What did you do to your MKIV today?

[[486]]

Golf with no name

• jmodge
• Nov 12, 2024
• 2

Brought the Golf with no name into the barn. Resealing the leaking IP. Pulled the tires and inner fenders. I'm going to clean it up from the fuel leak and search for an oil leak. Then I'm going to dowse it with Fluidfilm to prep it for it's first taste of salt this winter.

nooo don't salt a not salty one
it'll never be the same ever again

 

[norbert77]

No heat, I had to disconnect heater cables in the dash to do the radio upgrade, anyways it is three degrees above freezing and I still have two hours to drive home. I wanted to bring a coat but it was nice in the morning so I get a little thin sweater at least, if things get worse I also have the dogs blanket in the back

 

[burpod]

It actually ran and drove fine, but lately it's been pressurizing the cooling system losing around a pint of coolant per day(about 80 miles). Finally decided to pull the head to do a headgasket before winter. I noticed a coolant/oil sludge on those 2 ARP studs when I unthreaded them, pulled the head and could see the cracks in the block. I started to clean it a little more and noticed the pistons

I got the car January of 2015 with 242,000 when a coworker did a 5 speed swap and could't get the car to run, I resealed the pump and it's been good ever since. I immediately began to upgrade it.. DLC 1019's, VNT-17, stage 4 Malone, .658 5th gear and the last thing was a brand new AMC cylinder head 30,000 miles ago. The car currently has 419,000 miles.

hate to have to say it malone stage 4 definitely didn't do that thing any favors.... :s its kinda crazy how many i people meet with blown head gaskes or worse in "various states of tune". doing any sort of upgrades, one reall has to log with vcds and make sure all "is good", and by that i don't mean simply whether spec/actual boost is lining up, because many times that can be irrelevant depending what else the tune/engine is doing...

 

[JDSwan87]

I've been fighting flakey tail lights on the Golf for about the last 2 months on and off... finally narrowed it down to a bad bulb tray/holder. Ordered 2 new OEM from Cascade German. Oddly they were only on eBay, not off their website.

 

[Fix_Until_Broke]

It actually ran and drove fine, but lately it's been pressurizing the cooling system losing around a pint of coolant per day(about 80 miles). Finally decided to pull the head to do a headgasket before winter. I noticed a coolant/oil sludge on those 2 ARP studs when I unthreaded them, pulled the head and could see the cracks in the block. I started to clean it a little more and noticed the pistons

I got the car January of 2015 with 242,000 when a coworker did a 5 speed swap and could't get the car to run, I resealed the pump and it's been good ever since. I immediately began to upgrade it.. DLC 1019's, VNT-17, stage 4 Malone, .658 5th gear and the last thing was a brand new AMC cylinder head 30,000 miles ago. The car currently has 419,000 miles.

I'd say there are multiple issues going on there, all having to do with fuel timing and duration.
- Injection timing is too advanced causing PCP's to be WAY too high and likely lots of "diesel knock"
- Injection duration is too long causing fuel to be sprayed on the lips of the bowl which weakens them and makes the pistons crack

This could be tuning or injection pump or injectors or a combination of all three. It can be easy to point fingers, but ultimately you are the "system integrator" and responsible for ensuring all the things work well together.

What was your assembly procedure for the head studs?

I'd also recommend that you pull a couple of rod caps and check the upper rod bearings. Guessing with the damage on the piston side, they look like this...

 

[burpod]

it's very very hard to hear "knock". at low rpm its more of a stutter usually. too much advance i find is usually a "strained" feeling moreso in the higher rpm. and yes, the bottom end of the rod bearings on such tune with too much advance is surely not going to look great. what's nearly guaranteed tho is a malone tune will always run with too much advance. i get blue in the face saying this, but every malone tune from a stage1 to a "stage5" uses the same dang timing maps for hot coolant (70C+) read in dozens and dozens of them, including ones from well over a decade ago (same tune nothing has changed). the <70C timing maps are essentially stock 11mm .158 maps. 10mm .185s? same timing maps as 11mm .260s tune lol. of course if you want to compare numbers you have to "normalize" the pump map first. none of it makes sense when fueling is changed. no iat/barometric/n75/boost/timing correction maps are changed over stock (makes no sense, again, once fuel is changed dramatically, and also turbo is changed)

add on top of that whatever else could be wrong and nobody logging or knowing what to look for.. it's a mess

 

[Fix_Until_Broke]

Give the injection pump a twist while it's running (old IDI rotary pump engines like 5.7's, 6.2's, 6.5's) and you'll hear the knock . Set the injection timing on a TDI too far and you'll hear it too.

