What did you do to your MKIV today?

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
The rh rear e-brake cable decided to stick , was broken where it’s attached to the bottom of frame with that funky clamp.
Replaced both e-brake cables with the new heavy duty ones and installed helper return e-brake springs.
Those springs are great. Stock on B5s, but somehow omitted on the A4s.
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
Part number/source for these springs you speak of?

The rh rear e-brake cable decided to stick , was broken where it’s attached to the bottom of frame with that funky clamp.
Replaced both e-brake cables with the new heavy duty ones and installed helper return e-brake springs.
Those springs are great. Stock on B5s, but somehow omitted on the A4s.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Used my beetle to boost the duramax van. Not as funny as in college me boosting a big tilt and load truck with my Hyundai pony
Haha yeah, my buddy thought it was hilarious when he had to boost my Cummins with his 04 Mustang, but as much as I love the irony of boosting vehicles way bigger than mine think it is pretty hard on the alternator.

I would never leave someone stranded if all they needed was a quick boost though, that would be pretty callous.
 

Judson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
Cheyenne, WY
TDI
2001 Jetta
Got almost all of the parts in for my radiator job late yesterday (except for the lower coolant bottle hose). I decided after tearing into things to change all of the mounta, the upper and lower coolant bottle hoses, the bottle itself, and a couple of other little things. So tackled getting the radiator back in today.
The brand new Gates lower coolant hose (radiator to the pipe that leads to the thermostat) was about 2” too short. How the hell does somebody screw that up? Anyway this hose has a plastic ring that’s supposed to be pushed into the radiator fan housing, but turns out with my crap-ass hose it was too short and doing so pulled too hard on the hose which led to a leak at the lower coupling. So I opened up the plastic ring which was pulling on the hose and that ended up doing the trick. It doesn’t look like it’ll flop around too much or put a strain on things but I’ll keep an eye out. For now bone dry underneath and temps are holding steady.
Cleaned everything; between the condensor and the old radiator there was a ton of crud, so worth doing. This was a preventative maintenance job; there wasn’t a leak before. Original radiator and lower coolant coupling and hose, and upper radiator coupling all got replaced along with the coolant overflow/expansion bottle.
Phew!
 

norbert77

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2022
Location
Petrolia
TDI
01 beetle
I have a small leak. Had it for 3 years 50,000 miles. Only leaks if I shut it off after a hard drive. The rad has been here 2 years... one of these days I will get to it
 

Fahrvegnugen

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2017
Location
Burlington Vt
TDI
01 golf 1.9 alh gls silver
Mine only leaked after sitting for days. It sealed itself after a few fill ups and regular driving until parked again. My lower coupling was the least fun of all taking it on and off. New radiator was valeo same as oe (except now made in china) but much flimsier aluminum fins. The oe radiator I could push on fins without damage but new one came crumpled from the straps holding it and just touching it could crumple it. Works fine. I also got lower gates radiator hose for bottom of overflow tank as I thought that might be the problem before removing skid plate. When it blows I'll spend the day trying to figure out how to make a -2 inch aftermarket hose work. I'd get dark side radiator if I hadn't needed it right away
 

P2B

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Location
Toronto & Muskoka, Canada
TDI
2002 Jetta, 2003 Jetta, 2003 Jetta Wagon
I have a small leak. Had it for 3 years 50,000 miles. Only leaks if I shut it off after a hard drive. The rad has been here 2 years... one of these days I will get to it
I had a small radiator leak for 5 years, only leaked in winter when I parked after a highway run in outside temps well below freezing.

One summer day it let go in a big way, but after refilling with water l was able to get home (200km) by running the system unpressurized.
 

Judson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
Cheyenne, WY
TDI
2001 Jetta
Yeah my new radiator’s fins are flimsy as hell too. Didn’t know about a darkside option. This was my first time replacing a radiator I believe, certainly on this car.

Installed new rainx wipers from O’Reilly. They were the most expensive ones there but my chatter is completey gone so worth every penny.

How come no one seems to carry Mobil 1 TDT? My car loves that stuff. Anything else and she starts consuming oil.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
No Mobile TDT, no Rotella T6, still recovering from the shipping issues a couple years ago. It will make it's way to Wyoming eventually.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
No Mobile TDT, no Rotella T6, still recovering from the shipping issues a couple years ago. It will make it's way to Wyoming eventually.
Still having a very hard time finding it here in WA too.
Edit: For shell it isn't a shipping thing. They can't/couldn't get the additive package for T6, or it's in VERY limited supply.
 

