What did you do to your MKIV today?

[The Cream Dolphin]

After 20 years of getting in and out, the drivers seat stitching was separating so today I installed a pair of seat covers.

IMG_0209.jpeg

• sruchris
• Dec 2, 2023

Those look fantastic!

 

[sruchris]

Those look like a great option for me. My leather is fine but I slip and slide in the seat and don’t feel enough support for my lumbar region as a result.

The new covers help with sliding as they are more grippy, but don't help with lumbar. You might be better off finding a replacement seat.

 

[Rrusse11]

" Drove 1.5 hours to pick up new wheels and tires for my truck. Well, only 3 would fit inside "

JD, looks like a Golf in the pic, I've removed the rear bench to allow the seat backs
to fold down further. It'll easily do 4 tires for my Jeep, with room to spare.

 

[JDSwan87]

" Drove 1.5 hours to pick up new wheels and tires for my truck. Well, only 3 would fit inside "

JD, looks like a Golf in the pic, I've removed the rear bench to allow the seat backs
to fold down further. It'll easily do 4 tires for my Jeep, with room to spare.

The passenger rear seat back will not fold/move. I haven't dug too much into the reason.

 

[Nuje]

The passenger rear seat back will not fold/move. I haven't dug too much into the reason.

There's a $6 plastic piece that for the seat-back release that often breaks. Easy to replace (once you get the old/broken one out).
1J0885643

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Loaded a fireplace insert in IBW to take to my son in Western MA this AM.

Wanted to get it in front of the rear wheels for better weight distribution for the drive. That thing is heavy, I'd guess close to 300 lbs.

 

[JDSwan87]

There's a $6 plastic piece that for the seat-back release that often breaks. Easy to replace (once you get the old/broken one out).
1J0885643

What actually fails on that piece? My release moves up/down, but the seat back is solid. Does it fail internally like the "end" snaps off?

 

[csstevej]

Yes a piece breaks off preventing the seat from folding.
There are you tube videos of it.

 

[Bradm]

I have trying to diagnose and fix a no boost issue thats been going on for a week or so, of course after i lent my minivac out. Finally after screwing around with replacing lines etc i pulled the check valve and the entire white side was filled with like a rust dust? Cleaned it out with a needle and blew it out a bunch. Car runs great again took it out for a good Italian tune up.

 

[P2B]

i pulled the check valve and the entire white side was filled with like a rust dust

The rusty dust almost certainly came from the turbo actuator. It will be in your N75 as well. The problem will be back soon, time for a new actuator.

 

[Nuje]

What actually fails on that piece? My release moves up/down, but the seat back is solid. Does it fail internally like the "end" snaps off?

Here's an image from VWparts. At least on the one that I replaced, one of the nubs at the end of the longer arm broke off, so it wouldn't grab the internal "catch" to pull the release mechanism.

 

[Bradm]

The rusty dust almost certainly came from the turbo actuator. It will be in your N75 as well. The problem will be back soon, time for a new actuator.

Thank you, i figured that, as its kind of the only place it can come from but im glad it’s confirmed.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

Loaded a fireplace insert in IBW to take to my son in Western MA this AM.

Wanted to get it in front of the rear wheels for better weight distribution for the drive. That thing is heavy, I'd guess close to 300 lbs.

Hey IBW, as someone who use to build high efficiency wood stoves, and I realize this goes against all known logic: close the flue damper and leave the air intake in the front partially open. If you ask me I will explain why.

 

[Nevada_TDI]

Unless you already run your wood stove this way, then please ignore.

 

[P2B]

Unless you already run your wood stove this way, then please ignore.

Mine doesn't have a flue damper. I run the air intake fully closed except when starting a fire or if extra heat is needed.

 

[burpod]

Mine doesn't have a flue damper. I run the air intake fully closed except when starting a fire or if extra heat is needed.

years ago made a fresh air intake with 4" flex duct for my old russo wood stove. wow, what a difference. cut down on the draft from the basement by a HUGE amount. i'd like to think that got me quite a bit more thermal efficiency as its burning air pulling it from the outside directly into the stove rather than puling a draft from all over the house... i don't use the wood stove often, as it puts out way too much heat, so when not in use i plug the intake tube in the wall (which has a damper) with an insulated "plug"

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Just had a bunch of work done on the old Jetta (with the odo standing at 489,6xx as of the work done):

Brakes (front and rear)
Wheel Bearings (front and rear)
Front Struts/Springs/Upper Mounts (struts were old enough that the boots had long-since disintegrated and disappeared)
Ball Joints
A/C Control Panel (the "AC" button stopped making connection back in October, apparently)

I never realized how sagged the springs were - the nose is sitting so much higher how I actually had to readjust my side mirrors up. Whole front end feels "tight" again, no more clunks going over narrow speedbumps, it really feels like a new car again and ready for the next couple hundred thousand miles.

