What did you do to your MKIV today?

[Zak99b5]

Thanks that was my thought too. It did get down to 30 and sat overnight still no GP light. It may not be getting cold enough still. I'm guessing there is a temperature signal the ecu sees when the key comes on? Not that I would mess with it but I wonder if the response to it is adjustable in vcsd.

My GP light always comes on when I turn the key. Usually for just a moment, unless it’s cold. But it never doesnt come on.

 

[MukGyver]

My GP light always comes on when I turn the key. Usually for just a moment, unless it’s cold. But it never doesnt come on.

Oh my goodness I've been looking at the WRONG area of my cluster the whole time. It does come on!!

 

[tdidieselbobny]

I was hoping IDParts would've shipped my parts yesterday that I ordered Thursday night, kinda need the oil cooler seals. I started it up on Thursday morning to take it for inspection, opened hood so I could wipe up any diesel from pump, and noticed oil coming out from the 4 corners on top of cooler under filter housing . Positive I changed that not too long ago, but I ordered both again to do it. I got the FAG wheel bearing today, so I may do that tomorrow so car can pass inspection(failed for wheel bearing)... ip triangle socket and fuel temp sensor also in that order, if it's only the top 2 case seals I think I can change them after watching a couple youtube videos on it....

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Sorry about not shipping yesterday. We got snow and ice and nothing was working reliably. We're not as robust as you upstate New Yorkers.

 

[PakProtector]

Friday morning I wanted a gasoline heater from an Iveco running an air cooled Deutz. Freezing rain on a cold car. Had to stop a few times to scrape the windshield before it got warm enough to melt and stay clear. This in SE Mi at about 0500...and then the wiper fluid light came on.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Mozambiquer]

Friday morning I wanted a gasoline heater from an Iveco running an air cooled Deutz. Freezing rain on a cold car. Had to stop a few times to scrape the windshield before it got warm enough to melt and stay clear. This in SE Mi at about 0500...and then the wiper fluid light came on.
cheers,
Douglas

I was driving back from Chattanooga with a new b5.5 Passat wagon I picked up for my little sister. It was freezing rain and ice. The car was from Florida and I found out that the washer fluid was not the cold weather stuff... What would normally have been a 10 hour drive took about 15 hours.

 

[J_dude]

Well, today I pulled the car in the shop at work to do injection pump seals, all things considered it went well but I think the the head o-ring may have been cut going back in, it’s not leaking fuel so I guess I will see how it starts tomorrow morning and go from there. I have a spare from the DieselGeek kit so I guess I’ll just chalk it up to more experience.
Also upgraded my park brake cables to the heavy duty ones and replaced an abs sensor. Tightened up my armrest and threw a little loctite on the bolt while I was doing the cables. So I guess the day wasn’t entirely wasted haha

 

[Mozambiquer]

I got another Mk4 today. Traded my diesel ranger for a 2005 BEW Jetta and some cash. It's in decent condition, white on black with 293k miles. Needs a turbo oil drain and maybe a few other little things.
Recent cam, turbo, EGR delete and a bunch of other things.

 

[Zak99b5]

Friday morning I wanted a gasoline heater from an Iveco running an air cooled Deutz. Freezing rain on a cold car. Had to stop a few times to scrape the windshield before it got warm enough to melt and stay clear. This in SE Mi at about 0500...and then the wiper fluid light came on.
cheers,
Douglas

When I had my ‘78 Bus i lived in Maine. In the winter I had to scrape the inside of the windshield to see

 

[Zak99b5]

Installed the new Monster Mats. They are (as reported) not as thick as they used to be. But still an upgrade from the factory original carpet mats, complete with holes by both the gas and clutch pedals.

Also tried cleaning the MAF on daughter #1's 05 Golf. She’s getting an intermittent P0101 code. She also had a little glob of sludge on her dipstick. She has a short drive to work, and it’s been cold.

 

[Powder Hound]

Fun project on my wife's New Beetle (aka Nubee), almost finished.

The tires were getting very noisy, and I put off buying new ones because I'm just too stubborn to throw out anything when there is still use left in it. After switching tires with my Jettachero, and the noise still being there, I finally realized that it was wheel bearing(s) and not the tires. After driving and it seeming that the noise was coming from the passenger side, I decided that of course, like in my own past experience and that of many other people, it must really be the driver's side that is the problem.

