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I've never introduced myself, doh!

1241 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Keithuk, 
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I've been either lurking or posting my questions for two years almost and never introduced myself! So I figured it's never too late to give an intro.

My name is David, I live in Los Angeles and I have a 1998 Jetta TDI with 135,000 miles or so. I've owned the car for 2 years now and it's been relatively smooth. There are all sorts of non-important little annoying things, but nothing major for the most part (except one instance). I absolutely love the car.

Here's what I've done to it since I got it:
-Replaced the ignition switch myself using the guide on this site
-Had the thermostat replaced
-Coolant flush
-Timing belt, water pump, other belts done by a mechanic
-Replaced three-way coolant flange connected to the engine block. This is the only thing that has broken that forced me to get towed home. It was so easy to fix, but the original split in half, spilling coolant everywhere.
-Replaced the large rubber hose connected to the intake manifold when it split
-Replaced relay 109 just to be safe
-All vacuum lines replaced with silicon (including the one in the ECU)
-New injector return lines (viton)
-New shocks/struts/rear springs/bump stops/strut mounts. Koni struts/shocks. The car rides higher now in the rear to accommodate lots of weight. Used to scrape all the time, never does anymore.
-New battery
-New tires
-Had the front brake pads and rotors replaced. Brake fluid replaced.
-Had the tranny gear oil flushed and refilled

-Installed Frybrid 2-tank computer controlled vegetable oil system. I know this is controversial with some folks on the internet, but it's been pretty smooth for the car thus far.


Work I need to do still:
-Clean intake manifold
-New injector nozzles
-IP seals
-Get my keyless entry working (this has been extremely annoying)
-Cruise control just stopped working, not sure why yet
-Motor mounts. Mine are not bad at this point, but I just figured it was something to do after the other things I've listed. The tranny mount seems horrible to do.

Should I worry about this stuff?
-Power steering fluid? Has probably never been changed. Not sure if there is a service interval for this.


My MPG is not good enough. I only get in the 30's around town and I got 44 or so on a trip from LA to the Bay Area. Not horrible for a car, but not good for a TDI from what I understand. I do run B99 in the stock tank and I run WVO in the second tank. My MPG was about the same on diesel when I first got the car, by the way. I haven't seen a drop except of maybe 2-3 mpg on B99 which is normal.

Anyways, I have become quite the TDI fan. I am poor though, so it's taken me a while to do stuff on this car, one thing at a time. I'd love to have a Vag-com, how the hell do people afford them?

It would be really cool to meet people in LA who can help teach me how to do some of the things I need to do on the car, I get pretty intimidated by some of these projects since I work on the car alone.

Thanks,
David
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chittychittybangbang
The PS fluid is "lifetime" which means 80-100,000 miles is reasonable. It's light green in color when new so that should give you an idea of its condition. Change with VW fluid only (or generic pentosin) because power steering fluid from the auto parts store is not compatible.

Try running a tank with just regular diesel and use that as a baseline for figuring out what kind of mpg you should be getting. That doesn't sound too bad with WVO and B99. Be careful of fuel leaks, it might happen when switching away from B99.

That is quite an accomplishment list though for someone who works on their car by themselves! You should be proud.
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chittychittybangbang said:
The PS fluid is "lifetime" which means 80-100,000 miles is reasonable. It's light green in color when new so that should give you an idea of its condition. Change with VW fluid only (or generic pentosin) because power steering fluid from the auto parts store is not compatible.

Try running a tank with just regular diesel and use that as a baseline for figuring out what kind of mpg you should be getting. That doesn't sound too bad with WVO and B99. Be careful of fuel leaks, it might happen when switching away from B99.

That is quite an accomplishment list though for someone who works on their car by themselves! You should be proud.
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I've been wanting to run a tank of diesel for a while now but have been putting it off because I didn't want to develop any leaks, I'll run diesel before tackling IP seals. I haven't decided if I want to do that one myself. The top seal seems super easy and I do indeed have a tiny leak from it, but the other ones I'm not so sure about, they for sure don't seem like a walk in the park.

My good friend helped me install the Frybrid kit and he did more work than I did in the end. He moved away though right after we did that so my car buddy was no longer available to hang out and work on the car with me.

Anyways, a few of the things on my list I've had done by a mechanic because I chicken out before attempting them myself. I will say without a doubt though, that without sites like this (this one in particular is my number one resource by the way because of how awesome you've made the how-to's section), I would have never been able to do the work I did. In time, I'll get more confidence and tackle the harder stuff. I usually think I can do it, but just get worried I'll mess something up.

Moral of the story, thanks for this awesome site, it's helped me a lot.

David
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Keithuk
Welcome to the forum David. welcometomyturbodies
vegandavid said:
I have a 1998 Jetta TDI
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Todays gripe.

It would be nice to see that in your car details then users wouldn't have to ask. ;)
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Keithuk said:
Welcome to the forum David. welcometomyturbodies

Todays gripe.

It would be nice to see that in your car details then users wouldn't have to ask. ;)
Click to expand...

No problem, your wish is my command. I'll also throw it in my signature as well.

David
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Keithuk
Thats great cheers David. With the stupid 40 character rule. I'm going to make a comment about this. ;)
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