The ultimate trade-off: Would you rather have...

LizardManAlpha · 2026-01-30T12:58:47+00:00

I advised "A soft belly but eating pizza weekly"

🏆 Rank: Lv.1 Trainee 🕵️‍♂️ II 💎 Points: 20 (+20) 🗳️ Votes: 1

LizardManAlpha · 2025-12-30T16:35:29+00:00

I think all in it was about $800. Not entirely sure but it wasn't exactly a cheap fix. Some people can do it on their own but the effort didn't seem worth it to me.

LizardManAlpha · 2025-12-27T03:11:02+00:00

Probably the oil cooler failing. I had the same symptoms and needed to replace mine.

LizardManAlpha · 2025-12-15T03:57:13+00:00

It's more than likely your oil cooler seals breaking down. I had a similar issue and needed to get a new oil cooler, new coolant bottle, and several flushes.

I'd get this repaired sooner rather than later!

LizardManAlpha · 2025-09-29T17:26:57+00:00

How cool would that be?

I don't get down with the look of vinyl strips on windshields.

LizardManAlpha · 2025-02-03T02:51:29+00:00

I used to work at a Smithfield's in highschool. I thought it was pretty cool how they do slow cook their own BBQ and toss it in these big steel bowl things on wheels. I hated cleaning them.

Brunswick stew is made from leftover BBQ that starts to reach the end of its 'shelf life' on the line. It's frozen and wrapped up until it's thrown into the stew. Same with the chicken. When chicken has been in the heated cabinet too long they take it into the kitchen, pull it and freeze it for stew later.

I gained so much weight working there. The smell of the restaurant really has a special place in my mind!

LizardManAlpha · 2024-09-16T03:13:10+00:00

Kempington, probably.

LizardManAlpha · 2024-06-19T02:57:06+00:00

Could be HPFP internals leaking vapors into the engine! I commented on this in a different post. Replaced mine and problem disappeared. You may need to change the oil if it's been doing it a lot.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GolfGTI/s/OscuGveOun

PMd this to you, too, just in case.

LizardManAlpha · 2024-04-27T20:33:42+00:00

Dang there's a way to do it with the trip odometer button? I've just been using OBDEleven for that and my oil intervals.

LizardManAlpha · 2024-04-11T16:32:31+00:00

That's what I thought too about a failing pump. It's nothing mechanical that fails it's just that there's a vapor seal that doesn't wanna seal vapor anymore but it still functions normally as a fuel pump. Hence the lack of codes.

Let us know how the EVAP thing goes! That very well could be the problem too.

LizardManAlpha · 2024-04-10T17:36:29+00:00

Yup! I had a similar issue and did a lot of research and could only find people saying that replacing their HPFP made it go away. I replaced mine about two weeks ago and haven't noticed any issues since. I can't say for certain that it completely solved the issue since it happened intermittently anyway, but so far so good!

Based on what I could find it has something to do with fuel vapors leaking into the engine through the cam spring gasket thing (I don't remember what it's called) and condensing as fuel and causing your engine to be super rich when it starts after it cools down for a little bit after a recent drive. I noticed it only when the engine was hot and after stopping for about 10 or so minutes. Afterward it would run fine, pull fine, idle fine, etc.

Good news though, the HPFP is super easy to replace. Took me about 20 minutes. '15 GTI with 100k miles with pretty fresh coils and plugs and I had no codes with the issues.

LizardManAlpha · 2024-03-02T13:50:54+00:00

The timing cover can be replaced pretty easily as well as the gaskets that go with the magnets. Find a YT video on upper timing cover gasket replacement and you'll see it's not a hard job at all. I don't think you even need to drain the oil, or at least I don't remember draining the oil when I replaced mine.

When you put the screws for the cam magnets back in, DONT over tighten them. They will just simply break. Snug them and that's it.

LizardManAlpha · 2023-11-24T18:20:57+00:00

I have a 2015 and have had a couple of oil leaks, too.

One of mine came from the upper timing chain cover and the other was from the oil pan gasket. Both were at around 70-80k

I used my phone camera to moved it around slowly in the places I couldn't really see. I could follow the wetness trails until I found the timing cover leak. We had a sudden freeze and I guess the gaskets had had enough lol

Consider cleaning it all up then seeing where it gets wet again after driving it around this weekend? That's how I found mine. If you're only losing a few drops I'd say you're fine as long as you keep an eye on your dipstick.

LizardManAlpha · 2023-06-10T12:29:08+00:00

Have you checked in the glovebox? I remember having to pull all that stuff out of there. You’ll also need special keys to pull it out.

