What did you do to your MKIV today?

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It was pretty cool today, probably mid to high 70s in the shop. The high pressure side of my system was higher than he likes to see, but I think my large cooling fan is getting tired. Also, a lot of the fins on my condenser that are behind the grille are bent over. I guess that happens after enough years. When the car got warm enough for the fans to kick into high speed the high pressure side came down nicely.

 

[DeeJay]

Very nice! what outside temps was it dealing with to output that low? I need to get mine checked, replacing the driver's side fan helped a lot but I think it still needs a boost.

I topped my A.C. system off(barely took any) and replaced the big fan in hopes that it would cure my problem.....but it didn't. I am stumped. I have a guess but it probably isn't right........My A.C. is cold enough to keep my black car comfortable, but after roughly 40-45 minutes of being on, he temperature drops to where I want it all the time. It initially has the cooling effect on the hand like,"That feels nice and cool, I like that." After the 40 minutes it's, "Wow l, my hand would go numb if I held it there for 5 miutes."

 

[Figit090]

I topped my A.C. system off(barely took any) and replaced the big fan in hopes that it would cure my problem.....but it didn't. I am stumped. I have a guess but it probably isn't right........My A.C. is cold enough to keep my black car comfortable, but after roughly 40-45 minutes of being on, he temperature drops to where I want it all the time. It initially has the cooling effect on the hand like,"That feels nice and cool, I like that." After the 40 minutes it's, "Wow l, my hand would go numb if I held it there for 5 miutes."

Mine is similar, pretty comfortable and keeps up with 80 degree temps especially on the highway. Eventually it gets cold, uncomfortably so if I use recirculation. I'm still going to need a good service soon though I think.

It was pretty cool today, probably mid to high 70s in the shop. The high pressure side of my system was higher than he likes to see, but I think my large cooling fan is getting tired. Also, a lot of the fins on my condenser that are behind the grille are bent over. I guess that happens after enough years. When the car got warm enough for the fans to kick into high speed the high pressure side came down nicely.

When you test the A/C temps and get below 40, you are pulling the 70 degree air in and not recirculating the cabin right?

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I think when it was getting to 30 it was on recirc.

 

[Zak99b5]

Got it aligned (did all springs and dampers recently, including replacing a TRE). It was toed out as I suspected. Now that’s spot on.

My caster, though, is out of spec—6.6 and 6.7, when the range is 7.2-8.2.

I’m not too worried about it since they are so close to each other, and I have read that a little less caster can be a good thing. Should not affect tire wear at all or cause pulling (since they are even).

Also, of course there’s no real adjustment for it (maybe I could shift the subframe forward, but I’m sure that would affect the caster and toe as well.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I'm not sure I've ever owned a MKIV where the caster was in spec. I also understand it's highly dependent on how the car is loaded. It may be out of spec when empty, but with a person or two in the back seat and a full tank of fuel, it may fall in.

 

[Zak99b5]

Well, the shop I took it to does only suspension work (Watkins Spring) and they’ve done great work for me over the years. And there was a half a tank of fuel in the car (just serendipity). No idea If they put weight in the driver’s seat.

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Dumped another $1000 into it replacing some suspension bits and alignment. Last week I dumped 1k into it doing a full timing belt kit. All on a car I paid 2500 for. Next week probably dump another 1k into it changing the clutch.

Apparently I don't like money. Hope this old girl lasts me 10 years to pay for itself in fuel savings . Sitting at 430,000km. I feel silly dumping like 3k into such an old car. I could have bought a second runaround car for that price.

Fun cars though

 

[Rrusse11]

"It was toed out as I suspected. Now that’s spot on. " Zak

I've found that the car drives better at speed with a little bit of toe in. I had 0, but found 1/2 degree in made a nice difference to highway stability.

 

[Zak99b5]

"It was toed out as I suspected. Now that’s spot on. " Zak

I've found that the car drives better at speed with a little bit of toe in. I had 0, but found 1/2 degree in made a nice difference to highway stability.

Toe is now slightly in. .02 left, .01 right. Total toe .03, and steer ahead (what ever that means) is .01. Previously toe was -.38 total steer ahead -.06.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Saw this today:

 

[Rrusse11]

I believe a slight toe-in means the car tends to track straight, particularly noticeable at highway speeds. When my front end was neutral, it required a little more attention to staying straight ahead. The effect comes into play only at high speeds. Theoretically this leads to increased tire wear, but with a regular rotation schedule, I've never noticed undue
tire wear.