Going to have to do tires between now and the holidays, though - I've just about finished off my RT43s finally. Planning on going with their successor (the RT45), I think.

 

[The Cream Dolphin]

Advanced my timing without using basic settings, but using commencement of injection solenoid N10̷8 readings. It is not quite where I want it, it will be slightly above the blue line into advanced territory, I want it just below the line. But holy moly was it touchy. My 2¢, if you think the shaft moved, you went to far I was back, in, start, forward, in, start, repeat. Took a while to get close which is why I am leaving it for now. I have it set to 1.8°v.OT when the n10̷8 is at its minimum 2%. Also, I am assuming °v.OT is BTDC and °n.OT is ATDC because advancing it made it higher on the v side, and higher n10̷8 duty cycle is higher on the v side too... I kinda answered my own question there whoops. Anyway, I am excited to try a cold start and see how it does. I will likely try a tiny retarding later, when I can get into the shop, along with 4 or 5 other chores I want to do. Did as well as I could working in the car wash.

 

[Zak99b5]

Ordered a new clutch today. Don't want to change it in the driveway in winter, but bigger nozzles & Burpod's tune have got the old one (238k mile) slipping a little. 'Twas bound to happen.

 

[MORTAMIR]

Ordered a new clutch today. Don't want to change it in the driveway in winter, but bigger nozzles & Burpod's tune have got the old one (238k mile) slipping a little. 'Twas bound to happen.

Gravel driveway?

 

[Zak99b5]

Gravel driveway?

It's macadam, at least. I hope it's not too cold and snowy over christmas break.

 

[Nuje]

Watching For All Mankind last night, and while two characters are arguing, an alarm goes off in the background on their Martian base. They pause for a couple seconds, then keep on arguing...pretty much disregarding the alarm.

Only after another ~30sec do I realize the alarm is coming from my 2002 Golf in the driveway.

So, unlocked the car for the night (quiet neighbourhood and nothing in the car, so no biggie), then dug into it today once the ice broke (only after 1pm - 95% humidity and temps dropping just below freezing is brutal for door freezing closed). Saw the hatch was always showing as open, so pulled the rear lower panel for a look - no spare lock module on hand, so just took the alarm wire connector, found an old ABS connector (I think that's what it was from) with a few inches of wire, twisted and sealed the wires together, and plugged that into the hatch lock sensor....seems to have done the trick. Doors and hatch lock / unlock properly and thus far () no more phantom alarms.

 

[MORTAMIR]

Picked up a 05 Jetta Wagen. 227k. Needs a new rear a axle and some extra love. Came with two mixed tapes!

 

[Zak99b5]

Took advantage of the 50* weather and before expected rain & snow to change out the parking brake cable. Was going to do both, but did the sticking side first. Rain started so I stopped there.
After I got it all back together, I realized I'd left the 10mm socket and universal on the balancer adjusting nut. Duh.

Also flashed latest revision of Burpod's tune. Quick test drive was very nice.

 

[pkhoury]

What did I do - a somewhat halfass install of a 65 watt PA speaker. The idea was something to scare away the deer, but my audio amplifier (not surprisingly) is a joke, so I need something that puts out more than 10W.

I suppose in other semi-related news - flashed another Burpod tune onto a car I sold a customer - 2005 Jetta Wagon with a BEW. I'm trying to start selling off extraneous projects I don't have time for.

Then I get to take in mom's 2014 NB TDI and Amanda's 2011 JSW TDI to the dealership, both tomorrow, both for dieselgate warranty related crap. Good times. Just had the DPF replaced on the 2011, but they apparently forgot to check the EGT sensor.

 

[dieseldonato]

Haven't done much with the jetta recently. hunting season set in, so I've been driving the truck or expedition. Had to work the late shift Thursday through the weekend, so switched to the car yesterday, did some timing adaptations and had some mixed results. Burpod suggested I play with it and see how the car reacts. Started with +50, which should be about 0.5* across the board. The car definatly ran cooler egt, and slightly less torque under 2k rpm. Did -50 back from work and didn't care for it. Torque was back like the "0" setting, and the car warmed up a bit faster, but it wasn't great over 2k rpm. Decided to try +100. Sub 2k torque definatly suffered, but over ~2.5k rpm car definatly ran better, and egt's stayed manageable. (Lots of hills and I live on top Mt Willson.) I still have to forward the logs to burpod, but it was interesting to see how a small amount of timing affected the cars driving.

