Wow...time flies

Wow, I see it's been a while since my last post.  A lot has happened an yet I forgot to update the blog.
Lets see...since I last checked in, I've shredded my Serpentine Belt, got a random CEL, lost power to radio and have no A/C...lol

Back in April, I was heading to work when I noticed the steering was real tight/stiff when changing lanes, then I immediately noticed my engine temp was rapidly rising.  It became quickly apparent that I lost accessories power and therefore shut down the car and coasted over a few lanes to the side of the highway.  After opening the hood it became clear that I broke or more definitively, shredded the serpentine belt...there was melted rubber everywhere.  I had the car flatbeded to Northwest Garage in Bradenton.  They work primarily on VW's and I had met the owners son as several VW shows.  It There was nothing that stood out that caused the belt failure, as in a seized pulley.  The tensioner is prone to failure and mine was "ok" but I had it replaced anyhow since it had 70k miles on it and was easy to replace since belt was off.

WinterJam / DubJam Daytona Beach FL 2010

Well, WinterJam/DubJam was in Daytona this past weekend, so I headed over on Friday morning to check out the events.  Met up with my father as he's a big aircooled fan, so we hit the weekend together.

 

Friday was a full day at Destination Daytona (a very large motorcycle "compound") for AutoX, Dyno runs and a get together.

Friday night was a cruise / get together at the same place.  Supposed to be a live band and BBQ ...but there was no BBQ.

Saturday started with a big Bus Show.

Later on I headed over to the convention hall for the DubJam show ...I was registered to show the car as an exhibition (outside parking) verse Competition (inside).  However, it appears they did not have the showing as expected for the judged inside show so they had everyone park inside so as to "fill up" the hall for spectators.  So in I went.

Then on Sunday we checked out the Vintage Volkswagen Jamboree...it was around a lake...very nice venue.

It was a great weekend. More pics can be seen HERE

Last but not least, I left the show Saturday night...CHIPPED .. :)  More on that to come in another post after I've had some time to test it ...but so far (4 days) it's nutty.. ;)

MAF Sensor Swap and Clean

So I found a slightly used MAF housing and sensor on eBay last week.  The housing was specific to a Passat, but what many don't know is the important sensor inside the housing is the same for many VW's including mine.  VAG (Volkswagen Audi Group) dose not want you to know you can get the sensor for cheap on certain models and then just swap out the actual sensor for the VR6.  I think I've seen dealer quotes for a new MAF (Mass Air Flow) for the VR6 in the range of $300+ vs $100 for other model cars.

Here is Passat MAF complete.  $20 shipped vs a new at $300+

The MAF sensor is a sensitive electronic device that samples the air as it enters the throttle body.  Based on the readings (ie, air temp, oxygen, humidity, etc) it sends a signal to the ECU to adjust the many aspects of the motor  that effect performance and emissions.  Over time, and especially with an aftermarket airbox/intake the sensor can get dirty/contaminated which effects mpg's and emission and if left dirty long enough can fail and cause a Check Engine Light (CEL).

Here is the sensor inside the housing from the back side:

I'm not getting a CEL, but my mpg's are not that great, IMO, and I don't really know the maintenance history of the car.  This sensor (on every modern car) can and should be cleaned regularly.  It's fairly easy.

What I did this past Monday, was swap out the current with the "new" one and give it a whirl.  If I had MAF cleaner that day I would have cleaned the new one for giggles before I put it in, but I was curious with the swap procedure so just went for it.  The item that came in the mail was very clean as if it were new...even had the plastic covers over each end of the cylinder MAF housing.

Here is my VR6 MAF housing and sensor connection:

To swap out, it's very easy, just unplug the connection socket by squeezing the tab on the side and use a flat head to gently pry underneath and it pops right off.

Now the sensor is connected to the housing by 2 tamper screws.  The Passat had a 6 point tamper torx and mine had a 5 point tamper torx.  The corner auto parts store had a set of 6 point tamper torx for the Passat sensor but nobody had one for mine.  Therefore I just used a pair of pliers on the outer edge of the screw and with a little patience was able to remove the 2 screws.  I figured I could swap the screws to make life easier down the road, but unfortunately they are a different thread coarse.  I could take out my dremel and cut a slit in the screw top for a flat head...but not this day..I'll wait on that.

