Joey's Totally Predictable DD

[Apoc]

Make sure "mobile data" is turned off 'cause it really sounds like it's searching for a signal.

Also, I think airplane may not override bluetooth. You may want to test.

[SlimKlim]

Yeah I'll fiddle around with those apps and see if they work. I do have the mobile data turned off, but its still searching for the cell signal, dunno why. Airplane mode is the only thing that turns it all the way off from what I can tell.

[JustinG]

Airplane mode doesn't kill my bluetoofs...fyi.

[SlimKlim]

You warned me.. I didn't listen... I was so wrong. SO WRONG.

5 hours, one broken electrical connector, a dozen cuts, one blister, one missing injector seal, one missing bolt, eight completely disgusting valves. Hopefully tomorrow goes more smoothly.

I'm seriously considering selling this and keeping a few 99-05 BMWs in rotation. They have their faults but at least I understand them, they're well documented, and they're easy to work on. The only DIY for this project in existence was written by some douchenozzle that didn't put the pictures in the post or even put them in order, so I had to cowboy the entire thing. Fuck VWs.

Daddy needs some vodka.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Because VW.. Sell it :thumbup:

Edit: Just stick with what you're good at.. Buy another BMW :bootyshake:

[Kaan]

Shoulda bought a Honda

Chalk this up to learning more than you wanted!

[SlimKlim]

Since I'm in this career transition period I'm hesitant to make any moves because I don't know what my next salary will be. However, what I've been thinking is:

Next job doesn't pay that well: 97-00 528i or early non-sport E46 for ~$4k. Enjoy not having a payment and driving a decent car that has its faults, but I have a solid understanding of and can work on in my sleep.

Next job pays decently: low mileage 04-05 330i Sport/ZHP for $10-12k. Gorgeous, sporty, comfy cars that I know how to work on, slightly lower cost of ownership than the VW and probably similar reliability, but a throttle body that comes off in 45 seconds not 45 minutes. Either of these options would probably require the acquisition of snow tires because open diff RWD.

Next job has a bitchin' salary: Keep the 'dub for 2 years and pay the shop to fix it for me when it breaks again, because I really do love driving it and I love the hatchback. Place an order on an MKVII when they are available, drive it from 0-59,999 miles and sell it.

[ScottyB]

what actually happened here?

[SlimKlim]

At 61,300 miles the CEL popped on. Pulled the code and it was P2015 for a faulty reading on the electronic sensor that controls the variable intake runner. I called VW and asked them very politely to do a good faith repair, since it was clearly a design defect and happened 1000 miles out of warranty. They very politely told me to go fornicate myself.

The little sensor thingy can't be separated from the manifold, so I had to replace it. Not a terribly expensive part, ~$160, but dear lord sweet jesus is it a pain in the ass to remove. Had to take out the air intake, noise pipe, tubing from intake to throttle body, and oil filter just to have room to remove it. Then every bolt, clip, and sensor is located where human hands can't possibly fit.

Once I got it out I broke down and went and bought a set of 1/4" extensions and replaced my missing swivel adapter, which made reassembly considerably easier, but still no cake walk.

I have to admit I was pretty self impressed when I got it back together with no missing bolts, no unplugged connectors and no dash lights. I almost reversed the wiring on the connector I broke, but I went to the VW dealer and begged a service advisor to let me stick my head under the hood of another TSI car for a minute to make sure I had it right. The sucky thing about new cars is there's just no documentation out there. I'm used to the old BMWs where you can practically google how to rebuild the car bolt by bolt and wire by wire.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Since I'm in this career transition period I'm hesitant to make any moves because I don't know what my next salary will be. However, what I've been thinking is:

Next job doesn't pay that well: 97-00 528i or early non-sport E46 for ~$4k. Enjoy not having a payment and driving a decent car that has its faults, but I have a solid understanding of and can work on in my sleep.

