Mk4 Golf GT TDi 130 - A Quick Project

[mwstewart]

A quick maintenance task today. My car suffered the usual Mk4 Golf fate of a cracked centre console and was saddled with the associated rattles & squeaks that come with it. I purchased a new OEM console from a VW dealer selling parts on eBay:


To ensure this doesn't happen again I smeared Sikaflex along the join between the upper and lower console, whcih is where the OEM plastic welding usually breaks.


I also took the opportunity to remove the glove box and apply a combination of felt tape, adhesive backed felt, and anti-vibration compounds on all contact surfaces.


I use round felt pads and hole punch pliers to create little felt washers to use around screws and bolts.


I now have a quiet car once again, and for a Mk4 Golf diesel - it's pretty good.

[mwstewart]

alec.e said:

Best MK4 Golf! Have a strange attraction towards these, despite their shortcomings. Love the ways you improve and upgrade, great inspiration for my project.

Thank you. It's been a really good car.

[mwstewart]

At the start of the year I thought to myself the car must be getting to an age - 14 years - and mileage - 75k - where the life of the alternator is coming to an end. Sure enough last Tuesday the 'Alternator - visit workshop' message appeared briefly on the FIS.

On the Mk4 Golf 1.9 the two most likely causes are:

1) Failed aux belt tensioner
2) Seized clutch pulley on the alternator

The car managed a bit more city driving and a two hour motorway trip before the warning came on again, this time followed by a grumbling from the engine. In my case the pulley had seized but given the age of the car, and the fact the tensioner itself can also cause a similar problem, I decided to replace the tensioner and the entire alternator, rather than simply replace the clutch pulley. I decided to go for a Lucas 120amp alt rather than the 90amp version currently fitted.

The alt is in a really accessible place and is the easiest removal job I've ever done - it can be done in 15 minutes without rushing. Amazing!


Offending part(s).


Euro Car Parts have an Easter deal on and the replacement parts cost just £111 after returning my old alternator.

[mwstewart]

Finished.


The new tensioner comes locked with a pin so the alt and tensioner really do just drop in and bolt on. I didn't have to jack up the car or remove any panels., which was ideal given I had a hangover.

[mwstewart]

dannyDC2 said:

Glad to see it's still going strong.

I'm curious if the engine work, Jabba remap and intercooler/exhaust, as well as the EGR delete, improved fuel economy at all?

I didn't bother with a remap in the end. The EGR delete - both physical removal and coding out with VCDS - didn't improve MPG but made a noticeable difference in smoothness of the engine. In a lot of situations I can use a higher gear than before without the onset of resonance/vibration.

The exhaust improved average MPG by between 1 and 2 over a whole tank and dropped the boost threshold by 200rpm.

[mwstewart]

dandam said:

Great thread and lovely looking car.

I have a 2002 Audi A3 quattro sport 1.9TDi which is just about to go over the 150k. Bought it in 2007 with 62k on it, it had already been remapped to 160bhp at that point and the standard clutch lasted until 115k when I had it replaced with another standard clutch and DMF. Two years ago I had the turbo changed to a 150PD version, fitted the same Darkside FMIC as you have and had it remapped to 315lb torque and 181bhp. 20k later the clutch is still good as gold.

Originally it was my wifes daily, now mine and spends a lot of it's time on the M40 going to work and back so rarely gets very stressed but it will take off in a cloud of smoke when you fancy it

Thank you. Posts like these just make me think again about remapping it!

[mwstewart]

Max M4X WW said:

Mark, did you keep the 'anti shudder' flap? Ours used to rock about a fair bit with it removed but maybe it needed new engine mounts.

Hi Max, yep, I did. I had read about the issues caused by removing it so cleaned it out and blocked off the EGR port.

[mwstewart]

The Golf hit 80k last night. Out of interest I looked back at what it needed in maintenance. I've owned it from 38k and in the 42k I covered it's needed:

Stuff I did on purchase to get up to spec:
- O/S window motor - £20 used part
- Rear vents sealing with Sikaflex to prevent leaks - £8
- Original (2002) battery replacement - Bosch S3, £63.24 (Euro Car Parts20% off deal)
- Aero wiper kit - £52
- Cam belt and water pump - £225

Then maintenance over the 42k miles:
- PAS pump - £59.99 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-GOLF-MK4-1-9-TDI-1997...
- Exhaust front section - £89.99 but £150 fitted http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-A3-VW-BORA-GOLF-MK4...
- Alternator - £115.99 http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf_...
- Aux belt tensioner - £37.49 http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Golf_...
- O/S/F outer CV boot for MOT - £80 fitted
- Rear exhaust hangar welded – free – I did it
Then the regular stuff like a set of OEM ATE discs (£28.99) and pads (£25.49), one pair rear and two sets front tyres.

