The past week in Car repair

[Briano1234]

for a 1990 Automatic that whole crack pipe is
VACUUMPIPE [Part# 155611931A]


Volkswagen
Price:$79.50
List Price:$79.50
Your Price:$58.19

1stvwparts.com

But we need someone to cross check my ETKA.
That is the hard plastic hose with the check valves on both ends.

the Gasket to seal the hose on the booster should be
861612175

GASKET [Part# 861612175]

Volkswagen
Price:$11.50
List Price:$11.50
Your Price:$7.02

[gull]

That sounds about right, but I suspect you'll find you can't actually order it. IIRC 1stvwparts.com is the VW dealer in Auburn, WA. That's the one I went to. They quoted me $100 at the parts desk, then found it was obsolete and couldn't be ordered. But a '90 is Digifant, and my '88 is CIS, so it's possible the part is different.

I hate that place, BTW...it takes forever to get service, and they always make me feel like I'm imposing a great hardship on them when I ask them to look stuff up. When they order parts for me, they never call me back when they come in, either.

[Briano1234]

Try ECS tuning.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Volkswagen-Sci ... 55611931A/

[Briano1234]

Green rabbit I was informed that it is running and stalling.... mmmm 23 degrees, and when it was cold..
So Go get the car at Northpoint Mall drive it home no issues.
Stop by Pepboy's 2 cans of HEET, and a CTS sensor.
Remove and cleaned the plugs.
Decided to Remove and clean the ISV,, Okay I replaced it with a spare.
Decided to Remove and replace the Fuel Pressure Regulator...
Had a leak after replacing it.
Took it back off and put the old one back on, but decided the Leak was the fuel hose. So I trimmed it, ans the AH-HA moment.

The Fuel Return line was cracked.

Run to Pepboy's get 3 feet of hose, replace the fuel return and the main fuel in. Pressure test no leaks.
Run new Vac hose to the FPR.

Replace the CTS sensor.

Tighten the Exhaust.

Then decided to tackle the low voltage displayed on the Gauge.

13.5 on the battery.
12v on Gauge.

Remove the cluster and measure the terminal ends, 12.1V.
Recheck using new ground point 13.4
Replace the Ground running to the gauge with the one from the console tape holder.

Car running shows 13.75 at the gauge.


Runs good

[CalAltaDubber]

I got nothing to report. The two cabbys are both in winter storrage mode. I got to do an oil change on my Golf one of these days, but it's been too cold to want to do much work out in the garage. Probably on the week end.

[kamzcab86]

This has been the Year of the Battery:

Cabriolet battery has been dead for 3 months; will not charge.
Vanagon battery replaced in October.
Jetta battery dead just before Thanksgiving (actually, not dead, just low; charged overnight).
Both boat batteries boiled out their acid, went dry and dead due to the crappy charger, which I only discovered last week. Two deep cycle batteries and a new dual-bank float charger now installed, I'm once again ready for the X-mas boat parade.

And, I got back from Thanksgiving to see my Vanagon leaning to the left. It also doesn't move or squeak anymore when I step into it... I suspect the suspension is shot. But, Bilstein has a lifetime warranty so, hopefully, that repair won't cost me much!

Oh, the joys of vehicle ownership.

[sixsracing]

I too have had the year of the battery, Dad's Vanagon and my wife's Beetle needed them last week. Luckily I have a friend in the business and scored both for $84.50 (can't beat that). The Vanagon lean issue will most likely be more than a shock Kammie. I have seen them break springs. Also, when you step into them and squeak it can be the upper control arm bushings either loose or worn. If you had an alignment done the shops have a tendency to leave the bolts loose. I usually get them back after an alignment and use a breaker bar to tighten them then double nut them. 9 times out of ten it eliminates the squeak. Not the lean though.

[Briano1234]

Daughter pulls out of the driveway... then calls me on the Cell to come outside. SEE it's acting up.

She takes my car, and I start hers up and what do I hear? The whinning of the frigging fuel pump. I think I will make her buy this one.

[kamzcab86]

The Vanagon lean issue will most likely be more than a shock Kammy. I have seen them break springs. Also, when you step into them and squeak it can be the upper control arm bushings either loose or worn. If you had an alignment done the shops have a tendency to leave the bolts loose. I usually get them back after an alignment and use a breaker bar to tighten them then double nut them. 9 times out of ten it eliminates the squeak. Not the lean though.

I looked under there, briefly, the other day and didn't see broken springs; worn out springs, most certainly a possibility (it's had to carry heavy loads the past two trips). The bushings up front are worn out, that I know; I've got several waiting to be installed. It simply has the infamous "Westy lean" right now; the left side is presently just over 1/2" lower than the right. I'm surmising the suspension being shot because it's acting just like my Cabriolet did when its shocks went bad. Once all the painting, yard work and "Christmasing" is done, I'll take a more closer look; Dad will be here this weekend too, so I'll have him take a look as well. One thing it definitely needs is new belts.

And, I like the squeaking... gives the van some character!

[gull]

Some people have successfully cured the "Westy lean" by putting spacers between the springs and spring perches. Apparently UHMW polyethylene from those plastic kitchen cutting boards works well. Good writeup here:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=4119257

[kamzcab86]

Funny, I read about that a few days ago (I'm over at theSamba all the time). Spacers are definitely in the future, but first we need figure what's going on with it.

[Briano1234]

Got the Fuel pump replaced 30 minutes tops, but what else I thunked of was to place a quart of MMO Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank, to Lube and clean the primary.

I got to thinking that if the main was overworking then it may have over heated a bit and lacquered some of the gas internally, so that maybe the MMO will clean that out and lube stuff.

Like I said I was just thunking about today.

[sixsracing]

Marvel Mystery is a great lubricant, if you want clean then I would suggest Sea Foam. Fantastic stuff.

[gull]

For what it's worth, my primary has been noisy for about three years and 20,000 miles now, and it's still going. I had the in-tank pump fail and cause the engine to cut out when hot, replaced that, then I could hear both pumps but the primary was still loud. It's possible I'm on borrowed time, but it's just too expensive to replace preemptively. Actually, I didn't realize it was louder than normal until I got a second Cabriolet.

By the way, ever notice you hear more pump noise with the tank full? My theory is the sound from the in-tank pump couples to the outside better when there's more fuel in there.

[Briano1234]

Marvel Mystery is a great lubricant, if you want clean then I would suggest Sea Foam. Fantastic stuff.

Well before I learned of Sea Foam, MMO was all we used, and we used it like Sea Foam.....and it would smoke the bejeezers when it was sucked in to the carbs, or throttle body.