What did you do to your MKIV today?

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
I had tons of problems with his lights... bought 2 sets early on (2014). Cheap lights (one arrived broken because the projectors are too heavy for the internal hardware to support) - crappy wiring - horribly designed harness and one had obsolete HID bulbs. Only good thing was the glass lenses. I rewired, replaced ballasts, ditched his harnesses and modified the car to keep lows on with highs (lows power ballasts, highs trigger the shrouds). LEDs now work so much better than HIDs- when I fix the second set of his (been on the shelf useless for years) - I'll go that route.
Drop in LEDs should not be used in projectors, or reflector housings.

They are not better than HIDs in a dedicated HID projector.
 

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
Brothers car: fixed his broken EGR pipes (both accordion pipes broke, no boost), swapped intake manifold with a cleaned unit while we were at it. All better now and power is back like it should be.
 

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,
Drove my jetta to church yesterday, as my wife had been driving the b5.5 passat and the oil pressure light came on. I'm very grateful that she pulled off and shut it down right away. Called the tow guy to bring it over to the shop and over lunch today I looked at it. The level was low, so I topped it off and checked the pressure. It was fine. Yeah, I guess I gotta check it more often...
Oh, and I am a blessed man with my wife!
 

benmarks

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS Sedan Platinum Gray
Re today, I didn't necessarily do anything other than accept the delivery, but all the parts for my upgrade to the PD150 OEM-style front mounted intercooler arrived. Darkside sells an upgraded Audi S3 intercooler that's bolt-on if you have the other matching parts. I also ordered all the hoses, pipes, intake manifold, etc. to go along with my PD150 engine swap (rebuilt and upgraded by Whitbread Performance and on a tractor trailer to Portland right now.) Unlike the aftermarket FMIC's, the OEM one sandwiches between the radiator and the AC condenser:

 

norbert77

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2022
Location
Petrolia
TDI
01 beetle
Drove my jetta to church yesterday, as my wife had been driving the b5.5 passat and the oil pressure light came on. I'm very grateful that she pulled off and shut it down right away. Called the tow guy to bring it over to the shop and over lunch today I looked at it. The level was low, so I topped it off and checked the pressure. It was fine. Yeah, I guess I gotta check it more often...
Oh, and I am a blessed man with my wife!
Ever see the episode of Home Improvement where Tim the Toolman's wife runs the car out of oil?

"If the problem got worse, the light should have got brighter" or close to it
 

ghohouston

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Location
Lewisville, Texas
TDI
2001 Jetta Sedan TDI 5 Speed
I had tons of problems with his lights... bought 2 sets early on (2014). Cheap lights (one arrived broken because the projectors are too heavy for the internal hardware to support) - crappy wiring - horribly designed harness and one had obsolete HID bulbs. Only good thing was the glass lenses. I rewired, replaced ballasts, ditched his harnesses and modified the car to keep lows on with highs (lows power ballasts, highs trigger the shrouds). LEDs now work so much better than HIDs- when I fix the second set of his (been on the shelf useless for years) - I'll go that route.
That's wild. I've literally had 1 ballast go bad since 2018 or 19 when I bought them new from him, which obviously isn't his fault. Maybe his quality improved over the years? We do a ton of night driving too. If I had to guess, 175k miles they've been in the car. Original bulbs they came with.
 

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,
Ever see the episode of Home Improvement where Tim the Toolman's wife runs the car out of oil?

"If the problem got worse, the light should have got brighter" or close to it
No, I've never seen that, but I have known plenty of women (and guys) who kept driving after the oil light came on and ruined the engine.
 

03TDICommuter

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Location
So. Cal
TDI
01' NB, 5spd
Today is the coldest day I have fired up my poor old beetle, it's 16゚F. Poor girl's been in storage the last many years all Winter long But I don't have a suitable Winter car. The glow plug doesn't stay on and there's no dynamic idle. At what temperature should the Glow plug light stay on?
I've read at 40 degrees.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
My recollection is that if it's below 10°C (50F) here, the glow plugs stay on for at least a second or two; once it's down to 4-5°C (~40F), they stay on for noticeable seconds. Below freezing and it's gotta be at least 5-7sec.