I don't count all of the suspension work because that was for my enjoyment i.e. there were not MOT advisories at the time I started that project.

I paid £3.8k for it and looking on AT it's still worth 2.5k now. Incredible value for money really.

[mwstewart]

Major service time. I've kept a full VW service history using their 'value' service which is basically an oil & filter and complete check of the car. Anything in addition like air, fuel, cabin filters etc. etc. I do myself on the same day.

A few phone pics after I treated it to a full valet. The cleaners used that horrible shiny stuff on the interior but thankfully it has been absorbed into the plastic and now looks a lot better. The car has a few marks here and there but is still looking pretty presentable, though at some point I'm going to get the drviers seat reconnolised.

I keep thinking about a change but I find it hard part with the Golf. It's the right size, the seats are fantastic, and I really, really like the engine's power delivery. Despite having more powerful cars I am always impressed by how well this one goes.

Edited by mwstewart on Friday 17th June 16:20

[mwstewart]

EJH said:

I do like the definition of a “quick project,” as with the other projects you have shared.

Where’s the line between “quick,” and “pretty comprehensive,” as this one has entailed the wheels, interior, headlining, instruments, TT suspension, navigation & hifi and rather a lot of other changes!

That said, this is just as interesting enjoyable as your other threads so many thanks for taking the time!

Haha, well, this was supposed to be a pretty quick project but when the car became mine to use the scope widenend - quite a bit

[mwstewart]

BGarside said:

Great job you've done with the Golf. Love the tasteful OEM-plus mods.

I had a Leon 150TDI before current car and loved the way it went after remapping, which didn't affect the economy either. Sadly the rest of the car was a POS which didn't live up to the engine...

If you ever consider selling please PM me as I'd be keen to buy the Golf as a more economic motorway car than my old BMWs!

Thanks. Will do.

[mwstewart]

Thank you very much but I'm going to hang on to it for a while.

[mwstewart]

As part of my birthday present my OH bought a Blacksmoke remap and MPPS lead for my birthday.



It was a bundle deal containing both 165 and 180 remaps, with the 165 being a clutch friendly map and the 180 only recommended for cars in good order and running correctly. I've started with the 180.

I think it's fairly well known that the 175/180 maps can drastically shorten clutch life if not driven carefully, but regardless of any remap I drive with a lot of mechanical sympathy i.e. never overload the clutch or induce resonance by loading the drivetrain in low gears, so there's no real change in driving style now the car is mapped.

MPPS is a doddle to use and enabled me to download my current BIN (map file) so I can easily return the car to standard later down the line, if needs be. The whole process takes around 15 minutes.

Driving impressions are good. There are no flat spots, hesitation, or other maladies; it is as smooth as the original calibration. Performance wise it's quite impressive but it's not the immediate change in performance you get with a petrol turbo remap - more a greater feeling of mid-range swell. The 1.9 is an 8v motor and comes with a very small turbo so in standard tune the boost builds very quickly, but post-remap there is actually a better balance across the rev range. Despite the more linear delivery it is pretty rapid and will spin the wheels in 3rd if it’s wet.

[mwstewart]

Interesting. I was prepared to swap to the 165 file if there were any issues (I'm pretty fussy), but the smoothness and drivability is certainly as good as the original, and it feels less peaky. I did some data logging beforehand with VCDS and the car was running absolutely fine; lots of long fast trips help with that.

I will keep an eye on the smoke. I am running a stainless downpipe and Darkside intercooler btw.

There's a bit of wear in the DMF commensurate with 83k - no noises just a vert sight vibration I can feel - so I will put in a new one and sachs uprated organic clutch in at some point. That opens the door to bigger injectors and 220bhp

[mwstewart]

Thank you! Nice comment. I've always liked the design, too.

[mwstewart]

Approaching 1,000 miles now and I wish I had done this years ago. The performance is impressive - it's effortless and really rather good fun! I think it's probably the optimum for the chassis. Any more power and I'd want some better brakes and suspension, but then it's a Golf not a sports car, and should be comfortable and practical, so I'm perfectly happy as is.

[mwstewart]

Lighting upgrade - part 2
The OEM xenons are an upgrade over the halogens but despite that still aren't particularly great; I think the limiting factor is the tiny 50mm projectors. I didn't want to spend time modifying the headlights to mount a larger bi-xenon projector setup so I decided to do the following:

- Fit 'uprated' bulbs to the OEM xenon dip beam;
- Install additional 55w ballasts for use with dip beam;
- Repurpose the OEM 35w ballasts for main beam;
- Replace the H7 halogen main beam bulbs with D2R HID bulbs fitted with metal adapter rings.