Agreed that it's nearly impossible to tell when driving the car (which is what matters most).

 

[burpod]

Give the injection pump a twist while it's running (old IDI rotary pump engines like 5.7's, 6.2's, 6.5's) and you'll hear the knock . Set the injection timing on a TDI too far and you'll hear it too.

Agreed that it's nearly impossible to tell when driving the car (which is what matters most).

physical pump timing? that's only setting the available window tho. if you take timing logs you can watch spec/actual timing (assuming sensors all working accurately). i've never heard in a car i have driven what i would call knock - only "strained" on what i woudl say are over-advanced tunes. have seen and heard (remotely) many issues of stutter which is almost always duration/timing not right. too retarded is more of a "chug" compared to "stutter". timing is always relative tho. if durations are too much, then timing needs to be more (in general). but that will also throw off boost control since the pid maps are relying ony accurate consumption numbers (gearing included) to calculate stuff. and if its a vnt15 or is it a larger turbo...

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Does it fit, vs does it rub? Well it doesn't rub, 215/55/17 on 17x6 Neon Srt4 rim. Love it. Boy it is tight, mayne 4 mm between rubber and strut. Look at the ground clearance!

Must be the equivalent to 215/65R16 because that is exactly how mine fit. Hardly any clearance to the strut but they fit.

Looks very nice!

 

[northern diesel]

I’ve got the after market smic fit in and running with my 3 bar map sensor and now I can finally log some laps of these roads with @burpod’s newest 3bar map tune for my AT bew with opened exhaust and 1856 turbo!!
Pretty stoked.
I know I should have done some body work before the winter - but I’ll clean it up inside the wheel wells and around the rockers and do the fluid film - just the temps are dipping and without a heated garage I know paint don’t stick too good.
I’ve been impatiently waiting for a fedex from cascade German that will have a big brake conversion kit!
I’m trying to talk myself out of doing the suspension and springs “beef on a budget” the wagon version that I see on idparts.
I know it’s probably close to time to refresh the suspension- but one more winter won’t kill me or the car -

 

[burpod]

This could be tuning or injection pump or injectors or a combination of all three. It can be easy to point fingers, but ultimately you are the "system integrator" and responsible for ensuring all the things work well together.

i wanted to also mention this is very true. however at the same time...what you are often given is not at all done right. 5 min hack of a stock tune pawned off as something tried and tested. very evident once you've read in so many of them and they're all the same regardless of fueling/turbo. and then you get 2 sentence emails at best (usually "rod length" or "hammer mod" or some bs about your injectors being wrong). and the logs they want are usuallly the most useless 3rd gear WOT pulls (not so good for safety)... and then you're on you're own fighting it for a long time... lol, or settling, or not knowing better, etc. some mix of all the above, maybe with hardware issues (often minor, sometimes not minor but also simple to fix)... **shrug**

 

[Yawiney]

I wouldn't be without my steel belly pans for winter, saved my oil pan a few times.

Any name or link to the Steel ones?
I have only seen Aluminum and heard that if they dent even a little the vibration over time from the dent pressing can wear a hole in the pan.
Steel would be less easily dented for sure.

 

[P2B]

Any name or link to the Steel ones?

The Defender galvanised steel belly pans were designed and marketed by member @TheTDIWagonGuy who is sadly no longer with us. As far as I know they are only available used at this point.

 

[bigsexyTDI]

Any name or link to the Steel ones?
I have only seen Aluminum and heard that if they dent even a little the vibration over time from the dent pressing can wear a hole in the pan.
Steel would be less easily dented for sure.

