What did you do to your MKIV today?

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
Nero, what would you say is the best flywheel weight for stock for best all around FE's?
It's hard to say, depends on how you drive. Lots of stop and go? Lighter flywheel. Lots of highway? Heavier one. The idea is the heavier one is easier to maintain speed and keep the momentum going, but isn't so good at revving up. A lighter one is easier to spin up, but loses the momentum potential.
 

jmodge

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Location
Greenville, MI
TDI
2001 alh Jetta, RC2 w/.205's 5speed daily summer commuter and 2000 alh Jetta 5spd swap, 2" lift, hitch, stage 3 TDtuning w/.216's winter cruiser, 1996 Tacoma ALh
If you want 1st hand perspective on light flywheels, look up “Rocketeer” for his opinion
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Haha no kidding! Why is it that no matter what you buy, it always seems like the previous owner was a total incompetent idiot? 😂
Because Americans, maybe all humans, always blame others for whatever problems they have, real or imagined, on others.
 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
Because Americans, maybe all humans, always blame others for whatever problems they have, real or imagined, on others.
Are you implying that I broke into my son's car, unplugged the door window controller and wire going to side mirror, and plugged that into the window controller?? lol
 

JDSwan87

Black Swamp Thing
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Location
Michigan near Toledo
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 5 speed Lagoon Blue Metallic(sold); 2005 Jetta TDI Wagon auto
Took it for an alignment after R/R of the left CV shaft. Shop called back and said right ball joint is bad, ordered 2 new ball joints from IDPARTS today. Also was told my steering rack is popping with 227k miles on it. Not looking forward to that job.
 

hey_allen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Location
Altus, OK
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI
I suspect part of the reason there are so many "idiot PO" stories is that a PO gets fed up and offloads the cars that so many of us have found and taken the time to repair.

My biggest TDI PO story was about buying my car with a massive loss of power issue that would not trigger a code, nor would anything show up on VCDS. Eventually I was poking around and noticed an intermittent under-boost condition, and found that when some PO had started replacing decayed vacuum lines, they'd swapped the hoses on the ASV control solenoid.
This caused the covered vent that was supposed to allow the ASV vacuum actuator to return to "open" when the solenoid was off to be venting the system vacuum instead of just the vacuum diaphragm in the actuator.
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
Or it could be lazy/uneducated PO's, my car, the lady drove it 80 miles one way to work every day for four years, with a dead maf and seized turbo actuator. Ironically, they had a stack of receipts for wheels, axles, brakes, oil changes... But refused to fix that part... Cause it still drove.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
" It was mostly me being funny. I wouldn't go lighter than 18lb, " Nero Morg

Yeah, I got that! :) GMTA though, I reckin with my FAmpr, which IIRC is about 2#s or so heavier than the stock
pulley, would be perfect.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”

Well I did a terrible thing, $400 later I have a twin for my TDI (TDI is the one *without* California plates). It’s a 2004 1.8T with 96k miles that cannot be registered in Canada. Why would I buy this you ask? Well, it’s very clean, it was cheap, and it has cool things that I will swap onto my TDI. I may not have thought this through all the way but I’m excited anyway haha.
Mainly I am interested in swapping every body panel that is removable, but primarily the front fenders as my car’s body is pretty rough in places. Then I will maybe swap the two-tone interior pieces. It also has a tow hook! (My TDI didn’t come with one so that will get swapped) Also I’m thinking the intercooler and pancake pipe will get swapped over, because my intercooler is pounded out from having a piece of the fender liner missing (previous owner 😉).
It also has 17” wheels so I will swap my 16’s with the winter tires onto it and use the 17’s for my winters on the TDI.
Then my buddy and I may just build the 1.8T into a fast little go-buggy... or maybe I’ll sell it, haven’t decided yet.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
I should mention, it looks like crud because it’s been sitting under a tree for a few years, and needs a good washing.
 

PakProtector

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Took it for an alignment after R/R of the left CV shaft. Shop called back and said right ball joint is bad, ordered 2 new ball joints from IDPARTS today. Also was told my steering rack is popping with 227k miles on it. Not looking forward to that job.
Do a solid job of pulling the ball joint to its outer stop. Then if it has to come apart again, you will have an easier time getting it in the same place.

Douglas
 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
Do a solid job of pulling the ball joint to its outer stop. Then if it has to come apart again, you will have an easier time getting it in the same place.

Douglas
This only makes sense if the old BJ was also pulled out as far as it can go, and the caster/camber were within spec.

If the BJ needed to be manipulated to get camber/caster in spec, then the new one needs to go in exactly the same. If it were pulled out as far as it can go, you'd alter the toe (be toed out).
 