For the dip beams in the OEM HID projectors I've gone with new Philips Xtreme Vision 4800k D2S. These are a high output bulb that get good reviews.


For the main beams in the halogen reflectors I've gone with Philips Xenon Standard 4300k D2R. I'm OK with the service life comprise associated with cycling bulbs in a non-bi-xenon main beam application.


I've bought a generic Chinese HID kit for the ballasts and wiring. I figure that as long as the ballasts are kept dry, secure, and fed the necessary current they should last a while.


There's not much free real estate on the back of the OEM xenons so I found the best place for the additional harness & grommet was the centre of the dip beam bulb access cap. The loom braid is free of its securing heat shrink in the following photo but it was put back when I'd finished mocking up.


I mounted the 55w ballasts on the rear of the headlights using high strength adhesive gel tape.


I rewired the headlights internally by swapping the dip and main beam triggers, so the OEM ignitors and ballasts mounted behind the front arch liners now power the D2R main beams. The 55w ballasts power the dip beam bulbs. I also upgraded the two 10amp dip and two 15amp main fuses to 20amp.

The results are good: dip is now approaching the performance of a good 78mm/3" projector and has perfect light distribution with no dark or light spots. Cutoff is OEM. Basically it's as it was before but with increased light output.

Main beam is considerably brighter but obviously given the housings are halogen reflector the distribution is not perfect, however overall there is more light and more range than before. I'm happy with that.

When I get chance I'll get a photo of the system in action.

[mwstewart]

Emeye said:

Good effort - I really like Mk4 Golfs. I have a question - and apologies if it has been asked before but I only had time to skim read this thread - but why did you go to all the effort to fit the VW satnav, TMC and Cd changer when you could have fitted any number of modern double din satnav units that would have done everything and much more? One of the appeals of the Mk4 is the double din slot sat there gagging for a decent unit.

Please don't take it as a criticism, more a question as to your thinking - I have fitted many headunits, speakers etc into cars - the biggest challenge was a double-din, fully steering wheel and reverse sensor integrated, Pioneer Carplay headunit into my last car, a BMW E92 - always, other than sometime single din aesthetics, the aftermarket head-unit was a major improvement in both power, sound quality and functionality.

Cheers. The two big ones for me:

- My car has DSP. The factory Sat Nav (MFD) can be coded to suit and once active it runs the DSP amp in the boot and provides an additional couple of menus related to its setup. The MFD is also a better source than the normal head units.
- My car has full height FIS which comes with an additional screen for nav. It has the usual stuff like road name display, junction diagrams, and countdown to next turn/junction etc.

Obviously the OE system works from the MFSW but I know aftermarket ones do too.

If there was a tasteful looking branded/non-Chinese aftermarket unit with integrated BT and iPod that supported DSP and cluster display then I would definitely consider it.

[mwstewart]

Craikeybaby said:

I know Alpine are doing some with tight integration to various VW models, not sure if they go back as mk4 Golf though,

Thanks - I'll look into it.

GrantB5 said:

Just read through this whole thread and love the work you have put in. Will be subbing.

I have a b5 passat and my clocks resemble the mk4 golf. I'm looking at the possibility of sticking the bezels from the b5.5 clocks also, far as I am aware the diameter of the clocks are the same as yours people refer to mine as the mk4 golf clocks.

How did you bore the cluster to allow the bezels to fit? Also do you have an up to date photo of the clocks installed?

Thanks.

Thanks. I used a Dremel with a sanding drum attachment to remove the lip detail on the speedo and rev counter. It will be obvious what must be removed once you have the cluster fascia in front of you.




The foil is easy enough to remove as are the needles, but place a piece of cloth around them to protect the foil face. You may already know this but the coolant temp and fuel gauge sweep are different between Passat and Golf. There are some clever people out there who have figured out how to reprogram the Golf cluster bin to match the Passat foil, but that was further than I was willing to go, so I left the Golf fuel & water gauges and needles, and just changed the speedo and tach.

[mwstewart]

martin mrt said:

Alternatively you could fit the internals from Bora Sport clocks, I've done this on a few of my mk4s and the foils swap over fine, including the fuel and temp gauge.

Thanks Martin. I do have a set of 'full FIS' Bora Sport clocks in the workshop, but I prefer the R32/Passat style for my car, as it isn't overtly sporty.