16F.... (-10°C) you should have them stay on for at least that long.
 

gforce1108

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Location
Newburgh, NY
TDI
04 Jetta GLS BEW, 14 Audi A7 V6 TDI, 13 Porsche Cayenne V6 TDI
Drop in LEDs should not be used in projectors, or reflector housings.

They are not better than HIDs in a dedicated HID projector.
The newer LEDs with dual length LEDs to correct focal length actually work extremely well. They fit perfectly in reflector housings. Brighter and whiter is all. I put them in my 03 wagon and my Frontier (1 in each at first as a comparison then did both). Beam pattern was identical. In this case though - I'm talking about replacing the crap HIDs with LEDs. I've done probably 10 sets of LEDs this year. Unbelievable improvements over the last few years. HIDs are getting obsolete.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
The newer LEDs with dual length LEDs to correct focal length actually work extremely well. They fit perfectly in reflector housings. Brighter and whiter is all. I put them in my 03 wagon and my Frontier (1 in each at first as a comparison then did both). Beam pattern was identical. In this case though - I'm talking about replacing the crap HIDs with LEDs. I've done probably 10 sets of LEDs this year. Unbelievable improvements over the last few years. HIDs are getting obsolete.
It's not just about where the LED sits on the stem. 10 sets of LEDs in stock reflector housings...

Show me the cutoff. What improvements are you talking about? Drop ins are drop ins.

I'm not going to go in more detail. People just don't care about blinding others.

It doesn't matter the "advancements" made in LED bulbs. Until housings/reflectors are engineered to be used in conjunction with a specific bulb, they will always have the same issue they currently have.

HIDs will not become obsolete. They still throw way better light when used in a projector designed for them.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Also a blinding light source for anyone below the cutoff
If you are in the smallest of small cars, maybe. But the way the DOT setup for projectors is designed is to have the cutoff 2+ inches below where the center of the projector sits in the car on a level surface (at 25'). So the drop that enters into the passenger lane should be below the driver line of site on MOST vehicles. Even in my leveled truck, they sit below oncoming driver's eyes, because I have them set up properly. Yes, light will get thrown into the drivers eyes if the vehicle is coming up a hill, or there is anything in the road that causes the headlights to go up. This happens with any light source and is not just a HID projector issue.

I've sat in my Golf and parked my truck over 30' away with the headlights on and the cutoff is not in my line of sight. I've done enough research and built enough retrofits to know and take the time to set them up properly on my vehicles and the one's I've done retros for. I can't say the same for others.

Also, don't look at peoples headlights, that helps a lot
 

Zak99b5

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI
Krash knows a lot of stuff, but especially about automotive lighting.

Further, DOT reflectors are designed to allow a percentage of glare above the main beam pattern, for illuminating overhead highway signs.
When a 900-1000 lumen halogen is the source, that's not a lot of light glare. When an 8000-12000 LED bulb is in the same housing allowing the same percentage of light to shine above the pattern (but probabnly more since light source doesn't match the reflector design), the glare is awful--at least 10x as bright as that from a halogen bulb.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
It's not just about where the LED sits on the stem. 10 sets of LEDs in stock reflector housings...

Show me the cutoff. What improvements are you talking about? Drop ins are drop ins.

I'm not going to go in more detail. People just don't care about blinding others.

It doesn't matter the "advancements" made in LED bulbs. Until housings/reflectors are engineered to be used in conjunction with a specific bulb, they will always have the same issue they currently have.

HIDs will not become obsolete. They still throw way better light when used in a projector designed for them.
Thank you.
You, my man, are the only person (besides the folks on HIDPlanet) who seems to actually understand this.

Edit: And also Zak99b5. Just saw his comment lol
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Krash knows a lot of stuff, but especially about automotive lighting.

