04-07-2013, 03:16 PM
Three week status report.
I took the car into the dealer to have that buzzing noise at startup checked out. As you'd expect, the experience was completely miserable, pointless and expensive. First they told me it was because the oil level was low, topped it up, charged me $125 for "diagnosing" the "issue" and sent me home. Of course the issue was still there, so I brought it back the next morning bullshit mad. Two techs and one service advisor stood there for 20 minutes pretending not to hear the noise, so I made them start a lower mileage MKVI for me for comparison purposes. They pretended it sounded the same, which it didn't, but I did hear the tiniest little flutter on the second start that was similar to the noise mine is/was making. The only tiny scrap of helpful information I got was that this car's engine code is not included in the factory TSB for the timing tensioner issue. Not sure what that's worth, better than being in the bulletin I guess. Also, since topping up the oil level the noise has gotten softer/more intermittent.
I decided to take matters back into my own hands. The theory is the timing tensioner has a screen on it that can get clogged up from using shitty oil or changing it on the wrong intervals, so I dumped 1/2 a bottle of seafoam into the crankcase yesterday morning. I've put ~50 miles on it and the past four starts have been buttery smooth. The oil is blacker than the devil's soul since I added it too, which is good. I'm going to drive it to work tomorrow to put another 30 miles on it and then change it. Also, apparently these motors are extremely bad about carbon build up, so I did two seafoam treatments through the manifold. Both times It produced enough smoke to completely whiteout behind the car when I hit the gas. I've heard some owners do the manifold treatment every oil change to avoid having to pull the manifold and manually clean them later on, I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to just toss some into the crank before each change as well to stave off any timing chain tensioner issues.
Saturday afternoon I threw a new set of rear brakes on it, which wouldn't have been a bad job at all if I wasn't a little wussy girly man. The caliper carrier bolts were seized on and I just straight up wasn't strong enough to break them free. It took me an hour and a half to figure out the right combination of ghetto ratchet extensions and leverage to break them free. Aside from that it was smooth sailing, the anti-rattle clips are a hell of a lot easier to install than the BMW ones too, and having the tool to compress the ratcheting caliper was a lot easier than using a pipe wrench to compress the piston style BMW ones. I also changed the air filter and replaced the spark plugs.
The cigarette smoke smell was still there when the car sat in the sun for a while, so I decided to go full nuclear on it this morning. I vacuumed the interior and shampooed the front seats again, then hit all the plastics, vents and crevices with a degreaser solution and a detailing brush to get all the crud out that could be holding smells. Then I took a bottle of Odo-Ban and absolutely drenched every fabric surface in the car, headliner, door panels, seats, carpets, etc. I let it air out for a couple hours, changed the cabin air filter, then drove it around the block, and hit it with a heavy dose of Ozium when I parked it and I'll let that cure overnight. Considering the smell was pretty faint in the first place, I'm pretty sure it won't be coming back now. It was satisfying to get all the soda spills, hair, glitter, and god knows what else cleaned up from the teenybopper previous owner too.
This week it's getting 4 new tires and an alignment, an oil change, hopefully my touchup paint wil show up so I can clean up a few little nicks, and if I have time on Friday night I'll give it a bath and throw another coat of sealant on so its all purdyful for the show (in its totally stock, utterly boring glory). :thumbup:
I took the car into the dealer to have that buzzing noise at startup checked out. As you'd expect, the experience was completely miserable, pointless and expensive. First they told me it was because the oil level was low, topped it up, charged me $125 for "diagnosing" the "issue" and sent me home. Of course the issue was still there, so I brought it back the next morning bullshit mad. Two techs and one service advisor stood there for 20 minutes pretending not to hear the noise, so I made them start a lower mileage MKVI for me for comparison purposes. They pretended it sounded the same, which it didn't, but I did hear the tiniest little flutter on the second start that was similar to the noise mine is/was making. The only tiny scrap of helpful information I got was that this car's engine code is not included in the factory TSB for the timing tensioner issue. Not sure what that's worth, better than being in the bulletin I guess. Also, since topping up the oil level the noise has gotten softer/more intermittent.
I decided to take matters back into my own hands. The theory is the timing tensioner has a screen on it that can get clogged up from using shitty oil or changing it on the wrong intervals, so I dumped 1/2 a bottle of seafoam into the crankcase yesterday morning. I've put ~50 miles on it and the past four starts have been buttery smooth. The oil is blacker than the devil's soul since I added it too, which is good. I'm going to drive it to work tomorrow to put another 30 miles on it and then change it. Also, apparently these motors are extremely bad about carbon build up, so I did two seafoam treatments through the manifold. Both times It produced enough smoke to completely whiteout behind the car when I hit the gas. I've heard some owners do the manifold treatment every oil change to avoid having to pull the manifold and manually clean them later on, I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to just toss some into the crank before each change as well to stave off any timing chain tensioner issues.
Saturday afternoon I threw a new set of rear brakes on it, which wouldn't have been a bad job at all if I wasn't a little wussy girly man. The caliper carrier bolts were seized on and I just straight up wasn't strong enough to break them free. It took me an hour and a half to figure out the right combination of ghetto ratchet extensions and leverage to break them free. Aside from that it was smooth sailing, the anti-rattle clips are a hell of a lot easier to install than the BMW ones too, and having the tool to compress the ratcheting caliper was a lot easier than using a pipe wrench to compress the piston style BMW ones. I also changed the air filter and replaced the spark plugs.
The cigarette smoke smell was still there when the car sat in the sun for a while, so I decided to go full nuclear on it this morning. I vacuumed the interior and shampooed the front seats again, then hit all the plastics, vents and crevices with a degreaser solution and a detailing brush to get all the crud out that could be holding smells. Then I took a bottle of Odo-Ban and absolutely drenched every fabric surface in the car, headliner, door panels, seats, carpets, etc. I let it air out for a couple hours, changed the cabin air filter, then drove it around the block, and hit it with a heavy dose of Ozium when I parked it and I'll let that cure overnight. Considering the smell was pretty faint in the first place, I'm pretty sure it won't be coming back now. It was satisfying to get all the soda spills, hair, glitter, and god knows what else cleaned up from the teenybopper previous owner too.
This week it's getting 4 new tires and an alignment, an oil change, hopefully my touchup paint wil show up so I can clean up a few little nicks, and if I have time on Friday night I'll give it a bath and throw another coat of sealant on so its all purdyful for the show (in its totally stock, utterly boring glory). :thumbup:
Now: 07 Porsche Cayman S | 18 VW Tiguan
Then: 18 VW GTI Autobahn | 95 BMW M3 | 15 VW GTI SE | 12 Kia Optima SX | 2009 VW GTI | 00 BMW 540i Sport | 90 Mazda Miata | 94 Yamaha FZR600R | 1993 Suzuki GS500E | 2003 BMW 325i | 95 Saab 900S