Mozambiquer

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Mar 21, 2015
Location
Versailles Missouri
TDI
2004 VW Touareg V10 TDI, 2012 Audi Q7 V6 TDI, 1998 VW Jetta TDI. 1982 VW Rabbit pickup, 2001 VW Jetta TDI, 2005 VW Passat wagon TDI X3, 2001 VW golf TDI, 1980 VW rabbit pickup,
Still having a very hard time finding it here in WA too.
Edit: For shell it isn't a shipping thing. They can't/couldn't get the additive package for T6, or it's in VERY limited supply.
Theres plenty of both here... maybe I should buy a few jugs of it to ship out to guys out in the places that don't have it...
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Yeah it’s scare here in NW jersey…….if I find a jug or two I buy it……even if not needed at the time…..
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB

Fahrvegnugen

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2017
Location
Burlington Vt
TDI
01 golf 1.9 alh gls silver
I’ve been consuming a lot of Mobil tdt so I ordered Pentosin haven’t tried it yet but easy to get shipped. Im sure its more to do with turbo than oil but have heard it makes a difference
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2003 Jetta Ute, 2 x 2002 Golf, 2000 Golf
What I did today - spent 90 minutes to change out the injection pump on my project 2002 Golf. A friend/vendor told me that Made in Czech Republic on the pump denotes it as being rebuilt with all new parts, so I opted for a potentially newer/fresher pump. Best part? IQ was ridiculously low with a stock tune, but exactly where I want it with my Podtronics tune. I would've finished in about 70-75 minutes, but the damn IP sprocket was taking forever to align between that pesky boost pipe, flash light and a mirror.

Only need to redo my front axles/hubs, because of some bad/non-trued hubs I got, and then I can finally start on the rear - rear axle bushing, shocks, and springs, and then I can start finishing up my audio system install. :)
 

GP_RZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2022
Location
Alliston, Ontario
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon 5 speed
Installed some fog lights today to help with lighting as its getting darker in the mornings. New headlight housings and projectors with HID are on the way for the next step for improved lighting.

 
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benIV

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2009
Location
Southeast NC
TDI
2003 PG 5m Jetta GL Sedan, 2003 RS 5m Jetta GLS Wagon (Golf Variant)
I got Orville up on the lift to get some work done. Family came by so I got nothing done. Scheduled for this week now.

Also a week prior, I got a new younger diesel brother for the TDI's. 2007 Chevy 2500HD classic crew cab LBZ/Allison lots of miles but amazing condition.
 
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pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2003 Jetta Ute, 2 x 2002 Golf, 2000 Golf
Another exhausting night. Replaced the rear right side rear suspension. New brake rotor/Akebono pads, B6 shock, and whiteline rear axle bushing. I'll do springs (neuspeed sport) before I bolt the shocks into place. Figure I'll work on the other side tomorrow.

And what wonderful thing happened, after replacing my fuel lines with that transparent version? My inline pump took a crap on me. Tried a spare, that also doesn't work. Confirmed I'm getting voltage to the pump, and 12V directly is a no-go.





 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
Reminds me I have new rear bushes to install.....

Looks like you did it without removing the rear beam completely. Did you do one side at a time, or drop both? Are air tools necessary to do it this way?
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
I’ve done it one side at a time and an air chisel makes quick work of it. You can have it removed in spout 10 minutes. Whole job takes about a hour a side especially if you have the install tool.
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2003 Jetta Ute, 2 x 2002 Golf, 2000 Golf
Reminds me I have new rear bushes to install.....

Looks like you did it without removing the rear beam completely. Did you do one side at a time, or drop both? Are air tools necessary to do it this way?
One side at a time. I've learned from doing it twice before that when I reinstall, I'll try and get the shackle bolts screwed in a few revolutions and then try and get the axle beam centered so I can put a bolt through it.

So in my installation, I used a sawzall, somewhat carefully, since the recoil can be crazy when the blade hits something. Took maybe 10-15 minutes to get each old bushing out. The left side was worse than the right, but I've seen worse. This car only has 152K on it, but there was A LOT of neglected maintenance on it (like the fact I needed to replace the entire steering rack, because it was leaking at both ends).

I’ve done it one side at a time and an air chisel makes quick work of it. You can have it removed in spout 10 minutes. Whole job takes about a hour a side especially if you have the install tool.
It probably took me about 2 hours or so, but I also changed shocks, springs and brake pads/rotors. So nice to have a car that'll feel like new at some point.
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2003 Jetta Ute, 2 x 2002 Golf, 2000 Golf
So I took the project 2002 Golf on its first test run. Of course, it was pretty sluggish, because I forgot to plug in the MAF (this tune doesn't use it, anyways). and it's not reading my 2.5 bar map, or giving an implausible signal error (same MAP works fine on a stock tune). I'm hoping to get it aligned next wednesday, towing it to Firestone with the JSW (and get it aligned as well, since I have that lifetime alignment deal). Next up comes swapping to a VNT17, putting on a darkside SMIC, and .230 injectors, while I upgrade my daily driver 2002 Golf to .260 injectors.
 

03TDICommuter

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Location
So. Cal
TDI
01' NB, 5spd
First real freeway trip since I removed the snow screen and the inlet half of the air snorkel assembly/snow screen assembly in the fenderwell of my beetle. Surprised how much more power the car had going up Conejo grade. Left it in 5th and 85 mph was no problem. Freeway performance is definitely better.
 
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