Next job pays decently: low mileage 04-05 330i Sport/ZHP for $10-12k. Gorgeous, sporty, comfy cars that I know how to work on, slightly lower cost of ownership than the VW and probably similar reliability, but a throttle body that comes off in 45 seconds not 45 minutes. Either of these options would probably require the acquisition of snow tires because open diff RWD.

Next job has a bitchin' salary: Keep the 'dub for 2 years and pay the shop to fix it for me when it breaks again, because I really do love driving it and I love the hatchback. Place an order on an MKVII when they are available, drive it from 0-59,999 miles and sell it.

I think any salary you should just buy option A and put your time/efforts/money back into your real passion.. That confounded, obnoxiously loud, yet makes your pants go "hnngggggg" thing that sits in your garage.. :mrgreen:

[SlimKlim]

Since I'm in this career transition period I'm hesitant to make any moves because I don't know what my next salary will be. However, what I've been thinking is:

Next job doesn't pay that well: 97-00 528i or early non-sport E46 for ~$4k. Enjoy not having a payment and driving a decent car that has its faults, but I have a solid understanding of and can work on in my sleep.

Next job pays decently: low mileage 04-05 330i Sport/ZHP for $10-12k. Gorgeous, sporty, comfy cars that I know how to work on, slightly lower cost of ownership than the VW and probably similar reliability, but a throttle body that comes off in 45 seconds not 45 minutes. Either of these options would probably require the acquisition of snow tires because open diff RWD.

Next job has a bitchin' salary: Keep the 'dub for 2 years and pay the shop to fix it for me when it breaks again, because I really do love driving it and I love the hatchback. Place an order on an MKVII when they are available, drive it from 0-59,999 miles and sell it.

I think any salary you should just buy option A and put your time/efforts/money back into your real passion.. That confounded, obnoxiously loud, yet makes your pants go "hnngggggg" thing that sits in your garage.. :mrgreen:

Oh don't you worry about that. If either one of these contract positions goes through for me and I'm working again in the next 2 weeks, daddy gets a nice big slice of severance and the 'nanner mobile will be back on the road in short order. :mrgreen:

If I did go back to dailying an older bimmer I'd want one that was as mechanically solid as possible with relatively fresh suspension, bushings, brakes, and cooling system. I don't mind keeping one going, but I don't want to get stuck overhauling one from Crazy Joe's used car lot with 150k miles and every single original part.

Actually my neighbor has a 323i 5/spd that's as exciting as vanilla pudding but he's had it for 10 years and taken great care of it, I wonder if he's planning on replacing it soon...

[V1GiLaNtE]

Since I'm in this career transition period I'm hesitant to make any moves because I don't know what my next salary will be. However, what I've been thinking is:

Next job doesn't pay that well: 97-00 528i or early non-sport E46 for ~$4k. Enjoy not having a payment and driving a decent car that has its faults, but I have a solid understanding of and can work on in my sleep.

Next job pays decently: low mileage 04-05 330i Sport/ZHP for $10-12k. Gorgeous, sporty, comfy cars that I know how to work on, slightly lower cost of ownership than the VW and probably similar reliability, but a throttle body that comes off in 45 seconds not 45 minutes. Either of these options would probably require the acquisition of snow tires because open diff RWD.

Next job has a bitchin' salary: Keep the 'dub for 2 years and pay the shop to fix it for me when it breaks again, because I really do love driving it and I love the hatchback. Place an order on an MKVII when they are available, drive it from 0-59,999 miles and sell it.

I think any salary you should just buy option A and put your time/efforts/money back into your real passion.. That confounded, obnoxiously loud, yet makes your pants go "hnngggggg" thing that sits in your garage.. :mrgreen:

Oh don't you worry about that. If either one of these contract positions goes through for me and I'm working again in the next 2 weeks, daddy gets a nice big slice of severance and the 'nanner mobile will be back on the road in short order. :mrgreen:

If I did go back to dailying an older bimmer I'd want one that was as mechanically solid as possible with relatively fresh suspension, bushings, brakes, and cooling system. I don't mind keeping one going, but I don't want to get stuck overhauling one from Crazy Joe's used car lot with 150k miles and every single original part.