You'd be surprised. You could fold the factory steel one up with your hands like taffy. And as P2B stated, the Defenders aren't available anymore. I love my Aluminum and have never heard of the concern you stated, not saying it doesn't exist though...

 

[Zak99b5]

Filled up this morning, and not too happy about it. 43.3 MPGs, when I've gotten more like 47-48 MPGs before. I did move to a different school in my district, though, and a lot of my new commute is on 35-40 mph roads, whereas before it was all 45 mph. So instead of being in 5th for the vast majority, I'm in 4th a lot. Also, terrain on both drives is hilly, but the new route does have one hill much steeper than any on the old. Burpod tune, .205 nozzles, if that matters.

Does it make sense that being in 4th a lot now results in a 10% hit to FE?

 

[norbert77]

Must be the equivalent to 215/65R16 because that is exactly how mine fit. Hardly any clearance to the strut but they fit.

Looks very nice!

I think if I had money, I would try one size taller but with a spacer

 

[JDSwan87]

Filled up this morning, and not too happy about it. 43.3 MPGs, when I've gotten more like 47-48 MPGs before. I did move to a different school in my district, though, and a lot of my new commute is on 35-40 mph roads, whereas before it was all 45 mph. So instead of being in 5th for the vast majority, I'm in 4th a lot. Also, terrain on both drives is hilly, but the new route does have one hill much steeper than any on the old. Burpod tune, .205 nozzles, if that matters.

Does it make sense that being in 4th a lot now results in a 10% hit to FE?

4th gear vs 5th gear is your issue.

I now take a 1.5 mile longer route to work because it allows me to run 55mph with 5 less stops vs my previous route that was 25-45mph and stops every mile.

 

[J_dude]

Must be the equivalent to 215/65R16 because that is exactly how mine fit. Hardly any clearance to the strut but they fit.

Looks very nice!

Very close yup. https://tiresize.com/calculator/

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Any name or link to the Steel ones?
I have only seen Aluminum and heard that if they dent even a little the vibration over time from the dent pressing can wear a hole in the pan.
Steel would be less easily dented for sure.

Takes a lot do bend the aluminum ones. They can bend enough to shatter the oil pan as it happened to me, but it took a lot...

20221117_160810.jpg

• GlowBugTDI
• Nov 17, 2022

They won't rub after you hit something if you bend them back. I jumped on my while placed on 2x4's to straighten it out. Haven't had an issue since.
I even hit a frozen chicken that banged on the underside of my car all the way back until it exited from the rear. No issue. Ice and snow clumps are no different that I have experienced.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Golf with no name

• jmodge
• Nov 12, 2024
• 2

Brought the Golf with no name into the barn. Resealing the leaking IP. Pulled the tires and inner fenders. I'm going to clean it up from the fuel leak and search for an oil leak. Then I'm going to dowse it with Fluidfilm to prep it for it's first taste of salt this winter.

I'm with @[486] don't salt it! My wagon isn't even nice as your golf and I'll be parking it for the winter most likely. I do completely agree with fluid filming the ever living crap out of it!! I think my wagon gained a good 5lbs after the application.

 

[[486]]

it's very very hard to hear "knock". at low rpm its more of a stutter usually. too much advance i find is usually a "strained" feeling moreso in the higher rpm.

can confirm this too, at least at low fueling and at tip-in, feels like the throttle's a tap on the brake pedal sorta kinda
engine kinda runs against itself at say 1-2mg/str but more fuel overcomes this through brute force, just adding more weight to the other side of the see-saw rather than removing the weight on the wrong side via retarding the timing

I don't know why but these engines are extremely quiet even when this is occurring. They should be loud with how lightly built they are. Maybe it's the ridiculously tight piston-wall clearances when compared to larger engines? Dunno. Especially because 1.6 IDI motors are louder when IDIs are usually somewhat quieter than DI motors everywhere else (mercedes, international, caterpillar). Ain't the two stage injection either since I've got a set of injectors with that feature ground away.

