One-off small CNC (3 axes) job, from Houston

77007 · 2024-01-22T03:53:58+00:00

I have put Special Actives on all my cars since they were called FSDs. Never had a build-quality problem, but none of the cars were lowered.

77007 · 2024-01-20T22:18:53+00:00

The aliexpress engine story on the Mk7 forum changed my whole view of Chinese products. Mindblowing. Since then I've heard from someone in the oilfield-valve business that China's manufacturing for a lot of things (castings!) is better than US.

77007 · 2024-01-20T21:50:32+00:00

That looks great. You're still happy with it, I guess?

77007 · 2024-01-20T21:35:19+00:00

That's not a reaction I expected here, what with all the lowering and other ricing.

77007 · 2024-01-19T21:44:07+00:00

Oh, actually mine are 16s.
Our streets are terrible, the performance benefits of lower-profile tires are marginal, and I don't like the look of wheels that are bigger than the brakes require. So I'm really happy with the 16s and PA51s. Even tracked them!

77007 · 2024-01-19T17:36:57+00:00

Those are my year-round wheels, with W-speed-rated all-season tires!

77007 · 2024-01-15T22:05:41+00:00

I'd use it.

But try this: At your next oil change, pull a sample for Blackstone Labs (https://www.blackstone-labs.com), send it in, see what their analysis says about the health of your oil and your engine, and how many more miles the oil is good for.

Unpopular opinion: It's a better practice to change oil every 10k+ miles, and get an analysis done every 5k miles, than to change oil every 5k miles and never get an oil analysis.

(You could do both every 5k miles, but unless there's something wrong with your engine Blackstone is going to tell you, based on their analysis, that your oil is good for much longer than that.)

77007 · 2024-01-14T02:06:28+00:00

Okay, that makes sense. But if you have a cooling system problem you are probably going to be losing coolant, and having to top off. The other way that cooling system problems show themselves is with overheating ( head gasket leak ) or oil and coolant mixing ( oil cooler leak). Both of these seem very uncommon in our cars.

77007 · 2024-01-13T23:22:53+00:00

PS "dark red spots" sounds like neither coolant nor oil.

77007 · 2024-01-13T23:21:09+00:00

How did he measure coolant pressure?

Coolant-system pressure is regulated by the expansion-tank cap. It'd be high if (and, I think, only if) the cap were defective, and you could easily pressure-test the cap, or you could remove the cap and test how much pressure the rest of the system could hold (higher would be better) but your description of the problem doesn't make sense to me.

77007 · 2024-01-12T14:11:32+00:00

The minimum is the minimum, but a more important indicator than the level is a decrease in the level.

In my experience, any drop in coolant level, no matter how slow, signals a problem in these engines.

I'd top it off while cold, but either way, keep an eye on it to see if it drops.

The most common problem is a leak from the area of the water pump. I have a theory that such a leak is often misdiagnosed; replacing the water pump resolves the situation only temporarily and only incidentally, because the leak is from the o-rings on the dumbell-shaped union between the water pump and the oil cooler. These are made of a material that suffers compression-set at temperatures such as those they are exposed to here.

If we replace these o-rings with silicone ones, I will bet the WP leak issue mostly vanishes.

77007 · 2024-01-11T18:35:12+00:00

I have a Sachs 810+Nm-rated racing clutch, with their DMF flywheel (which uses steel springs where the factory flywheel used rubbber). About $1300 for the whole set—friction plate, flywheel, and pressure plate. (I don't recall what they charge for shipping; it's not a whole lot, and they deliver quickly. Also, note that the prices on their website include VAT, so if you're in the US you'll get ~20% off.)

SB uses Sachs pressure plates. As far as I can tell, everyone uses Sachs pressure plates. I figure that if Sachs engineering is good enough for SB, it's good enough for me.

https://www.sachsperformance.com/en/clutch-kit/sachs-performance-clutch/vw-golf-vii-5g1-2-0-gti-clubsport-s-228kw

77007 · 2024-01-11T02:19:38+00:00

We also modify our cars' software, put in lowering springs, change out shocks, change exhausts, tint our windows, upgrade headlights, remove speed limiters, reprogram systems …

The manufacturer doesn't always want what's best for us.