Once the screws where removed, it's as simple as inserting the new one, being VERY careful not to touch any of the "metal" parts.  The direction of the sensor is important but you cant screw it up by the way it's designed....it can only line up in the correct direction.

Now since doing the swap on Monday, I have had no issues with the change over.  I have also since bought a can of MAF cleaner.  So last night I removed the "new" sensor and gave it a good liberal spray with the cleaning solution.  Let it dry, installed it in the housing again, but didn't connect the socket until the next morning.

So far I have only been driving 15 highway miles (20 total) to work and then 15 hwy miles back.  I have not seen a massive increase in MPG's but my ultimate test will be when I drive for 3 hours to Daytona this weekend for DubJam and WinterJam.  I plan on putting the car in cruise at 3k RPM's (~70mph) and see what the average I can get.  Right now I get about 21-22 mpg to and from work when I try REAL hard to keep the rpm's low.

If it dosent show a decent improvement, then I'm going to swap out the plugs (again no history), then all the coils and finally the O2 sensors.

Cheers.

Euro Headlight Switch - Install

So the euro switch came in Friday.  Saturday, I went to see Danica Patrick's first run in a NASCAR race at the Nationwide 300 in Daytona...so the install had to wait until today.

This is very easy mod to do:

Here is the old switch, with limited functionality.

To remove, turn dial to "off", push in and turn clockwise until you hear a "click"..then pull straight out.

Disconnect the wire harness behind the switch and replace with new euro switch.

Now I can control my "City Lights" while the car is either running or not....plus give me the ability to have future front driving/fog lights and rear euro fog light.

Here are my LED "City Lights"...

This mod took the time to drink 1/3 of a beer.. ;)

Euro Headlight Switch

Sweet...been lurking eBay for a deal on the "Euro" Headlight Switch..found one and ordered one tonight.  Usually these are $45-60 ...got one for $20....looks like this!:

This will allow me to control (independently) the following:

- City Lights
- City Lights + Front Fogs
- City Lights + Front Fogs + Rear Fogs (If Available)
- Main Headlights
- Main Headlights + Front Fogs
- Main Headlights + Front Fogs + Rear Fogs (If Available)


Right now the stock switch will ONLY allow main headlights on/off when car is running.  I can't control the "city lights" with car on......no fun.

I dont have driving / fog lights yet ...but I will probably down the road.

Smoooth as buttah

Installed the new coil-on-plug last night...took all of 1 minute.

Started up, ran smooth.  Took it for a nice 20 mile shake down cruise this morning...no issues.

Then gave it a nice wash & detail ;)  Put the extra coil in an old sock and placed it in my glove box..for when the next goes..which is inevitable.

Now I just have to figure out how to remove/turn off the CEL.

Nothing like a good Check Engine Light (CEL) to end your day!!

So on my home from work tonight, I noticed the an ever so slight change in exhast note.  Then I thought I noticed the car did not "pull" from 1st to 2nd like it normaly does.  I passed it off and pulled into a gas station about 2 miles from the house to use the air compressor.  Car idled for about 7 minutes as I added air and checked each tire.  Got in the car and as I pulled away from the station all was good until reved in 2nd on my way to 3rd ...all of a sudden the car lost power and engine "spudderd" akin to hitting the rev limiter.  I come off throtle and seconds later I get my first "Check Engine Light" (CEL) ...yeah me.

I limped home sorta calm as I knew with 80% certainty that it was one of my coil-on-plugs (aka Coil packs).  This motor has 6 separate Coils located above the spark plugs and are notorious for going bad. 

Using a technique that I learned on vwvortex, while the car was still running, I removed one coil at a time and listen for engine RPM change.  If there is a change, then that coil is working....needless to say it was the last coil I pulled that had no change in engine RPM or sound for that matter.  Eureka!

Here is the bad coil...

Here is a video of the process...



Youtube video of bad coil diagnostics...

Installing the BFI Dogbone Bushing

So the Blackforest Industries Dogbone Bushings came in Friday, roughly 3 days after I ordered them.