 

[dieseldonato]

Filled up this morning, and not too happy about it. 43.3 MPGs, when I've gotten more like 47-48 MPGs before. I did move to a different school in my district, though, and a lot of my new commute is on 35-40 mph roads, whereas before it was all 45 mph. So instead of being in 5th for the vast majority, I'm in 4th a lot. Also, terrain on both drives is hilly, but the new route does have one hill much steeper than any on the old. Burpod tune, .205 nozzles, if that matters.

Does it make sense that being in 4th a lot now results in a 10% hit to FE?

My mileage usually drops during park/concert season, usually I still see 45+ mpg. Till you get into town, you're either going up or down hill. (I live on top of Mt Willson.) Stop and go + lots of hills kill mpg in every vehicle. I hate the 4-5th gearing gap in these cars too. 4th is too high rpm for 40mph and 5th is just a tad too low imo. So I shift a lot between 4th and 5th. This last tune update I've been able to keep pretty consistently at 50 mpg if I do my part and drive nice, and don't get into a lot of traffic.

 

[jmodge]

nooo don't salt a not salty one
it'll never be the same ever again

Unfortunately, that's the way it is going to be. This car needs the least amount of repair/maintenance. Jetta has a bad heater core, and as I dug into the Taco, it's looking like it has some internal engine issues, might be a victim of the Malone tune. Unless you have a cheapo non invasive and time consuming way of defrosting a windshield in the Jetta.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

Unfortunately, that's the way it is going to be. This car needs the least amount of repair/maintenance. Jetta has a bad heater core, and as I dug into the Taco, it's looking like it has some internal engine issues, might be a victim of the Malone tune. Unless you have a cheapo non invasive and time consuming way of defrosting a windshield in the Jetta.

Mini space heater plugged into the cigarette lighter?

 

[[486]]

Mini space heater plugged into the cigarette lighter?

10a of 12v is only 120 watts, sadly

ETA: big part of why the cololant glow plugs are worthless, alongside their programming that has them only run for a minute or two and only when it is obscenely cold out (it is tied into the high idle, have you ever seen your engine idle above 900 rpm? yeah)

 

[[486]]

Unfortunately, that's the way it is going to be. This car needs the least amount of repair/maintenance. Jetta has a bad heater core, and as I dug into the Taco, it's looking like it has some internal engine issues, might be a victim of the Malone tune. Unless you have a cheapo non invasive and time consuming way of defrosting a windshield in the Jetta.

ain't nothing to it but to do it, get your mitts into that dashboard and glormbulate a new (used) one in there
it is a one-day job
Kinda surprised you had a heater core go bad though, got like 4 of them on the shelf from partouts that I just can't bring myself to scrap even though I've never had one go bad

 

[GlowBugTDI]

10a of 12v is only 120 watts, sadly

ETA: big part of why the cololant glow plugs are worthless, alongside their programming that has them only run for a minute or two and only when it is obscenely cold out (it is tied into the high idle, have you ever seen your engine idle above 900 rpm? yeah)

True.
Option B: Copper coil sent through the firewall to the passenger floorboard area. Attach copper ends to the heater core lines place a small fan behind the coil and blow the heat towards the passenger seat.

Option C: Run hoses through the firewall and place the replacement heater core on the passenger floor until you can replace the actual unit. Use a mini fan to blow air through it.


@jmodge Is your leaking or just not making heat anymore?

 

[J_dude]

ain't nothing to it but to do it, get your mitts into that dashboard and glormbulate a new (used) one in there

Say what now? Never heard that one before

 

[[486]]

Option B: Copper coil sent through the firewall to the passenger floorboard area. Attach copper ends to the heater core lines place a small fan behind the coil and blow the heat towards the passenger seat.

Option C: Run hoses through the firewall and place the replacement heater core on the passenger floor until you can replace the actual unit. Use a mini fan to blow air through it.

I wish I grabbed more '80/'90s suburban rear heaters back when they were in the junkyard
heatercore and fan all built in one convenient toaster sized box

 

[[486]]

Say what now? Never heard that one before

shhh
I tend to say a lot of things that actually deanonymize me
maybe that one won't but a lot of the other **** I say tends to