going back to my vw roots...

[.RJ]

so you had a manifold failure?

[Sijray21]

so you had a manifold failure?

DANGER TO MANIFOLD!! 1!

[Sijray21]

so you had a manifold failure?

But seriously, IM failed around 80k (carbon build up and older design of flapper controller) and failed again around 112k (some carbon build up and not sure of the design.

If the IM fails now that I'm out of VW's extended powertrain warranty (10yr/120k)im going aftermarket with no flaps... Hopefully the car will be sold before then though...

[.RJ]

Yore manifold failed because you havent tuned it and you drive like a grandpa fight me

[Sijray21]

Yore manifold failed because you havent tuned it and you drive like a grandpa fight me

Lol, right.

My clutch, however, is doing well (for now). A DSG and it would've been tuned a while ago. Now it's a selling point (never tuned, adult-driven). I hit near-redline almost every day I drive it.

[.RJ]

UNPIMP ZE AUTO

[Sijray21]

So I've had a very slight whistle coming from the engine bay when the engine is cold and during the winter months. A few months after it started I noticed an oil leak from the upper timing chain cover. I had the cover replaced but didn't tie the two together. After reading more into the pcv issues and decided to replace it despite not having any other symptoms (no leaks, no codes). It wasn't the cheapest part at around $200, but it's a little piece of mind since I'm at 125k at the odo.

I also replaced the intake tube hose since I heard that likely breaks upon pcv replacement. The hardest part of the whole thing was just removing the charge pipe since access to the clamp was really tight. Other than that it was a really simple fix.

[Sijray21]

so i think i have a VERY small valve cover oil leak above the exhaust manifold (would explain the slight oil burning smell after parking post-longer drive). The PCV change has definitely reduced that smell, so i'm wondering if it was actually a PCV leak. Looks like i'll be monitoring this actively, but if i were to replace the gasket to the valve cover (since it's also the cam bridge) i would need to take off the upper and lower timing chain covers. At that point i may as well replace the timing chain guides, problematic tensioner, and chain...

I can firmly say that i'm hoping this car rides out the year so i can replace it in the fall without this issue getting worse, but i'll likely trade it in, sell it to carmax, or sell it while also disclosing this issue before the year ends.

[Senor_Taylor]

Is a valve cover job that bad on these?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Sijray21]

apparently, yes. i first thought, "oh, it's a valve cover. that shouldn't be too bad, right?". after i saw that the upper timing cover was bolted to the 'valve cover' i started my research. it's not a conventional 'cover'; it's a cam girdle that holds the cams in-place, at a minimum i would need a cam-locker in place. ...i don't really want to do that or pay to have it done. We'll see.

the plan at the moment is to monitor the leak and oil levels. hooray for old/high-mileage cars

[Sijray21]

Welp, just took off most of the aftermarket parts and it's going to get cleaned inside and out sometime this week. I'm also gathering all the maintenance documentation together.

The oil doesn't seem to be missing according to the dip stick after 2.7k miles, so that's good. Makes me feel a little relieved selling this thing soon.

[Sijray21]

As an epilogue to this car. Sold at the end of July. The new owner bought it for his daughter who is finishing HS. Her HS (apparently) is the one I work next to. When I ride my bicycle to work I usually cut though the back neighborhood and that's apparently where she parks. I get to see the GTI on my ride in.

[ScottyB]

for his daughter

dad doing it right. also, she's going to be the cool girl in school driving a manual turbo hatch.

that's awesome you still get to see it every once in a while