Further, DOT reflectors are designed to allow a percentage of glare above the main beam pattern, for illuminating overhead highway signs.
When a 900-1000 lumen halogen is the source, that's not a lot of light glare. When an 8000-12000 LED bulb is in the same housing allowing the same percentage of light to shine above the pattern (but probabnly more since light source doesn't match the reflector design), the glare is awful--at least 10x as bright as that from a halogen bulb.
Yup this is absolutely correct.
Also as a tidbit of information, the cheap Chinese aftermarket lights for these cars that are "complete" and have a projector in them, are only designed for halogen bulbs in the projector. Not only can the projector bowl not handle the heat of the HID and it will burn, but the above statement is also true. Even though they have a "projector", since they are designed for a halogen bulb, they too allow a bit of light above the cutoff. This gets amplified as scattered, intense light with an HID bulb as well as an LED bulb. Same same.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
Thank you.
You, my man, are the only person (besides the folks on HIDPlanet) who seems to actually understand this.

Edit: And also Zak99b5. Just saw his comment lol
Yeah, I spent years over on that forum doing research before I even built my first retrofit. There's a lot of great info there and I try to point people over there to spend some time to gain understanding of how all the systems work together. They definitely can get into the high level stuff as well which I like, that a few of my college classes touched in physics which is also intriguing to me. It's not enough for me to just know something works, I'm the type of person who needs to understand why.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Krash knows a lot of stuff, but especially about automotive lighting.

Further, DOT reflectors are designed to allow a percentage of glare above the main beam pattern, for illuminating overhead highway signs.
When a 900-1000 lumen halogen is the source, that's not a lot of light glare. When an 8000-12000 LED bulb is in the same housing allowing the same percentage of light to shine above the pattern (but probabnly more since light source doesn't match the reflector design), the glare is awful--at least 10x as bright as that from a halogen bulb.
I actually hadn’t thought about that aspect, I assumed the glare I keep getting from other idiots was mainly caused by the LED bulbs being the wrong shape for halogen reflectors and just not putting light in the right spots, but that makes a lot of sense.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Yup this is absolutely correct.
Also as a tidbit of information, the cheap Chinese aftermarket lights for these cars that are "complete" and have a projector in them, are only designed for halogen bulbs in the projector. Not only can the projector bowl not handle the heat of the HID and it will burn, but the above statement is also true. Even though they have a "projector", since they are designed for a halogen bulb, they too allow a bit of light above the cutoff. This gets amplified as scattered, intense light with an HID bulb as well as an LED bulb. Same same.
Yeah that is another thing I have encountered, people (one coworker especially, he can’t grasp the concept even when explained in plain English) assume all “projector” headlights are HID projectors, which, like you said, is not true.
 

KrashDH

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
I actually hadn’t thought about that aspect, I assumed the glare I keep getting from other idiots was mainly caused by the LED bulbs being the wrong shape for halogen reflectors and just not putting light in the right spots, but that makes a lot of sense.
With LED's, it's a combo of how the light reflects (pretty much there is no consistency to it at all) throwing light in every direction. That coupled with the fact that it's designed for a halogen to place light in certain areas (namely a bit above said cutoff) it just throws it even more wildly up above that area.
Yeah that is another thing I have encountered, people (one coworker especially, he can’t grasp the concept even when explained in plain English) assume all “projector” headlights are HID projectors, which, like you said, is not true.
Haha yeah, they are not all created equal. When I took the projectors out of the Depo headlights for this car in my V2 build saga, there was a sticker on the housing that was very obvious warning "NOT FOR HID BULBS". The funny thing was the seller offered the housings as an HID "kit" option for an extra cost.

