[MachZ]

Hello all. Have a 2000 Beetle, TDI of course, 5-speed. Bought it for my wife a while back as we found that the higher fuel economy would pay for the car, fuel, and save us some money each fill up since she drives a lot for work. I've always been a Nissan guy and didn't think I would particularly like the Beetle, I wanted a Golf TDI instead, but I'm actually pretty happy with it... though would still prefer the Golf TDI.

Anyway, been running great but have run into some issues as of late. She hit some critters, a raccoon and a cat... yeah... anyway, the raccoon cracked the lower lip and busted the fog light while the cat (not a big cat, regular house cat) demolished it. This happened during the winter so when it started getting hot again I tried the A/C and it didn't work. I thought maybe it had just leaked the R-134 out but turns out that wasn't the case unfortunately.

After a lot of hunting around I thought it was the fan control module that was the culprit but after some even deeper searching found that it was the low speed part of the fans that went out. Fortunately I haven't had any melting wires or anything yet and the FCM seems to be functional still so I'm trying something a little odd, attempting to put some e-fans from an old Nissan Maxima I had into the Beetle. The Maxima's fans actually run 4 wires to the motor. The way I understand it is, two wires power "half" of the motor for low speed and power to all 4 run high speed. Some simple wiring with some relays I have laying around from the Maxima and I should be able to get it to work... partially. I was able to rig up one of the fans to the Beetle's larger fan bracket but I'm still working out how to replace the smaller one. As soon as I figure that out it should be on the road again.

Somehow I got the A/C to actually work again, not sure how. I'm thinking it was when I tried putting my code reader on there. There weren't any codes but I left it on to "reset it" and afterwards found that the A/C was finally engaging again, just no functioning fans. As soon as I get the fans working I'll be more willing to drive it and with the A/C on. Will be nice as that Beetle has one of the best A/C's I've felt in a long while. Definitely the best R-134 system I've ever felt. Normally I despise R-134 systems but this one is quite impressive.

While trying to figure all this out I found yet another problem... turbo is on its way out. Excessive oil loss and a bunch of oil in the intake pipes. So yeah... found a used unit that will work till I can afford a new unit but still not going to be very fun. :ugh

So yeah, that's my TDI story so far. Hopefully I can get it back on the road again soon as the fuel economy in that thing is too great to pass up, especially now.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Nice work on the AC!

There are 2 writeups on turbo replacement in the FAQ. A little oil in the intake isn't horrible but a lot is bad turbo. FYI, too much oil from a bad turbo can also lead to a runaway engine: http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/stop-runaway-diesel-engine-how-to.htm

 

[MachZ]

Nice info, thanks for the link! I didn't even think about the runaway part of it. Since my wife normally drives it I'll definitely have to warn her about that in case of future incidents. Luckily the leak wasn't bad enough to cause runaway but much longer and it probably would. Fortunately we have the MT so just killing it in gear will be pretty easy, just have to make sure she knows that so she doesn't panic and do something horribly wrong lol.

I think if I can get both fans working properly (small one is my only concern) it might actually be a nice alternative for people looking to save money. It will take a bit of work but you can usually pick up both fans in excellent working condition for $50 or less. A little bit of red neck rigging and it should work great. Will try to get some pictures of the setup tonight while working on it. Probably the only thing that might freak people out a bit will be the relay setup. My old Maxima had a bunch of regular single contact relays but also had some double contact, double switch relays along with a double contact, single switch (one contact is constant). Originally I was going to use the double switch one but my dad nabbed it first so I thought of a great way to use the double contact, single switch relay.

One of the contacts is constant until the coil is powered so I'll run the low speed 12v wire from the FCM though that to the fan. The high speed 12v wire will be on the switched contact, the coil, and on a single contact relay and coil as well. When the FCM sends 12v to the high speed wire it will trigger both relays, cutting the low speed wire's connection to the fan and sending the high speed 12v to both sides of the fan for the high speed function. The ground wire will run to both sides of the fan and to both relay coils. These fans actually draw less power than the VW fan from what I can tell as it used a 30 amp fuse vs. the VW's 40. Even with the funky wiring and two extra relays I think it will draw less and be quite a bit more reliable. Will find out soon enough though.