I started that about 1 week ago. I had the parts and tools I needed. When I got to the point of pushing out the wheel bearing shell, the press parts got tight and then it all just stopped. All I was doing was putting excess stress on the main screw of the press but the outer bearing shell was not moving a micron. Yikes.

I thought about it a while and ended up buying a loaded upright (aka steering knuckle or bearing carrier, to mention a couple of other names for that cast iron part that I have heard). Got that side all squared away, did the test drive, and it is still just as noisy as before. Ha. Proof positive that Murphy did the move with us and is still hanging out at my house all the <bleep>ing time.

So I started on the passenger side. That process came to a screeching halt at trying to separate the half shaft out of the hub. Oh, <BLEEP>!

Ordered a new carrier as well as a new CV joint. Had everything else.

While waiting for the parts to arrive, I had fun extracting the half shaft/bearing carrier assembly in one piece and figuring out how to pop the CV joint off the end of the half shaft. It wasn't too hard, but as you would think, kinda messy with CV grease getting in the way of a few things.

The new carrier and CV joint arrived and yesterday I put everything together and back on the car. The biggest PIA was finding my crimping tool for the CV boot's band clamps. Did I ever tell you I HATE moving? Well.

So now we can drive Nubee and have an actual conversation without yelling. Nubee needs an alignment; new carriers will do that. But in the end, it was a successful operation, even if it was much more expensive than I thought it would be.

And fun for the future, will be how to extract those frozen parts without destroying the whole lot. I need to do that - I don't think I could even sell them as boat anchors because of the strange shape.

Cheers,

PH

 

[snakeye]

Installed the new Monster Mats. They are (as reported) not as thick as they used to be. But still an upgrade from the factory original carpet mats, complete with holes by both the gas and clutch pedals.

Also tried cleaning the MAF on daughter #1's 05 Golf. She’s getting an intermittent P0101 code. She also had a little glob of sludge on her dipstick. She has a short drive to work, and it’s been cold.

I would check the ccv, make sure it's not clogged. I think there's a heater on it to make sure it doesn't ice up...

 

[Zak99b5]

I would check the ccv, make sure it's not clogged. I think there's a heater on it to make sure it doesn't ice up...

Sorry her car is a gasser. The PVC does seem to introduce moisture to the valve cover tho

 

[PakProtector]

Did a windshield motor/linkage change on my Son's 2000 Jetta. Salvaged a 2002 deal and rolled out to fix in place. The '00 has something like a Molex connector, and the '02 has the usual VW connector. D-Oh! Thought maybe the '01 would have the older one. NOPE! rescued a pigtail from it, grabbed the splicing bits and rolled out again to fix it. Got done just as it was getting cold. What a PITA.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Fahrvegnugen]

I got husky liners this winter. An improvement over monster mats although they’re not thick. The water stays on the mat rather than underneath it. It’s much more tempting and manageable to deal with the water. This winter, there hasn’t been frost on the inside of the windshield. A first. Everything is much more difficult when it’s cold. Mornings of past would be to climb inside of the car half way frozen and have to scrap ice all over myself and the seat to start the day. The frost heater makes it better to see out the windshield too. So today I plugged it in.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Finally got around to changing passenger side front bearing. I was able to get the race off the hub, so I used the FAG bearing that was delivered Saturday. I did put in freezer after getting it, then put hub in freezer for a few hours. My snap ring pliers I had were just a little too small to receive snap ring, so I dug old snap ring out with a pick and screwdriver, then did mad dash to Harbor Freight before they closed to buy a better snap ring plier- got the Quinn ones for $15.99, didn't see why I should spend $70 for the Icon set. Got home, then being I had front pads and rotors I bought early summer, I figured might as well do them. Bosch pads and AC Delco rotors from Amazon. No issues with them. Only 1 pad had ABS wire, so not sure if that's why my ABS light is on. No issues with wheel bearing pressing in. Got everything buttoned up, drove back and forth 5 feet then retightened axle bolt. Tomorrow or Tuesday will be oil change, oil cooler seals, and draining gearbox to see if any metal is in fluid. Trying to get a little more time out of tranny until warmer months so I can get it swapped out.

