What did you do to your other vehicle today?
- Thread starter Zorba
- Start date
pulled all the plugs in the truck tonight, wire brushed the threads and gapped back to .60 per GM's spec.
generally average about 3-5k miles before the cap and rotor is toast and leaves me stranded. pulled the cap and rotor and dusted out the assembly with compressed air and reassembled. been through many ac delco ignition parts for the old chevy over the years. but its still kicking and 285k miles and doesn't burn any more oil than expected of a well maintained engine with mostly highway miles.
plugs and wires have less than 5k on them, gaps were pretty much excellent though all evenly a hair off. cap and rotor have about 350 miles. rotor and cap also looked good.
generally average about 3-5k miles before the cap and rotor is toast and leaves me stranded. pulled the cap and rotor and dusted out the assembly with compressed air and reassembled. been through many ac delco ignition parts for the old chevy over the years. but its still kicking and 285k miles and doesn't burn any more oil than expected of a well maintained engine with mostly highway miles.
plugs and wires have less than 5k on them, gaps were pretty much excellent though all evenly a hair off. cap and rotor have about 350 miles. rotor and cap also looked good.
did a clutch job on a TDI standard trans Jetta before.. whole scope of the job impressed me. very simple job in comparison to the clutch job in my old escort. escort I had to disassemble so much of the front end just to pull the axles free from the trans whereas the Jetta didnt have much disassembly at all.. was a pleasant surprise I could disassemble the axle shafts at the transmission & flop them out of the way and was also my first introduction to Volkswagens double square fasteners.
This was my first VW experience. I was prepared for the triple square bolts, but not how many fasteners are torque-to-yield. Currently waiting on 12 inner axle bolts and 1 outer. There wasn't too much disassembly to extract the DSG trans. We had that out in a few hours last Saturday. Installing the trans was touted as the most difficult task because space is tight. The 'net was right about that. I think I added a few words and phrases to my son's vocabulary.
forgot about the single use bolts. I was doing the clutch for a acquaintance at the time super cheap, think I made $100. he refused shelling out for a replacement dual mass flywheel so I spend some time with a green scouring pad.. so the torque to yield bolts were also reused to gooodentite torque specs. I was also surprised to find the torque to yields as well.
pretty good little engine and car though. designed well and I was impressed with it for sure. kinda still want one.
pretty good little engine and car though. designed well and I was impressed with it for sure. kinda still want one.
onsight
New Member
How long have you owned the TDI? Generally speaking, how has the reliability been?
I'm going from fully remote to a 50 mile daily commute next month, and I've been looking hard at a 2014 Jetta TDI wagon as a daily (or for my wife to daily instead of the XC90). Either way, 38-42mpg diesel blows 18 gas out of the water.
onsight
New Member
This is what I did in my beater Crown Vic when the actuator went out. There are now two settings: ice cold or Icelandic sauna.Id be fine with just taking a zip tie and locking the blend door in place on full heat but OCD says I cant do that. its located just behind the glovebox and now that I got it out ive realized its not a terribly invasive job to get at. can reach both the 5.5mm screws once I pull the glovebox. id buy new but used is the better option at this point financially. luckily its not the control panel module on the dash
I've owned it for ~6 months. Reliability is unknown. The car was a fixer upper with several known issues when I got it. As luck would have it, the car still ad dieselgate warranty which covered almost all of the issues. It sat at the dealership for 4 months, a month at my son's auto shop class, an now my place where it awaits UPS/FedEx to bring me some damn parts.
It's my first VW and first diesel. The maintenance schedule is somewhat rigorous. At least parts are widely available and repair/maintenance how-to's are abundant.
If you have the VIN, see if it has any dieselgate warranty available- https://www.vwdieselinfo.com The warranty is fully transferrable and covers anything that could negatively affect emissions. In my case, that was $6k in parts and labor.
Washed it, checked all the fluids and tire, recharged the AC, filled it up with gas. We're headed to Tombstone, AZ Thursday for a motorcycle poker run benefiting Vets this weekend.
What do you want on your tombstone ? Cheese and pepperoni.
onsight
New Member
Thanks for the info. I also have zero experience with diesels or Volkswagens, aside from my dad's Powerstroke and Type 2 bus.
I'll bookmark that site for if/when we get one. Hopefully soon as my Jeep mods are held hostage by $4.50 gas.
I finished brakes and bearings on all 4 corners on this one and got it back on the tires so I can drive her out tomorrow, then drive the jeep in so I can do some maintenance and a few upgrades on it.
Used a Curt trailer wiring kit, spliced the wires into red led lights, and drilled holes for the lights to fit into the factory bumper reflectors and made them running, turn, and brake lights on the Crosstrek.
Wheels/ tires arrived...I like em. Wanted skinnys up front but time did not allow for it.
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OP
Brought the MBZ up to warp speed for the first time in 2 months! Drove it to Belly Dance class post-control arm replacement.
Replaced the rear brake pads on my wife's T4R. First vehicle I think I've ever had long enough to replace brake pads twice.
The front pads have been singing around 40mph but go silent when used, so I pulled them and gave the shims a good coating of silicone brake lubricant before putting them back in. I do enjoy how quick brake work is on that vehicle, particularly in front. It's a four piston caliper so I just pull a couple of pins and the pads come right out. Don't even need a wrench other than the one for the wheel lugs.
The front pads have been singing around 40mph but go silent when used, so I pulled them and gave the shims a good coating of silicone brake lubricant before putting them back in. I do enjoy how quick brake work is on that vehicle, particularly in front. It's a four piston caliper so I just pull a couple of pins and the pads come right out. Don't even need a wrench other than the one for the wheel lugs.
Update pic... less than a month before I have to have it finished. I'm starting to get a little nervous. 
This wasn't today, but it's rather recent:
-2003 Dodge Ram 2500 +90 hp tune on the truck
Minutes later after testing...
-2003 Dodge Ram 2500 New clutch
-2003 Dodge Ram 2500 +90 hp tune on the truck
Minutes later after testing...
-2003 Dodge Ram 2500 New clutch
For the first time in my 50+ years of vehicle repair, I replaced a power steering cooler. On my Silverado. I honestly never knew they existed. Tubes started to leak like rusty brake lines. New one on the right. Has a different lower mount than the original.
When you're punching 'power steering cooler' into Google and 'power steering cooler failure 2009 silverado' comes up before you finish, you know there's been some problems.
When you're punching 'power steering cooler' into Google and 'power steering cooler failure 2009 silverado' comes up before you finish, you know there's been some problems.