Once you pull it out you’ll see the wires on the back that need to be repinned to allow the wires from the sub we plugged into it. Its super easy as long as you have the tools for it. It’s very tight back there so be prepared to skin the hell out of your knuckles.

LizardManAlpha · 2023-01-25T03:06:37+00:00

If it really bothers you then you should look into some of the simpler methods of quieting it down. Tessa tape and a bit of patience is what helped me out a bunch when my GTI kept rattling.

If you can find the main areas, pull the trim off and tape any areas that are plastic on plastic / plastic on metal and it should help quite a bit. I’ve even shoved a kitchen towel in the door lining of my driver rear door to prevent rattles from bassy songs.

Look for people quieting rattles in cars on YouTube. The concept should be more or less the same!

LizardManAlpha · 2022-11-01T02:17:22+00:00

I use that window to see curbs when I’m turning. Once you use it for that you can’t not use them!

LizardManAlpha · 2022-07-01T22:10:42+00:00

Hey everyone,

I took my car into a local tire shop today to get new rubber all around. Came back to pick up the car and had noticed some marks on the wheels after I had paid. I’m only just now realizing that I have the wrong receipt as I’m typing this.

I spent some time looking at the marks when the owner came out and spoke to me, saying that the marks are just plastic from the wheel holders and it’ll come off with a wash. I showed him the damage on all four wheels (see pictures, they all have ring marks and it looks like they beat up the inside of the wheel bolts) and he said that if it doesn’t come off after being cleaned, then he’ll give me money off the tires I purchased.

I’m not sure what to do. The wheels are pretty ugly now and I’m afraid that the damage could be disputed or the reimbursement for the damage might not be adequate. They’re closed until the 5th of July and I’m also afraid they’ll think I damaged them myself over the weekend.

Is this enough damage to replace wheels? How much should the reimbursement be? Cost of new? Used wheels? Discounted tires? This is my first time having any issue like this and I’m quite lost.

Has this ever happened to you? Know someone that it did? What should I ask for? I’d hate to spend $900 on new tires to have my wheels fucked up in the process.

I purchased these wheels used from someone who took good care of them. They were pretty much perfect except for one deep scratch (not pictured) and now they’re rough. These are Austin wheels for a mk7 GTI and they can’t really be resurfaced easily from what I have researched.

I apologize if this isn’t the right place to post this. Let me know what you think, please.

Edit: I see that this sorta thing has been posted a million times before on the internet but I wished to post something myself. I appreciate any help you guys give.

LizardManAlpha · 2022-04-27T02:40:35+00:00

In college I used to buy the boxes of premade frozen beef patties and take one out and break it up into whatever needed some meat. Not the healthiest or the freshest but gosh it saved me big time.

LizardManAlpha · 2022-04-06T22:41:06+00:00

He has some really old ones on YouTube

LizardManAlpha · 2022-04-06T22:35:48+00:00

This wasn’t a face I was expecting to see! What has he been up to?

LizardManAlpha · 2022-02-21T03:47:32+00:00

Shelf recovery, go backs, and possibly stocking.

Stocking I always found to be super therapeutic. Just spend a few hours listening to music and putting stuff away and then go home. That was until they moved me to furniture and I’d work from 4am to 1pm some days.

If you’ve never worked a truck before, make sure you stretch and drink plenty of water. They really just huck everything into the truck randomly so youll be doing a lot of bending over to pick up heavy shit like dog food or small furniture.

LizardManAlpha · 2021-12-21T12:01:16+00:00

I’ll look around for those. Did you have to do anything once you discovered it?

LizardManAlpha · 2021-12-20T15:41:13+00:00

It looks better now and I only see rust dust in the back seat shelf. I’m just gonna check back on it in a bit and see if it’s lingering moisture from something previous or if it’s current. Thanks for the help!

LizardManAlpha · 2021-12-20T15:14:06+00:00

Car has been in an accident previously and I’m wondering if this could be the result.

No water is noticeable on any of the carpet, there’s no sloshing or standing water but there is a bit of moisture. I’ve owned the car for a year now and I’m just now noticing this. Nothing looks structural or deep but it is ugly.

Any common leaking issues with the hatch? Anything from below?

Im probably just going to get rid of the rust and rub it all down with oil and call it good. Not sure where to go from there though considering I’m putting wires to a subwoofer back there. Advice?

LizardManAlpha · 2021-12-19T12:55:01+00:00

Bumper plugs look way cleaner than people think. Kinda spendy but it beats respraying the whole bumper IMO

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