 

[wonneber]

Changed the battery in my key fob. Of course I got it upside down the first time.
Now it works! The old battery was getting to the point where I had to be standing
right by the doorlock, or just go old school and put the key in the lock. Not the end
of the world, lol. Nanny electronics, sheesh, Judy's Tacoma is a whole host of gizmos.

Talk about gizmos, I just bought a 2024 Atlas SEL.
It's going to take me a year or two to fully understand all the bells and whistle's in it.
Major changes from the 2021 Atlas SE I traded in.
The heads up speedometer is the neatest feature.

 

[MORTAMIR]

Changed the Oil and filter on the Golf. New thermostat as well. Took it for test drive. It's been stuck open for a long time. Strange to see the temps that high. "Normal"

 

[burpod]

egr delete + intake manifold clean + random problem fixings of another friends car...

i always underestimate how long it takes because of broken bolts etc :/ both studs on the turbo egr port snapped with almost no effort. the nuts on them were so far gone not even an 11mm easy out fit on them. crazy. tried vice grips to get them out, but failed. cut flush with grinder and did best i could to drill them out, but one of them either through my not getting the drill spot on or not, threads were unusable. other one was fine. so reamed that out for a 10mm flywheel bolt (previously used, i always save them to put in my random bolt stash, they come in handy), and then of course had to ream out the holes for the gasket + block-off plate. wish i had a better quality + organized set of bits. lot of time wasted sorting thru drill bits that were dull, or just plain cheap and break...

couple of the egr pipe allen bolts stripped (despite given them a whack with hammer). cut egr pipe out in place with grinder to help access.

an egr cooler bolt stripped. normally those torx/allen bolts i place a bit in and then give a whack with a small hammer to try and "unfreeze" it, but this time i skipped that. maybe it wouldn't have stripped had i done that. with egr pipe out of the way, manhandled it back and forth a bit with that egr pipe cut out and then cut with grinder again on the tab with the stuck screw.

egr was completely nasty:

took a bit of time + mess with paint thinner and brushes on a baking tray after scraping the bulk of it out. then torched it and let it burn itself out as it caught fire then more pipe brush, some more paint thinner, brushing, + brake cleaner, one more torch/burn, then final brushing to get the last bits of dried flaky stuff out. sure environmentally friendly to have that egr on the car, now that all that crap simply has to be released back out into nature in order to clean it so the car doesn't run like crap.

ASV was leaking a lot of oil (and surely some boost) as usual, so gutted that and reamed out the hole to tap with 12x1.5 bolt + copper crush washer to seal. sawzall to cut the egr valve "piston" out.

tested the tune again, made adjustments.. drove great. then go to bring the car back the next day after some other little adjustments, at first drove great, then seemed to not be boosting. putzed around with numbers for a bit until i realized it had to be the unlikely random hardware error or boost leak or something. did the n75 test with vcds and lo and behold, the n75 valve all the sudden is only putting out 5hg max. ***. swap in another used n75 valve and it gets 24hg, re-log, make couple adjustments and wayyyy better

but had been noticing a odd subtle highish pitched sounds that could possibly be a boost leak, so went over things again, and noticed the lower pancake pip to turbo (which has the o-ring + clip connection) was all wet with oilly sludge. hate those over-priced crappy o-rings. but what i do to fix those is clean it all up, put a few rounds of teflon tape in the groove and then reinstall the old oring over that so now it's a snugger fit and good as new (have done this fix to BEW pipes before and still holding boost years later).

retest/relog, still the odd sound, but it sounds too cyclical to be a boost/exhaust leak, so i think it's just some random belt noise that's cropped up *shrug*. did a bunch of high boost pulls and the boost pipe connection showing no signs of leaks.

 

[burpod]

also installed in that car my latest version of stealth radiator block. this works real nice, and also cheap. used some leftover 1/4 owes corning foam board (i think usually only sold in big bundles, 2x4 "sheets").. cut 3 pieces roughly 8x24" and slipped two down from the top and then tucked behind the radiator support parts, and then pop out the lower grill and slide one more in there behind the two going vertically so they all hold each other in place. takes 3 minutes, can't be seen, and is re-usable (or should last a few winters i'm sure). leaves a little section of flow to the radiator. just tested this today - quite mild ~52F out and coolant temps were good at ~88C at least on this car, and this tune... far as i can tell, t-stat is working perfectly, not leaky-open - have seen a few of these lately, always spotted when taking a log... amazing how many of these i find and nobody has realized just gotta log!