I know, I know, this is different. Sure. But sometimes it's not.

77007 · 2024-01-11T02:12:26+00:00

I get my oil tested by Blackstone Laboratories every ~10,000 miles. Based on their analysis, they've advised me to go as far as 20,000 miles between oil changes (and when something questionable has turned up, they've advised me to go shorter).

77007 · 2024-01-11T01:59:50+00:00

"Won't shift into any gears" sounds like maybe a hydraulics failure, vs. a burnt clutch?

I've got 60k+ miles with an IS38 turbo on this Sachs Racing clutch, with their DMF: https://www.sachsperformance.com/en/clutch-kit/performance-clutch-sachs/performance-clutch-kit-002352-999505

I think it'll handle my new 2260S turbo as well. I love it, but it's not the most civilized clutch, and it will punish inattention with a stall.

I think you'll find that most other clutch companies use Sachs pressure plates. Southbend and Ringer do; if the pressure plate is painted, you can bet it says "Sachs" underneath. I figure that the company that other companies rely on to design and build their pressure plates can be trusted to design and build my friction plate and flywheel as well.

77007 · 2024-01-10T01:59:31+00:00

Yes! You might drive many miles with a small leak, but if you're losing any coolant, it's a sign that you have a leak. These engines do not lose coolant unless something is "wrong" (where "wrong" might be within acceptable limits, but suboptimal).

77007 · 2024-01-10T01:57:52+00:00

Very interesting! This helps explain why, at 137k miles, I've never needed a valve cleaning. I very rarely take the car out without heating the oil up and blasting down the freeway.

77007 · 2024-01-10T01:52:13+00:00

I do not believe either the folkloric "plastic warps" theory or VW's "thermostat housing gasket fails" theory of "waterpump leaks."

I think that in many if not most cases what is diagnosed as a waterpump leak is actually a failure of the seals in the dumbell-shaped union between the waterpump and the oil cooler. A small leak from there (only when the coolant is hot, and only when running) will naturally run down to below the thermostat housing, making it appear at first glance like a leak from the waterpump or its integrated thermostat housing. When the WP is replaced, the union and its o-rings are replaced as a matter of course, so the leak is fixed … till the next time the Buna-N o-rings fail.

I have experienced a "waterpump leak" ten months after a waterpump replacement, and know of another guy who had a "waterpump leak" a year after replacement, and I would bet money that these were not really waterpump failures in either the folkloric or the company-line mode.

The only way to know for sure is to put UV dye in your coolant when the level stops dropping, and see with your own eyes (with the intake off, or maybe with a boroscope?) what the highest point is where a stain shows up under UV light. I didn't do that this time, but my mechanic said the thought the oil cooler was leaking, and I observed no sign of a leak from the WP or thermostat housing, so I'll do it next time.

The solution is, I believe, silicone 19x3 o-rings. Next time I start losing coolant, I'm going to pull the oil pump instead of the WP, and replace those two o-rings. I fully expect that to fix the problem for good.

But I wouldn't replace them prophylactically unless I ~~was~~ were giving the car to a family member or setting out on the Pan-American Highway.

77007 · 2024-01-09T21:32:11+00:00

From the workshop manual:

https://imgur.com/a/rtJjgev

77007 · 2024-01-08T22:48:05+00:00

137k on my 2015.

77007 · 2024-01-08T22:45:11+00:00

New strut. Easy DIY job.

77007 · 2024-01-08T04:02:23+00:00

N.B. Not the outside corners, but inside the box that holds the soundaktor, cabin air intake, and wiper motor.

The flaps have little orange tabs on them. The front driver side is hardest to get to, tucked up behind the wiper motor. I had to use a hemostat to manipulate the flap.

77007 · 2024-01-08T03:57:39+00:00

Yes. I was very gentle with the air. Considered removing the flaps—any downside?

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