 

[Mozambiquer]

Finally got around to changing passenger side front bearing. I was able to get the race off the hub, so I used the FAG bearing that was delivered Saturday. I did put in freezer after getting it, then put hub in freezer for a few hours. My snap ring pliers I had were just a little too small to receive snap ring, so I dug old snap ring out with a pick and screwdriver, then did mad dash to Harbor Freight before they closed to buy a better snap ring plier- got the Quinn ones for $15.99, didn't see why I should spend $70 for the Icon set. Got home, then being I had front pads and rotors I bought early summer, I figured might as well do them. Bosch pads and AC Delco rotors from Amazon. No issues with them. Only 1 pad had ABS wire, so not sure if that's why my ABS light is on. No issues with wheel bearing pressing in. Got everything buttoned up, drove back and forth 5 feet then retightened axle bolt. Tomorrow or Tuesday will be oil change, oil cooler seals, and draining gearbox to see if any metal is in fluid. Trying to get a little more time out of tranny until warmer months so I can get it swapped out.

That wire on the pad would be the brake wear wire, not the abs wire.

 

[Powder Hound]

And now, back to the reason my Golf has been up on jack stands for the last 10 days.

Actually, if I had just done the TB (it is just shy of 300k miles, so it seemed to be a good time) then I would have been done in 1 long day and the garage would have been clear. Mostly.

Instead, I decided that my wife's NB (see post #8261 above) became more critical and did that instead.

So I'm back to the original purpose. Also, since it has nearly 300k miles after all, I decided that maybe a new oil pump chain, tensioner, and front crank seal would be good, particularly since it had every appearance that it might be leaking oil.

I tried to remove the oil pan first of all. There is 1 bolt that was glued in place just a little too well (back there by the rear main seal), and there are only 2 ways to get it off at this point: 1) drop the transaxle so I can get a combination wrench on there, or 2) break the oil pan. Neither of these seemed like something I want to do. #1 is too labor intensive, and #2 is yet more $$, and if you read post #8261 above and figured out how much more I spent on the front end of Nubee than I had planned, then you'd figure that yet another c-note just didn't need to leave my wallet just now. Not to mention the fact that I might get sent out of town for the next 3 years and it would be difficult to find the extra week I'd need to go that direction (long story, don't ask).

So.

When I was stopped from dropping the pan I rationalized that maybe I could just get away with doing the tensioner and the chain would be OK. But I'd need some kind of access, so if I could get the oil seal out, then I could stick some kind of pointy thing (small screwdriver, pick, whatever) in and see if the oil pump chain was in fact worn and something would need to be done whether my wallet was too thin or not.

I don't know how many of you have ever tried to pull that oil seal without pulling the seal carrier first. It is <bleep>ing difficult. There is something about those thin bands around the outside of the seal. The seal will install with barely more than finger pressure, but pull it out? Yeah, right. You will end up learning new swear words even if you make them up yourself and it still won't come. So just pull out that carrier and then you can pound the crap out of that seal from the backside. While the manual says you have to drop the oil pan first, really you just need to remove the 4 oil pan bolts along the front edge of the oil pan, remove the other 6 bolts around the carrier, then you can pry the carrier out. Just slide it forward so you don't scrape or otherwise scratch or abuse the crankshaft at that band where the oil seal will ride, and you are good to go. (Yes, I'm assuming you already have gone through the headache of removing the toothed timing belt pulley on the crank, which is its own non-trivial task.)

Now you can refresh the seal and check the oil pump chain. Mine showed no wear at all. And the tensioner looks like it was installed new last year. Seriously, a tiny bit of wear, but another 300k miles will be a piece of cake at this wear rate. And in the end, the oil seal wasn't leaking. So I had to pat the oil pan and apologize for ever doubting my trusty Golf.

I also had to check the alternator pulley as it seemed to be seized, but when it wouldn't budge I rechecked and it is working OK after all. Strange.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll reinstall the crank TB pulley, mount up the brace across the hood, suspend the engine, and get on with finishing up this extended TB job. Definitely it will be the longest I have ever taken to do a TB job.