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Saw this today:

That looks a lot like my odometer except mines in km not miles. I have a ways to go to catch up with that. Impressive

 

[atownbrg]

I've been catching up on maintence myself..
Couple weeks ago I found myself having to quarantine. Wasn't sick. Decided to drop the rear axle and replace the Bushings. Was dissappointed the Schwaben install tool was only for stock mounts. Luckily I had a HF bearing kit that provided the proper cup! Also installed the IDParts rear sway bar. Finally! Got to finally use the pressure bleeder I bought awhile back. Pedal is still not as firm as i'd like. More to do there...
Then I got sick. and more time off. Decided to tackle the timing belt that was coming due as I got better. Slowly. Very slowly. Most of the timing belt job is "undone" at this point. Today I took off the crank bolt and gear. That darn motor mount bracket fell out during that bit. I was suprised! I also removed the old water pump. It was frozen in there and took alot of effort! I had to clean up the chamfer in the block and Oring seal surface a bit today after it was out. Front crank seal is next. I will take off the carrier, but waiting for Reinzol to show up before I undo anything there.
Next will be the clutch. SBC Daily with flywheel! Oh this all started because a deer broke my headlight

 

[Hyde7278]

My pass side exterior mirror turned grey for some reason so I swapped out the exterior mirrors to the shorty euro versions I have had for awhile off the euro GTI that I parted awhile back.

Going to do a compression check tomorrow (just to have a base line) and run a can of diesel purge through it and change the fuel filter.

 

[Judson]

Well my charge tube, custom for the turbo, blew a bit loose again. Put it back together with some permatex. Hopefullly it’ll hold for a while. The piping is just about an inch and a half too short and not quite angled right so I will have to get this one modded or a new one fabbed.

 

[gmenounos]

Golf: Fixed power steering leak by replacing the rack with a very clean used rack that I bought off Vortex a bit over 4 years ago. Also replaced the return line as it was very, very rusty and was likely the source of the leak. I was expecting that maybe the leak was from the hard lines on the rack itself, and I have the hard line replacement kit (https://eaaengineering.com/products/mk4-golf-jetta-steering-rack-hard-line-replacement-kit though this would also work: https://roselandtech.ca/power-steering-rack-line-set-mk4), but those lines weren't leaking. I decided to replace the rack because the body was very rusty and I broke one of its mounting bolts removing it and (surprise!) another bolt was already broken off, apparently by the PO or the PO's mechanic. I've had the car over 18 years and never dropped the subframe so it wasn't me. Last year I replaced the power steering pump and the high pressure line, so hopefully I should be good for a while...

I should also mention that I think I misread some instructions that you needed to turn the wheel slowly all the way left and then all the way right a few times with the engine running to purge the air out of the system. This just made the fluid in the reservoir super bubbly and it took forever to get all the air out. The same thing happened a year ago when I replaced the pump and one of the lines. I think the better way would be to rotate the steering wheel lock to lock several times with the engine off as described here:

Air in power steering steering system

My question is this can air get in the power steering system from the rack? My 2002 jetta has had air in the power steering system since i replaced the rack and pump about 4 months ago. Both the rack and pump came from my parts car. I originally figured the used pump was bad so i replaced the...

forums.tdiclub.com

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Finally been driving my newly acquired 03 to work. Finding all the kinks in it since my daily commute is about 120 miles. So far the fuel gauge is going down faster than it did in my old alh Jetta. New one is stock VS old one tuned stage 1.

After work today I'm going to rip the air box apart and check the snow screen. Maybe not all fuel gauges measure fuel level accurately. Haven't ran long enough to know it's fuel economy yet

 

[csstevej]

Slowly putting my “Franken car “ back together after my altercation with a deer a couple of months ago.
Replaced broken large fan assy, replaced hood , got the Drivers side light installed with glass lense and full LED bulbs.
Reinstalled bumper , rad support . Just waiting on a new glass lenses for the RH headlight assy, for some reason when I got these a few years ago for my Golf, I ended up with 2 LH glass lenses.

 

[jmodge]

Slowly putting my “Franken car “ back together after my altercation with a deer a couple of months ago.
Replaced broken large fan assy, replaced hood , got the Drivers side light installed with glass lense and full LED bulbs.
Reinstalled bumper , rad support . Just waiting on a new glass lenses for the RH headlight assy, for some reason when I got these a few years ago for my Golf, I ended up with 2 LH glass lenses.