Actually my neighbor has a 323i 5/spd that's as exciting as vanilla pudding but he's had it for 10 years and taken great care of it, I wonder if he's planning on replacing it soon...

Sounds like a good time for a friendly "low-ball" neighborhood BBQ to round out the summer.. :wink:

[SlimKlim]

Maybe I can just start moving in, throw my sunglasses in when know one is looking one day, ipod kit the next, eventually I'll have it via squatter's rights.

[SlimKlim]

Well it's been a relatively uneventful year with this car, seeing as I forgot to make any updates. I just crossed over 70k miles so I've put about 12k on the car.

I've only had 2 minor issues with the car since I replaced the intake manifold.

Sometime last winter the car started stuttering and losing power. It did it once or twice and only seemed to happen when it was raining, but pulling over and restarting tricked it into thinking everything was ok. It was fine for a week and then it really crapped out on me on my way to work one day. I think the DSG must cause a lot of drag, because when it went out I slowed DOWN. Practically had it floored just trying to limp it onto the shoulder. I gave it 5 minutes and got it going again, figured out there was a TSB for the throttle body wiring and had my shop replace the pigtail to the TB. Not fun, but far from the worst issue to deal with.

After that it was very well behaved. I did an oil change and had to throw a battery in it last month, but otherwise I haven't touched it.

...Until this week. The car wasn't warming up all the way and finally threw a CEL for the thermostat. It's in my shop right now getting a new Thermostat and ECT installed. Normally I'd do something like that myself, but one of the lovely features of a shrink-wrapped FWD car is an impossibly tight engine bay. It will take my shop 3 hours to get to the t-stat which is mounted on the WP directly under the manifold and behind the TB. If I was going to try to tackle it it would take me 8 hours if I was lucky, and I don't have that kind of time since we're going to get a puppy tomorrow.

So for those keeping track at home, here is the current total of VW electrical fuckery after ~16 months and 12k miles of ownership:

Intake Manifold - $180, installed at home
Wiring TSB - $190, installed by shop
T-Stat + ECT - ~$400-475, installed by shop

Total = Roughly $800 or $50/mo

Far from owning a Civic but also somewhat reasonable for a 70k mile German turbo-car, at least from my tainted perspective. It would also be considerably less if I wasn't such a lazy fuck and was willing to work on this thing myself.

Future Plans:

There is a recall out for the HID ballasts. Mine seem to work ok but I might as well go get a new part if it's free.

At 72k I'm due for an oil change, tire rotation, seafoam to steam clean the valves, and I need some new brake fluid. I'd also like to address my rattling driver's window which probably just needs new clips. At 80k I'll need to do the DSG service but I might do it a little early, couldn't hurt.

I *think* I have an eBay catch can kicking around from when I thought the valve seals were going out on the BMW. I want to see if I can make it work on this car, the amount of crud that ends up back in the intake of this thing is absolutely insane. And then the assholes charging $499 for a freaking catch can are also insane. That's about 100x what I'm willing to pay for a can and some tubing.

As much as I'm coveting the MKVIIs I'm probably going to do the fiscally responsible thing and keep running this thing for a least another year. Once I sort through some of this minutia I've been thinking about getting it tuned, the idea of 300ft-lbs to get me on the highway in the morning is just too intoxicating.

My shop will do a Revo tune for me at their cost. I just want to make sure the car is good and solid before doing anything so I don't waste money on a tune when I really need LCAs or something. If I do it I'll wait until fall and make it a birthday present to myself.

[*insertusernamehere*]

As much as I'm coveting the MKVIIs I'm probably going to do the fiscally responsible thing and keep running this thing for a least another year.

You've developed such a VAG fetish, I thought you were a BMW boy?!

[SlimKlim]

I am, but I only have the emotional fortitude to own one old ///M car at a time, and the newer ones do almost nothing for me. I had an E46 and Lauren had an E39, so both of those have a sort of "been there, done that" feeling. I have no interest in DDing an E36 that is slightly different from my other E36. Which really only leaves something like an E34 M5 or 540i M-sport that would even remotely appeal to me as a daily driver, but as you know, even a well maintained 20 year old car will throw you curve balls everyday.