PakProtector

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Zak, caster is not appreciably effected by ball joint position. The travel is entirely a camber changer, aside from fore aft slop. There is IME, no way with stock, in tolerance bits to put the camber out of spec by moving the ball joint all the way out.
cheers,
Douglas
 

jmodge

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Location
Greenville, MI
TDI
2001 alh Jetta, RC2 w/.205's 5speed daily summer commuter and 2000 alh Jetta 5spd swap, 2" lift, hitch, stage 3 TDtuning w/.216's winter cruiser, 1996 Tacoma ALh
next time you have a ball joint disconnected from the spindle, twist the body in the control arm and watch how far the the stud goes forward and back. It moves quite a bit. The two outer slots in the ball joint body are angled to twist for caster adjustment, center one is straight for camber
 

JDSwan87

Black Swamp Thing
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Location
Michigan near Toledo
TDI
2001 Jetta TDI, 5 speed Lagoon Blue Metallic(sold); 2005 Jetta TDI Wagon auto
All of this (in my opinion) is a non-starter. I paid for a lifetime alignment years ago on this car and this will be the 5th time shes been aligned under the lifetime alignment. (I took it back 10k miles after a suspension refresh for a checkup and twice just because.)
 

P2B

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Location
Toronto & Muskoka, Canada
TDI
2002 Jetta, 2003 Jetta, 2003 Jetta Wagon
Heading home from an (awesome) Nick Cave gig last night and the ABS and ESP warning lights come on. VCDS says right rear wheel sensor electrical fault.

In the snow belt that usually means the tone ring has rusted, swollen up, and trashed the sensor coil. Clear the code and it will return immediately without even starting the car - but in this case it didn't, and all 4 sensors were reading fine in measuring block 001.

Put on another 200km today and still no dash lights - maybe the controller just glitched.
 

Nero Morg

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2017
Location
OR
TDI
2014 A6 TDI, 2001 Jetta TDI, 2014 Passat TDI
Not today, but yesterday, drove across town to look at a NMS passat, got 38mpg according to my scangauge.
Wonder how the nms will do in comparison to my wagon. Guess I gotta fix this first.
 

norbert77

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2022
Location
Petrolia
TDI
01 beetle
Not today, I keep looking for proper speaker and spacers for the back.
Was in storage for winter. A mouse moved in. Also, clean behind your wheel well...





 

PakProtector

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
Holy macaroni, what happened there? 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, crossed with a cruise control wiring job in a manual swap? using only cutters?
cheers,
Douglas
 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
Swapped the seat bottoms on my car. Only one small crack on the drivers lower plastic trim, and cracked one tab on the seat back adjuster knob.

"New" cushion is much more comfy and supportive than the old.
 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
next time you have a ball joint disconnected from the spindle, twist the body in the control arm and watch how far the the stud goes forward and back. It moves quite a bit. The two outer slots in the ball joint body are angled to twist for caster adjustment, center one is straight for camber
I have replacement LCAs from ID Parts (TT bushes and HD balljoints) waiting to go on my car, so for $h!ts and giggles I loosened the nuts at the BJ and moved it around.

There is not a LOT of adjustment, but the BJ (at the spindle) moves 2-3mm fore and aft, and about the same in and out. I do know that it doesn't take a lot of movement in parts to alter alignment a couple degrees, but I'd be interested to see what the range of motion (in degrees) is there.

My plan is to get the ball joints on the new arms in the same relative positions as on the old (had it aligned last summer), drive it for a week or so, then get it all aligned (I am also redoing the rear axle bushings).
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
That movement doesn't translate into a ton of camber change. Just had my car aligned yesterday, same arms as yours. You might get a half degree of camber change. It will change toe enough to wear tires, however.
 

jmodge

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 18, 2015
Location
Greenville, MI
TDI
2001 alh Jetta, RC2 w/.205's 5speed daily summer commuter and 2000 alh Jetta 5spd swap, 2" lift, hitch, stage 3 TDtuning w/.216's winter cruiser, 1996 Tacoma ALh
I have replacement LCAs from ID Parts (TT bushes and HD balljoints) waiting to go on my car, so for $h!ts and giggles I loosened the nuts at the BJ and moved it around.

There is not a LOT of adjustment, but the BJ (at the spindle) moves 2-3mm fore and aft, and about the same in and out. I do know that it doesn't take a lot of movement in parts to alter alignment a couple degrees, but I'd be interested to see what the range of motion (in degrees) is there.

My plan is to get the ball joints on the new arms in the same relative positions as on the old (had it aligned last summer), drive it for a week or so, then get it all aligned (I am also redoing the rear axle bushings).
It's simple to check camber with a good machinist square to find how much range there is, caster not quite so simple. When I did mine I clocked them both in one direction to get max positive caster, never measured it. Alignment shop had said it was good. 3mm would be what I would consider, quite a bit. Not sure if it relates to quite a bit of change in angle.
 
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