I decided to install them Saturday morning before a trip to Orlando.  I was expecting it to take about an hour and half.  It ended up taking 8 hours.

I jacked the car up and located the mount connected between the subframe on one end and the transmission on the other.  He is a pic of the mount after I jacked up the car.

Removing from car was simple and fast.  After which I needed to disassemble the mount, remove the old  bushings and replace with the new BFI Stage 2 bushings.  I knew it was important to visualize and remember the arrangement of all the parts that make up the Dogbone mount.  However, this is where everything went awry.  Here is the mount removed from car.

The pic above shows the orientation of how everything went together with the old black bushings.  Not shown is the bolt and plate that goes through the middle and compresses everything.  I wish I looked at this pic prior to trying to put the bushing back together twice and installing twice.  After I put the BFI Stage 2 bushings in, it was impossible to thread the bolt through the center without some sort of compression or vice...none of which I had.  So I had to make a trip to the hardware store to purchase a couple C-clamps and some blue tread locker.  The clamps helped and after about 30 mins I got the bolt to catch some threads and wrenched it down tight.  Slid under the car to re-install the dogbone to only quit after an hour.  I was unable to get the bolts to line up no matter how much i sissor jacked the front of the engine. (With the mount removed the engine swings down about 4 inches and must be "lifted" up while aligning all the holes for the 4 bolts)  I began to second guess my assembly on the dogbone and realized I swapped the bushings.  I had the large bushing where the small one was supposed to be and vice versa.  This meant disassembling the dogbone, swapping the orientation, then fighting again for 30 minutes with c-clamps to compress the mount and get the center bolt to catch a thread or 2.  Once I could get a couple threads, it was easy...just c-clamp the mount to my work bench and ratchet down on the bolt until snug.

So now I'm ready to bolt the mount up again, and after another hour of heaving, pushing and grunting I still cant get the center hole to align with mount for the bolt.  I enlist my neighbor for some extra hands to muscle the engine around.  After much strain and another hour passes, we get the difficult center bolt in and then the rest fell into place.  After everything was wrenched down, the mount just didn't look right or to be more specific, not "straight"...it's hard to explain, wish I took a pic.  I did however, review the pic I took of the mount prior to removal and quickly and quite angrily realized I had reversed a part of the dogbone when I assembled it.  When I removed all the pieces the 1st time, there was a ton of old black rubber residue on the insides of the housing where the bushings sat.  I spent some time getting all the old rubber out with a green scrubby.  Not paying attention I assembled it wrong, very wrong...see the pic on the left of the correct layout and the one on right that is wrong...the wrong layout caused the bushing to be longer then it was supposed to be and that was why it was so hard to get everything to align.

So, again I had to remove the dogbone from under the car, disassemble, and arrange the parts in the right order.  Again, taking over 30 mins to get it compressed enough to get the through bolt threaded.  This time thought the dogbone bolted up under the car much quicker and easier then the prior 2 tines ....well, no duh, it was finally right.  I was so angry with myself...a 1.5 hour job took 8 hours..grrrr.

I was 2 hours late for leaving for Orlando, so I only took it for a quick test drive around the area...nothing seemed to be out of whack...no wierd noises as I went through the gears aggressively.  I was expecting a lot of vibration and engine feedback throughout the once soft mount, but my initial and short impression was that there was no extra vibration....just smooth gear transitions.

I'll give more feedback as I road test it this week.

Green Top Coolant Sensor - Purchase

Within a few days of owning the VR6, I stumbled upon an amazing website…www.vwvortex.com and specifically the sub forum “2.8l 24v VR6 Engine Forum”.

It was while lurking this forum that I learned several common (potential) engine issues. One of which was the stock Coolant Sensor was prone to failure and cause wacky temp reading, throw Check Engine Light(s) and reduction in fuel efficiency. The latter being that if the sensor was faulty and told the ECU that the engine was running hot, it would direct the ECU to dump extra fuel in the cylinders to cool them down.