Cheers,

PH

 

[PakProtector]

I feel for ya PH...I did the timing set on my ALH and then the seal went to leak-mode. I was not exactly happy. It went off to Martin Bergel for a short visit and it is now fine. Mostly fine...seems the shock mounts are bad. Or at least that is what my 'klunk-meter' says. Black PowerFlex and new bearings on the way...this is not so surprising, as the bonehead charged with keeping this beast on the road for its previous owner was not really deserving the term 'mechanic'. I do have him to thank for its going on the market though...LOL

ON the strut bearings, I recall a warning about over torquing them risks breaking them. Not going to happen, just one bit of the bearing gets clamped, like a washer would on the strut shaft step. If they break, it is from some other reason...
cheers,
Douglas

 

[pkhoury]

What did I do... sold my 2003 Beetle today. I changed the timing belt on it yesterday, and redid the vacuum lines, and tried to clean out as much of the intake/ASV as possible. Did the obligatory EGR delete. This early afternoon, did a brake fluid flush and unsuccessfully tried to replace the thermostat (not the locking tabs from what carquest had).

And... got an MPPS reader to try and see what tweaks I can do to my tune.

And... I'm going to try and do an EGR delete on a 2000 Beetle, as part of my project to do a timing belt and other goodies on it.

 

[KrashDH]

Added a set of convex mirrors to the Golf. The visibility is much better than the OEM flat mirrors, but it still lacks being able to easily see the tire without compromising the up/down adjustment. Will have to play with it more, but I'll likely get another set of the little convex mirrors that stick to the main mirror to make it easy when backing into lines being able to see the tires.

 

[Fahrvegnugen]

Interesting krash, I never saw a reason for convex mirrors, but that could be a good one. I align my mirrors down and along the side of car so I can back into spot, not seeing the tires, but I can see the lines. I do have to tilt the mirror down more than you might otherwise do, but I’m used to it now.

 

[KrashDH]

Interesting krash, I never saw a reason for convex mirrors, but that could be a good one. I align my mirrors down and along the side of car so I can back into spot, not seeing the tires, but I can see the lines. I do have to tilt the mirror down more than you might otherwise do, but I’m used to it now.

Yeah I can move the mirrors pretty easy, it's just nice once you get them set for daily driving I like to keep them there, I'm pretty particular about how they're set up.

I've tried using body lines of the car etc but I like seeing the wheels/tires, especially to avoid curb rash.

These new mirrors are hands down better than OEM for ones though

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

One feature my BMW has that I like is the mirrors tilt down when you put the transmission into reverse.

 

[Nero Morg]

The b5 and 5.5's do that, and you can retrofit that into our cars. Have thought about it on several occasions.

 

[benmarks]

The b5 and 5.5's do that, and you can retrofit that into our cars. Have thought about it on several occasions.

There are a few ways to do it, but the easiest is if you have a ColorMFA cluster. It's a menu option.

 

[Rrusse11]

I got a pair of aspherical mirrors, nearly got me in serious trouble though. The driver's side takes a bit of getting used to.
Stuff on that side is closer than you think. Makes changing lanes a bit "touchy" till you get used to them.

 

[Nero Morg]

There are a few ways to do it, but the easiest is if you have a ColorMFA cluster. It's a menu option.

How do you like yours by the way? I've been on the edge of getting one for a while now, mostly too lazy to go onto Facebook to actually get it, cause I hate Facebook.

 

[snakeye]

Looked at my front driver side tire when I got home from work, thought it looked a little flat, so I went over to the other side one to compare, and that one was hissing. What coincidence... Threw on a winter tire from another set.

 

[tdidieselbobny]

Changed engine oil and filter, replaced both oil cooler seals. Drained the transmission fluid, looked ok, no metal seen in it. Tried a hodge podge of fluids for it's final leg . Quart of syncromesh, quart of STP 75w-90 regular gear oil, about 6 oz. Hyper Lube and about 6oz Lucas trans medic or whatever it's called. It's got 472k on it, so don't really care. Started it up, no leaks from oil cooler, so pretty happy. I also turned ABS light off with Zurich scanner. No more pulsating brake pedal with new pads and rotors, hopefully they last longer than IDParts pads and rotors- those were installed 5/23/20 @ 453500 and were pulsing spring 2021 @ around 462k, so less than 20k on them