gti work part 1 (of 1, hopefully)

The GTI has been in the garage for a little over a week. I changed the passenger side strut bushing and bearings, the spark plugs, oil, and ECT sensor.

I got a check engine light a few weeks ago with code P2181, which is a cooling system performance error. It’s quite possible that the new ECT sensor will fix that, and if not it’s the thermostat, which is a royal pain to change out in that cramped engine bay.

You can see how collapsed the bushing at the top of the strut ended up, as compared to the newly installed one. When supported by jack stands, I could push the wheel up and down, which meant the strut bearings were shot also. This all explains the clunking as I turned left, which has since disappeared.

I was lucky to find an MKIV Suspension DIY, which was helpful because the job didn’t make sense at first. There really is no way to get the strut out, and the subframe really does need to be dropped. The factory service manual left this part out.

The main pain in the ass involved what my friend refers to as the “tool company that makes cars”. VW has special tools required to perform functions that, on other cars, simply use logic. Removing the strut from the knuckle requires VW tool 3424 to spread the housing, which (with 2nd day air so I could have Eilene’s Jeep back to her) cost me $50 (for a glorified socket). This is primarily why the car was down for so long, I couldn’t find anyone in town who stocked the tool.

I managed not to break any of the many now-brittle plastic parts in the engine bay, including the clips holding in the connectors on the coil pack. That’s fantastic.

I’m glad everything came together and that I can usually fix this stuff, I’ve obviously saved hundreds of dollars. But I still hate working on cars, and if we had the money and I was given the choice between spending a week under the car or paying someone to do the work so I can have a few more days to watch my son grow up, I would easily choose the latter.

bleep

2003 GTI, 1.8t standard with 50K miles on it. Eilene and I did some pretty exhaustive searches, and this one turned out to be perfect.

The odd part came when paying. Despite finding my own financing and being a “cash customer”, I was required by Texas state law to provide my social security number. Apparently all car sales in the US are now run through a Homeland Security database as per the Patriot Act.

cough cough

Last night a Chipotle employee asked me if I’d sell him my pickup. I told him I’d think about it, but it got my wheels spinning. The truck is awesome for hauling around engine hoists and stacks of sheetrock, annoying to commute in. It would be nice to sell it for $2500 and use that as a down payment on a zippy VW costing 6K or so.

For giggles, I dropped it on craigslist this morning. I had a definite buyer within an hour, and my phone was Grand Central Station all morning, so much so I pulled the ad within a half hour. I had $2300 cash by the strike of noon.