Some people won't get it, some people don't care enough to get it, which is why we have what we have now on the roads. Blinding others and making unsafe driving conditions for everyone else.
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Re today, I didn't necessarily do anything other than accept the delivery, but all the parts for my upgrade to the PD150 OEM-style front mounted intercooler arrived. Darkside sells an upgraded Audi S3 intercooler that's bolt-on if you have the other matching parts. I also ordered all the hoses, pipes, intake manifold, etc. to go along with my PD150 engine swap (rebuilt and upgraded by Whitbread Performance and on a tractor trailer to Portland right now.) Unlike the aftermarket FMIC's, the OEM one sandwiches between the radiator and the AC condenser:

Just looking at that second pic, man I love the German language 😂😂
 

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
Re today, I didn't necessarily do anything other than accept the delivery, but all the parts for my upgrade to the PD150 OEM-style front mounted intercooler arrived. Darkside sells an upgraded Audi S3 intercooler that's bolt-on if you have the other matching parts. I also ordered all the hoses, pipes, intake manifold, etc. to go along with my PD150 engine swap (rebuilt and upgraded by Whitbread Performance and on a tractor trailer to Portland right now.) Unlike the aftermarket FMIC's, the OEM one sandwiches between the radiator and the AC condenser:

This is cool. I know the PD150 core support for a MKIV allows for an intercooler, condenser, and radiator sandwich. I always thought that was a nice setup.

What transmission are you using?
 

benmarks

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Location
Portland, OR
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS Sedan Platinum Gray
This is cool. I know the PD150 core support for a MKIV allows for an intercooler, condenser, and radiator sandwich. I always thought that was a nice setup.

What transmission are you using?
Yeah, I had to find a PD150 core support or "slam panel" as they call it in Europe ;) Also, the fans have much shallower motors so I had to find both of those too.

Re the transmission, I am keeping my 02M (technically 02Y since it's from my 4Motion conversion) so, as far as I know, I don't need to make any additional changes.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Location
Island near Vancouver
TDI
2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
Krash knows a lot of stuff, but especially about automotive lighting.

Further, DOT reflectors are designed to allow a percentage of glare above the main beam pattern, for illuminating overhead highway signs.
When a 900-1000 lumen halogen is the source, that's not a lot of light glare. When an 8000-12000 LED bulb is in the same housing allowing the same percentage of light to shine above the pattern (but probabnly more since light source doesn't match the reflector design), the glare is awful--at least 10x as bright as that from a halogen bulb.
Well-stated!
"LEDs work great!" always leave out the "...for me, sitting in my car, scattering obscene amounts of light into oncoming drivers' eyes."

Maybe they don't notice because there is a sharp cut-off between the BLINDING portion of the beam aimed at the road and the scattered portion above the cut-off line, but for oncoming traffic....that stuff above the cut-off still assaults the rods in the retina.
 

Judson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
Cheyenne, WY
TDI
2001 Jetta
Stock from the factory there are stupidly bright blinding lights now, so I think the playing field has changed a lot. This is true for pickup trucks and 18 wheelers in particular. I could flash people every single time I drive at night now.
 

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
In my experience Ford products are the worst. Those F-series trucks with the huge lights, and any SUV from them. Oncoming or behind me, they're distinctive, and not in a good way.
 

hey_allen

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Location
Altus, OK
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI
Lacking a mounting bracket for my Frost Heater, I resorted to being crafty with the materials and tools on hand.
I ended up using the minimal tooling I've found in my unpacking to make this from some stainless TIG filler wire and safety wire.

It will hopefully at least last through the winter. I'm going to be pulling the nose to replace the AC condenser and compressor in the spring, and will look into how this fared and potentially upgrading this at that point.


More images in my gallery folder.
 
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P2B

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Location
Toronto & Muskoka, Canada
TDI
2002 Jetta, 2003 Jetta, 2003 Jetta Wagon
Put the winter tires on the sedan, left it a bit late so had to shovel the driveway first :confused:

#3 glow plug was dead, used my last spare...
 

J_dude

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
SK Canada
TDI
2003 1.9l “Jedi”
Lacking a mounting bracket for my Frost Heater, I resorted to being crafty with the materials and tools on hand.
I ended up using the minimal tooling I've found in my unpacking to make this from some stainless TIG filler wire and safety wire.

It will hopefully at least last through the winter. I'm going to be pulling the nose to replace the AC condenser and compressor in the spring, and will look into how this fared and potentially upgrading this at that point.


More images in my gallery folder.
Should work in a pinch? Maybe put a fender washer under that nut, looks like the wire could slip out pretty easy
 
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