I have considered an E46 M3 or E39 M5 (and an E55 AMG for that matter) because they could be had in the mid-teens much like a GTI, but the insurance, gas, and potential repair costs would actually make them *significantly* more expensive to own than the 30mpg, sorority-girl-insurance-bracket GTI. I actually framed them out with a little spreadsheet, and the insurance on an E55 would be so bad it would only cost me marginally more per month to go buy a 2015 GTI.

That leaves the newer non-M cars, and despite how much I try I just can't make myself like them. The E90s are super heavy and look funny. The 1-series is too small and looks funny. The E60s are hideous. I actually do sort of like the F30, but I am not even close to baller enough to pay forty-seven freaking grand for a 4-cylinder stickshift 328i. Not to mention all of those cars have open diffs and 1-tire-fires are huge boner killers. I don't mind an open diff on a FWD car because my expectations are lower, but I expect a 300hp RWD turbo-rocket to be able to light up both rear tires.

That leaves me with the VWs. FWD (which I actually like after doing RWD in the snow for 3 years, yes, you *can* drive RWD in the snow and it will be just fine probably, but I can hoon the shit out of FWD with no worries), oodles of torque, the hatchback is extremely convenient, insurance is reasonable, I can squeeze almost 3 weeks out of a tank of gas, and the pricing works for me. It's the perfect package of fun, practical, and cost effective, at least for me.

So yeah, for right now I'm a VAG man through and through, at least when it comes to my daily driver. The car after this will probably be another VAG, ideally either a Golf R or MKVII GTI.

Later in life, or when our financial situation takes a significant change for the better, I might end up back in a newish BMW, maybe a nice A4, or even in a used 997 911 4S if they ever depreciate enough to be realistic, but until then VAG all the way baby.

[*insertusernamehere*]

That was more than I was expecting lol. I just wanted a reason to say VAG. But you did say something interesting..

If you can seriously pull 3 weeks outta one tank of gas that is REALLY GOOD!!

[RawrImAMonster]

That leaves the newer non-M cars, and despite how much I try I just can't make myself like them. The E90s are super heavy and look funny. The 1-series is too small and looks funny. The E60s are hideous. I actually do sort of like the F30, but I am not even close to baller enough to pay forty-seven freaking grand for a 4-cylinder stickshift 328i. Not to mention all of those cars have open diffs and 1-tire-fires are huge boner killers. I don't mind an open diff on a FWD car because my expectations are lower, but I expect a 300hp RWD turbo-rocket to be able to light up both rear tires.

Just FYI, 135i's won't do 1-tire-fires even with the open diff. The e-diff works well enough in a straight line that they'll lay down two black streaks. It just doesn't do so hot in the turns.

I was surprised that they do proper burnouts too.

[SlimKlim]

^ Interesting. I know the E-Diffs have gotten good, didn't realize they were that good. I think my car is the first year of the GTI that has one, among like 9 other stability control systems. It was a weird transition to go from the nothing-but-ABS to the newer car. If you aggressively throw it into an off ramp you'll feel it initially want to understeer, as you'd expect, then a split second later you can feel it make adjustments and suck the nose towards the apex. It's weird, but it works well.

The only experience I have with the BMW's E-Diff was when Jake did a ridiculous peel out of our neighborhood while turning right and it lit up the inner tire like crazy.

That was more than I was expecting lol. I just wanted a reason to say VAG. But you did say something interesting..

If you can seriously pull 3 weeks outta one tank of gas that is REALLY GOOD!!

Getting to say VAG also goes into the Pros column.

And yeah I'm only commuting about 15 miles/day so the gas mileage isn't that insane, but I can easily average ~25 around town if I drive gently, which is significantly better than anything I've gotten out of a BMW.

[HAULN-SS]

For perspective, Malibu cost 48 cents a month in "problem fixes" excluding wearables.