This inevitably faulty sensor was replaced with a redesign that the insiders call the “Green Top Sensor” …not knowing the history of my car, and the sensor is relatively cheap as far as auto parts go, I figure I’ll order one, put it in and check that off “the list” of potential issues.

So I ordered one on the 18th and it was shipped on the 19th from www.tdiparts.com .

The site is specific to diesel VW’s but the sensor is the same. They also had the sensor with new o-ring and retaining clip for much cheaper then my local dealership.

Replace Climate Control's Back Lighting

I have the standard dial version of climate controls right below the radio and are illumianated with 1 bulb.  I test drove the car during the day and had tested the headlights but didnt notice the lights were out behind the HVAC controls.  With the dark limo tint at night it was impossible to see the controls so I set out to get it replaced asap. The bulb is a Sylvania 2721 at any corner auto parts store.

Replaced by turning the fan speed switch to the 12 o'clock position and pulling straight out.  Once removed I could grab the tiny lightbulb out with a set of needle nose pliers.  Next time I'll put double sided tape on the pliers as the force required to hold the bulb enough to pull it out of its socket caused me to smash the bulb as it poped out.  So I was lucky, the bulb was out and just had to clean up a small amount of thin glass.  Put the new bulb in ($1.70 for 2), replaced the dial and voila! ..let there be light

Easy fix

Replaced Passenger Side Floor Vent

I noticed after gettig the car home that the passenger side floor air vent was missing.
I contacted Blake at http://www.vwparts4sale.com/ and ordered a black one from a totaled Golf in their inventory.
$15 shipped....got it in about 4 days.  Not bad.

Installed it a day later..it just "pops" in with a plastic expanding pin.  This pin was a little worn and it took a bit of muscle to get it to pop in.  It came out once and if it comes out again, I'll just epoxy it in.

Catch up

So the car was purchased in Miami on 12/27/09 after reviewing it in person 4 days earlier.
I was looking for something under 70k miles and this just made it.
Other cars I was interested in:

VW Passat W8 4-motion. This is an all wheel drive 8 cylinder VW, rather rare. I had my eye on one in Tampa and probably would have jumped on it had I seen it, but it was sold before I could arrange a visit. In hindsight, it may be a good thing I didn’t get it as I hear they are a mechanical nightmare and expensive to repair.

Audi A4: There was a particular A4 with a V6 that I was emailing the owner about…again was sold before I could see it on the weekend. Also was interested in various 1.8 A4’s.

Mazda RX-8; Saw a great deal on an RX-8 with a recent motor swap under warrantee. Just before going to see it, I Googled the car and saw nothing but issues with people being stranded due to a common engine fuel lock out. I bailed.

Other cars that peaked my interest but I didn’t research very hard were: Hyundai Tiburon GT, Mini Cooper S, Miata, Acura RSX, Subaru WRX and Mitsu EVO X. The latter 2 where just not in my budget and with the miles I was looking for.

I know the VR6 (especially the 24V) where a rather hard car to come by. When I would do a search in AutoTrader for all of Florida for “GTI” >2003, <70k miles, I would get pages and pages of 1.8L Turbo models but only 2 GTI’s with the VR6. I was very interested in 1.8T at first as I knew there was a huge following and very tunable. But once I saw the VR6, it gave the “boy racer” GTI a more “grown up” impression with leather, power everything, and sunroof (to name a few) all standard.
One of the 2 VR6’s for sale in Florida was my color of choice (Silver), under budget, under max miles, the preferred 24V, no “racing stickers” that would give an impression the car was fast and furious every Sat night, subtle mods and cosmetically well maintained. A CarFax didn’t reveal any past issues, but also doesn’t lend support to how well it was mechanically maintained. However this is a gamble with any used car sale unless the prior owner(s) were meticulous with service and maintenance records


The audio equipment is a little over the top from what I would have done, but I can deal with it for now as it’s a pretty nice set up. Not sure when I’ll watch TV in the car, but it’s interesting to say the least. Have yet to do a “road trip” so maybe the DVD will come in handy for Cindy …we’ll have to see. One draw back I foresee with the audio is that the Alpine control unit, amp and tv module are all attached to back of rear seats. This may cause a clearance issue with a rear strut cross bar.