). The nut on the tensioner was crazy tight so I'm reasonably confident that it was set that way 60k miles ago. I decided to not replace the tensioner since it was slightly tensioned in the proper direction and had lasted this long. What's everyone's thought?

I'm sure running at a lower tensioner setting didn't harm the tensioner itself, so that should be good.

The belt may be a different story, though. If it was too loose, it would vibrate more than it should, which I would guess could weaken it. Also, low tension could possibly affect the teeth on the belt as they engaged with the sprockets since they may not have been in perfect alignment. I'd inspect that belt carefully before reusing, though damage (if any) might be difficult to see.

If it were my car, I'd probably go ahead and replace it all (in fact, I did that on my car when I saw a tab on the middle cover wore a groove in the outer part of the belt). You may consider replacing just the belt and do the whole job in 40k miles as scheduled, which would be about 3 1/2 years away with typical mileage.

 

[Mozambiquer]

I pulled the old head off my golf, found it was warped and had blown the head gasket and was allowing compression into the coolant. For some reason when I rebuilt it, I thought it was an AMC head, but after looking over it well, there was no markings, no part number or anything. Hmm yeah I wonder if it was a Hans head. All I know about it is that when it was my brother's car, he blew a head gasket and when he pulled the head, it was severely cracked and actually partially melted so he got a used head from a local guy. It worked for a while, then the engine went and eventually I got the car and rebuilt the engine. I took a straight edge to the head and it wasn't warped, so I cleaned it up and put it on without inspecting it well enough.
I had issues with it from the get go though, and right away it had pressure in the coolant. Eventually, I got a parts car with a good head, and sold the lower end. I then rebuilt the head and did a port match and polish (probably not as good as Frank's work, but this is my budget build) and now I'm getting ready to put it all back together, hopefully with better luck this time!

 

[PakProtector]

I set up the next liddle task to do to the ALH; adjust its timing. It is in but low/retarded vs nominal ). Just going to the manual injectors was a noticeable boost. This could influence DLC520 vs 1019 nozzle choice...LOL

How many degrees between the upper and lower limit lines? I would like some idea of how far I should move things. As in 'a little bit' or 'an even little-er bit'.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Rrusse11]

Pak,

Think miniscule, <a degree. IIRC you'll need to advance by adjusting the pump clockwise. Loosen the the 3 holding bolts, 12mm?, and use a larger wrench on the central nut. I found a light hammer tap was a more controllable amount of movement than torquing by hand.

My recent TB job, with careful alignment with the crank mark, and now a new unstretched/unworn belt improved the timing
by taking out the tiny amounts of slop in worn teeth and getting the tensioner reset was enough to have the motor running
more smoothly. Haven't bothered even checking the timing with VCDS yet, car runs "better", smoother et al. With my
tune I went for a new belt and all associated components at 69k. It's worth it in my case to be pre-emptive on the change.

Be prepared to have a couple attempts before you get it, it's frustrating to get it right.

 

[Zak99b5]

Be prepared to have a couple attempts before you get it, it's frustrating to get it right.

Yup. A lot of back and forth, and you have to restart VCDS each time. Adjust it less than you think you should, and be happy with the mark anywhere between the middle and upper lines on the graph. 13mm on the sprocket bolts. As noted, clockwise on the center bolt advances timing

 

[PakProtector]

I have laid hands on an electric angle-measure-er. So with it ready to move, I can determine how much I move the 22mm. This will also help me catch a foolishness if for some reason it slips when I back off the 13's holding the pulley tight... It is half-ish between the lower and nominal.

Also, since comm stops when I shut her down, re-starting is no issue. I am for sure not going to try adjusting it when the engine is running( like the gear drive Cummins can ).
cheers,
Douglas

 

[03TDICommuter]

I have laid hands on an electric angle-measure-er. So with it ready to move, I can determine how much I move the 22mm.

I’ve read and found true “if you feel it move, it’s too much”.

 

[csstevej]

^^^^^ true that ^^^^^

 

[Rrusse11]

Pak,
Do NOT make any attempt to adjust while running! A recipe for disaster IMO.

 

[PakProtector]

I’ve read and found true “if you feel it move, it’s too much”.

smells like iq hammering.

Douglas

 

[Rrusse11]

"smells like iq hammering."

An excellent analogy,,,,,,,,

 

[PakProtector]

Man...youse had me all paranoid. I moved it a little, and it went from bottom quarter to about the middle. I moved it what I figured to be twice that amount and it is right on the upper line. It sure pulls a bit harder now...

Douglas

 

[Zak99b5]

Glad it didn’t take you many attempts.

It isn’t really hard to fine tune the timing. It just can get annoying if you keep on overshooting your mark.

 

[PakProtector]

Glad it didn’t take you many attempts.

It isn’t really hard to fine tune the timing. It just can get annoying if you keep on overshooting your mark.

I got the pump ready to move, and then with a finger on the pulley and the bolt, I could feel very small movements. Then I moved it a bit with the 22mm wrench. That was enough to move it about a quarter of the distance between upper and lower lines. Lather, rinse and repeat...

Ultimately, I was pretty sure that IFF it was actually small like what I believe the IQ hammering to be, that it would not matter so much. In this case I tweaked it several degrees I think...enough to tell with my 'backside dyno'.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[BobM1]

I replaced the glow plugs in our 88K TDI Beetle. Then checked the codes and got a PO 183 and PO 727. It sat for a few weeks as we did other projects and now will not start. I was HOPING it was the glow plugs. Now I'm guessing engine speed sensor or bad wires.

 

[TDIGAZ]

Getting ready for winter... so installed my winter tires and inserted 3 sheets of coroplast in front of the radiator.
See here for a "How To" https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.ph...ith-coroplast-to-keep-warm-for-winter.428973/
These sheets have lasted for over 6 years and only take a few minutes to put in or take out.
I put them in when the winter tires go on and leave them in until the winter tires come off.

Also replaced non-functioning glow plug that was causing a P0674 CEL, location was first cylinder from timing belt side.

 

[kennethsime]

Drove the wagon about an hour + a half each way to my folks' place for the Holiday. It's the first big highway trip I've taken for a long time.

Car did really well - I forget how great these things are to drive. I did notice I have a stuck thermostat - car would get up to temp, then fall, then get back up, then fall. I never really notice this driving around town, but the sustained highway driving made it clear. Will be ordering a replacement soon.