Belix's Jetta 2

[Adamantium]

Why did you buy thees cah?lol give the wife the G6 this car seems problematic I wouldn't let her drive it.


Sent from my turbocharged iPhone

[Belix]

Yeah, but then I'd be driving this all the time, and I do way more driving!

well good news is that was only loose cable on the starter, so go it started, but what a pain in the ass location! compared to the 'normal' position on the manual right there in front hope I don't have to change that any time soon!

Anyhow, went out to ace spares to see about getting a bit for the central locking that was missing, but irritatingly, someone had bought the whole door of the car I saw early last month, so no luck

Anyhow, they had knock off door locks for R80 each that looked pretty good. Unfortunatley for me, I only tried one lock, not both, and one seems to have a manufacturing defect which is rather odd. Only figured it out after about an hour of trying to get the door to lock unsuccessfully!

if you see below, old lock pin has J shaped profile (note it goes in just under the '25'


but new lock has a extension on the locking ping going outward, which actually stops the lock locking. Weird!! The right hand side lock did not have the extension and worked fine.


another long trip out to ace spares to swap them


Another issue is the the left front door handle does not seem to push the lock up far enough to actualy open it. On closer inpsection I see the handle is non-oem, so I suspect it's another bad example, which is not working as well as OEM. Either that, or the door itself is bent such that the handle is angled slighty upward.
Will get an OME door handle and hope for the best.

Was trying to get the rubber 'boot' that goes between the handle and the door, bu VW only has stock of the fron one, back has 287 on backorder...given that it seems to be the same part for the citi, that seems pretty odd.

[Belix]

Hey folks
When I reversed the car yesterday and put on the brakes, something from the back right of the car went CLONK! On the drive thereafter, I got a small clonk - one clonk for each rotation of the wheel. Since the only thing that turns on the rear axle is the drum brakes, I'm guessing it's something to do with that.

Given that the hub nut needs a large 265nm to tighten, and I don't have that large a torque wrench, I'm a bit hesitant to start poking about.
Any idea what might cause a 'clonk' for each rotation?

[panic-mechanic]

That torque is the FRONT hub nut NOT the rear. You will have a totally broken off stub axle if you try that at the rear.

[Belix]

good to know!
any idea what the torque for the back would be?

[Jetta2]

The rear nut for the bearing hasn't got a specific torque setting.
You most likely tightened the nut too tight and damaged the bearing.

Replace bearings and do the following to tighten the nut up -

Tighten nut by hand.
Take a flat screwdriver and fit the blade between the washer and the disc/drum.
Tighten with spanner while rotating the wheel until you can just move the washer from side to side using the screwdriver.
Not too tight, the washer must be able to move with a bit of pressure.
Pop the castellated nut thingy back on abd fit a split pin in hte holes and bend the legs over.

[Belix]

Thanks folks!
don't worry, have not even taken the nut off yet - wanted to see what I was getting into with the back drums before taking them apart. Given that I've not overtightened the nut, would a 'clang' with each turn of the wheel be liekly to be caused by bearing? I'm familiar with a bearing making a whining sound, but a clang per rotations is a new one on me. Given that it only started when braking on reversing, I reconed brakes would be a liekly suspect.

[Scatman]

Hey man!

I'd check if all the wheelnuts are the same length. If they are, then I'd take off the drum and check for anything like the handbrake cable not being hooked in or anything that looks like its bent, or has been taking a knock.

@Ryan, thanks for the advice on the rear wheel bearing, I always wondered how you know when its tight enough!

@Belix, keep us updated as to what the problem is/was!

[Belix]

I'd check if all the wheelnuts are the same length

Thanks you senior! That was it, I remembered TWT put in one lug bolt when I had the tyres changed. No idea why it only played up a couple days later, but checked the bolts, three were oily on the bottom, one all shiny - the longest one. Swapped it to the front and sorted!!

[Belix]

next to be done
* replace power steering bottle and fluid
* figure out why I got no low beams. I guess the stalks are faulty. (How easy is it to swap it with a new citi set on stalks?)
* try get fan working
* try get dash into repsentable condition
* paint up rusting battery area
* replace heater core - where can I get a replacement?

[Scatman]

Haha, this should be documented, this is one of those rare times I'm actually right

Glad its sorted man, whats next on the cards for the Jet? And did you get the door handles to work right?

[Belix]

the one pirate door handle on the left front does not seem to push the lock lever up high enough, so the door will not open. So wondering if I should try an OEM door handle at R1280 odd, or try a whole bunch of different non-oem ones at R85 odd each.

[heineken]

Are you gonna take the pull type or the polo lift handles from autostyle ?

[Belix]

for the price of an OEM one, may as well give it a try! Will see if GW has them as autostyle is a bit of a drive.

[Belix]

got around to replacing the front passenger door handle. It was a lot better but still did not seem to lever down enough so I figured the door must be bent a bit. After a yank with an iron bar in the handle opening, the door opens now!
I decided to change to locks rather than have two different keys, and this is what greated me when I took the old lock out.

So! No pins whatsoever
Anything could open that lock!
Anyway, managed to configure five of the six the pins in the new lock to work with the current key

I recall that you can use a self taping screw to fix this issue, but was not sure where the screw would go...I assume at the end of the lever?


Also changed the power steering fluid and bottle.
Old bottle definately past it's prime!

Old fluid is this colour, while new fluid is clear!


Apparently i have a leak somewhere as this was the rear passenger compartment after the weekend rains....

[Belix]

does the temperature gauge get info from two sender units?
The temp needle seems to show the right temperature, but the light is always blinking now.
Also, rad fan is ALWAYS running. Where is this controlled from, as I assume the switch must be faulty.

[OEM+]

Radiator fan is controlled by the switch on the side of the radiator. Check that the 2 pins aren't touching each other that would cause it to bridge the switch and run all the time.

I think the water temp light is controlled by the sensor on the coolant bottle??

[OEM+]

next to be done

* replace heater core - where can I get a replacement?

GW has them.

[Belix]

thanks and thanks!
Will check out both

[Belix]

Engine is overheating. After filling with water, and a 15 minute drive, temp gauge light comes on. When you check the water with engine running after cooling down, there is a lot of pressure, bubbles etc (not steam). Water is a very rusty brown colour. Have checked oil and it does not seem to be mayonaise-ish, but does it seem liekly the head is blown letting gases into the water system?

This car was a real lemon. Since purchase, interior fans and aircon have died, overheating has started, rain leaks, dash lights died...
sigh!

[vr6zn]

check the thermostat and fuse for the interior fan and aircon.

[Belix]

yeah, will do.
Sadly, seems I was right. lots of mayonnaise looking crud when tappet cover off.
Sigh...
No time to attempt a head gasket replacement myself at the moment. Gonna have to take the thing in to a mechanic...
Wonder if the temp gauge is working rpoperly, becasue although the light came on, it never moved into the red.

[Belix]

Power steering pump seems to have gone now, perhaps it was so amaized atnew fluid.

and worse news
Head has been skimmed to much already - so need a new head.
Anyone know what heads the 1.8 block accepts?

[panic-mechanic]

Basically any of the 8v heads from about '85 onwards will fit.

[Belix]

Thanks panic
Wonder where the worse place in JHB is to leave your car overnight....