Are those glass lenses for a Jetta or Golf? If for a Jetta I would like to know where you found them

 

[Metal Man]

Not today, last week took the 98 NB on a 1900 mile road trip.

 

[Nero Morg]

Drove my car for the first time since I parked it, only took having to fill up my truck to be kindly reminded on why I don't daily it.
For some reason my intake air temp is sitting comfortably at 146°F and I've been parked for 20 minutes... Ambient is 100 sheesh

 

[csstevej]

Are those glass lenses for a Jetta or Golf? If for a Jetta I would like to know where you found them

Sorry theses are for a golf, I bought them about 10 yrs ago from a member on here that was selling them.
Thay we’re sitting on my shelf till the deer hit.
Only place i found them were over seas in China…..still waiting for them……not thrilled but when I looked that’s all I found.

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Think I found the reason for my high fuel consumption. A sticky rear driver's side brake. At least I assume that's the issue. The other 3 wheels are fairly normal temperature. Rear drivers one was much hotter after a highway drive. Anyone have experience with this?

Tonight I'm ripping the brakes apart and cleaning everything and greasing. Bleed the system and replace as much of the brake fluid as possible and lube up the park brake cable?

I have a habit of never using the park brake because it's unnecessary where I live.

 

[Rrusse11]

With the help of some windex, found the nail that was causing my slow leak in one tire. My guru and sidekick Norm
were instrumental, I was convinced that it had to be leaking from around the bead and needed to take the tire off and repaint the rim lip. Tire is getting close to the wear bars, and I've got a set of new waiting in the wings. I'll put them on for the winter season. A plug sufficed for a quick and ez repair.

Been driving the CRD a bit, so waiting another 3-4k till Nov Dec should be no problem.
I sure do love my RC tunes on the pair.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I have a habit of never using the park brake because it's unnecessary where I live.

I rarely used the parking brake on my Wagon because I didn't often need it, and I learned to drive in British cars where you were wise to never touch the parking brake. But after multiple cable issues I now use it regularly. Much better.

 

[cdi320]

I rarely used the parking brake on my Wagon because I didn't often need it, and I learned to drive in British cars where you were wise to never touch the parking brake. But after multiple cable issues I now use it regularly. Much better.

I found that on mk4s, after a while whether you use the handbrake or not, the cables seize badly... A lot of times I thought my caliper was seized, but it was just the cable. Not sure why mk4 calipers/cables are so prone to seizing. The 20 year old accord has original cables and they work just fine, always release perfectly

 

[Zak99b5]

I found that on mk4s, after a while whether you use the handbrake or not, the cables seize badly... A lot of times I thought my caliper was seized, but it was just the cable. Not sure why mk4 calipers/cables are so prone to seizing. The 20 year old accord has original cables and they work just fine, always release perfectly

Rear open end of the cable is pointing up. Water can enter and work its way down the cable housing, where it rusts it all shut.

My first car was an MGB, speaking of English parking brakes. The lever was next to the passenger seat, between it and the tranny/driveshaft tunnel, which made for an interesting pull when a chick was sitting in it. Guessing it’s something they didn’t move over to make the car LHD for export.

 

[Diesel Fumes]

I found that on mk4s, after a while whether you use the handbrake or not, the cables seize badly... A lot of times I thought my caliper was seized, but it was just the cable. Not sure why mk4 calipers/cables are so prone to seizing. The 20 year old accord has original cables and they work just fine, always release perfectly

I got lazy last night and just sprayed some penetrating oil on the cable. Seemed like the back wheel wasn't as hot after a highway drive today. Seemed to be the same temp as all the other back wheel. Both backs were still warmer than the fronts though I think. Will check again after a highway drive during the heat in the day time.

Cable looks very bad and very original though. I hope that's all the problem is. How common is it for brake calipers to fail? Because the back ones aren't very cheap.

 

[Diesel Fumes]

Rear open end of the cable is pointing up. Water can enter and work its way down the cable housing, where it rusts it all shut.

My first car was an MGB, speaking of English parking brakes. The lever was next to the passenger seat, between it and the tranny/driveshaft tunnel, which made for an interesting pull when a chick was sitting in it. Guessing it’s something they didn’t move over to make the car LHD for export.

The parking brake still works perfectly though. If it's off I can easily push the car in neutral. If it's on, it doesn't move at all. But could still be sticky?