All the gauges light up! Just power so far but at least everything works.
All the gauges light up! Just power so far but at least everything works.
The only thing keeping me from a test drive is bleeding the clutch. This arrangement is horrible to bleed with a clutch line like a rainbow. I knew this going in.
Power bleeder sucking from the bottom tonight. Next I guess I'll try blowing from the top
I had the loveliest dream. Very vivid. I finished bleeding the clutch and took Planet Express for a test drive. The only catch, it was my old 62 Comet.
This clutch bleed is stressing me out. Send help
July is the busiest month at my full time job and my side gig.
Tonight my wife works late and there's no surf(surf trumps all) so let's crack a cold one and mount the seat. She sure looks rough but it's nice to sit in a real seat and pretend the car is driving. It sucks that this seat fits me like a glove because I'd love to replace it but holy moly are Sparco Sprints expensive
In reply to buzzboy :
Could you re-cover it?
Probably can. I'm sure I can find or make a cover for it.
It sounds like the trick to bleeding a Mercedes style clutch is from the bottom using an oil can according to Rocambolesque's W201 build. I also found a youtube video showing it.
Another method I read about on Peach Parts is to connect your clutch slave to a front brake caliper and using the brakes to reverse bleed the clutch. Never would have though of that one!
In reply to buzzboy :
I always reverse bleed them because that's the only thing that's worked for me lol.
Am I doing this right? Because it doesn't seem to be working
In reply to buzzboy :
Loosen the hard line to the master and see if you're getting fluid pumping out there from the bottom. Then pump the pedal to see if the master is working. The pedal linkage might have the piston on the master pressed a little and that'll block the cylinder from the reservoir so it won't reverse bleed. If it's working, then bleed the master with the hard line cracked open. Yeah, you'll get DOT4 all over the place so be ready with the rags.
And wear Nitrile Gloves when you're doing hydraulic work. DOT anything is hard on the hands...
I was about to give up this morning. I was going to break down the system and reroute the lines to not be a rainbow. I disconnected the clutch soft line from the hard line and fluid started dripping out. Why not pressure bleed back up from there? Kinda awkward to get my bleeder in but on the first pump I hear air gurgling in the reservoir.
It is bled! The pedal feels firm! Time to find out if my mismatch of MC and SC actually disengages this clutch...
Today I fired up Planet Express on the lift and ran the transmission through all the gears. The clutch disengages fantastically. After checking the brakes I set it on the ground and drove it forwards and backwards about 3 feet. I have no hood, an uncovered driveshaft and not a chance at turn signals. It's 1/8" mile to the gas station up the road. I think I'm going to go for it when the rain lets up.
The brakes are a suggestion
I don't feel like I'm getting any boost
The driveshaft hole in the floor makes it really loud
And I couldn't be happier
Nice!!!! Major Milestone!!!
Also, suggestive brakes are SOLVED by the holes in the floors... yabba dabba dooooo!!!!
We have gauges! Now I'll trust taking it for a longer drive. Oil pressure and water temp looked good after 10 minutes of idling.
The tacho is giving me half speed, confirmed by OBD2. I'll have to read the documentation on the adapter again. Shouldn't be a hard fix.
I also got the alternator light wired today and it's a big one. The issue is that it doesn't go out. I'm not charging. I'll go back though the system but I'm pretty sure it's all wired correctly.
I also discovered that the main rattle I've been hearing is actually a sealed beam headlight surround. Not sure why it's loose, but a little electrical tape didn't fix the problem.
Unexpected win today, the hood closes!
The tacho was easy to switch into 4cyl mode so that's checked off.
The alternator must have a bad connection. I'm seeing 5v at the alternator and 12v at the starter. Might be best to just run a new charge wire.
The alternator is charging at 13.5v now!
However after about a minute(maybe less) it got really hot and started smoking. So that's bad
buzzboy said:...So that's bad
I lol'd.
You sir, are a master of the painfully obvious understatement...
In the midst of diagnosing my alternator issues the starter stopped spinning. I'm getting really good at removing and installing it, but I can't say I enjoy it. First it wasn't even clicking so after taking it out and checking all connections it was spinning but not turning over the engine. I took it apart and reassembled it about 7 times, testing all the individual parts and eventually it started working again. A little worrying that I didn't actually find a problem, but at least it's working again.
Now I'm back to the alternator. It's getting super hot within 30 seconds of charging. If I unplug the alternator light it stops charging and doesn't get hot. Do I have a bad regulator? Is there a massive draw I haven't found? I'll go piddle in the garage before work this morning and hopefully find out
At idle I'm seeing 9amps through the charging wire at 13.5volts. Bad regulator?
A new voltage regulator from Napa is over $400!
I acquired a junkyard voltage regulator. I'm happy to spend $15 to test a theory. At idle I was seeing 7amps at 14.2v so thats good! I took the car for a quick 1/4 mile roundtrip to the gas station. Still no boost, bad brakes, and the alternator was smoking. I guess the regulator was not the problem.
I did however weld up the hole in the tunnel, so that's nice.
New used alternator on the way with only 90k miles. I noticed how worn the slip rings were and even if I fixed the overheating I have positively COOKED my current alt. I'll need a VW specific tool to change the pulley but thankfully I found it for $6 shipped from walmart. Score.
I redid all the vacuum lines with correct sized hoses and fittings. Still not getting any boost. I checked that the vanes on the VNT are free and the actuator isn't sticking, but that's about all I can do without more diagnostic tools.
On the recommendation of TDI guys I also ordered VCDS. We've got 3 cars it works on and the base version works with 3 vins. It will be invaluable for diagnosis of turbo issues I'm currently fighting and anything in the future and I'm sure I'll be happy to have it with my wife's JSW TDI as the mileage racks up.
The old alternator is from a longitudinal car and the new one is from a latitudinal. The VWs use an overrunning clutch on the alternator. This is new tech to a guy used to wrenching on V belt cars. So I've got to swap the pulleys. What a pain! I had to buy a longer torx to fit through the pulley holder. Then I realized the "new" alternator uses triple square. So I had to modify the 10mm triple square to fit the tool. The old pulley came off quickly with the impact. The new one didn't so we busted out some torque. I don't like doing it this way, but it worked!
This sucks. Don't know what to do next. Different threading so I can't swap the correct pulley on to the new alternator
In reply to buzzboy :
Well that's a bummer. I'm impressed, though that one set of threads isn't roached. That's probably what woulda happened with me. Trying to force the wrong nut onto the wrong shaft with the 18v Milwaukee spinning at level 3 until it's self-evident that it's not gonna berkeleyin' tighten by which time there's solid visual evidence of my hammer mechanic skills. Good catch...
Got no suggestions beyond getting a tap for the nut you need to fit which shaft. GLWT...
LKQ sold me the alternator on the right saying it was compatible with my engine. A little digging later I find that they sent me an A5 chassis 5cylinder alternator which spins the opposite direction, hence the opposite threading. I needed an A4, A5 or B5 4cylinder alternator. Hopefully LKQ remedies their mistake.
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