GAFIT I wanted to remove those 2 balance shafts when I rebuilt the engine. They weighed a ton & race cars don't need to be smooth, at least mine didn't. Trouble was one of the counterweight shafts drove the oil pump & there was no good way to remove it since the oil pump was deemed as sort of necessary.

I didn't realize our VW engines had a balance shaft. Mines pretty smooth so I'm guessing it helps.

Alco, I had a 59 Buyeye Sprite that had cylinder deactivation. It also had auto-stop at traffic lights. Trouble was it didn't always start back up. It also had variable valve timing due to a worn out timing chain. ;-p

 

Otto has new tires and I changed the oil today. Have to go back for the alignment on Tuesday. The shop I use was slammed. Said this is always their busiest time of year.

Getting it ready for a trip to OH next week. If there are any weak links in the Golf, we will find them quickly. Running up on 40k miles.

It needs a bath, but the paint is so crappy, I've just stopped washing it. Just clean the wheels and tires and keep rolling.

 

Clean cars run better GAFIT. What flavor of tires did you get? Where in Ohio are you headed? Yes I'm nosey.

I just had the oil changed in my GTI. My bum left knee wouldn't let me get under the car. Since I had the oil & filter already the dealer only charged me $20. I'm pretty happy with that.

 

I agree about clean cars! It's killing me leaving it dirty :( Also kills me to wash it and look at the horrible VW paint. If I weren't so lazy, I'd probably pursue a warranty claim. Was it your buddy that had his repainted?

Tires are Yokohama Ascend GT's. They weren't even in my top 3 choices, but my "tire guy" talked me into them. I'm a sucker for deals. Less than $100/tire plus a $170 rebate on a set of 4 and he takes care of me on the mount/balance/etc. Plus the highest treadwear warranty on one of my chosen tires was 55k miles. These have a 75k warranty and a 30 day free trial. Our trip to Ohio will take us over Blood Mountain, so I'll get to really test them next week. I can already tell they aren't my type of tire...soft sidewall..., but they probably are what we should run on a 35k/year car.

In-laws live in Tipp City. It's just North of Dayton. Nice area and good people. Wife's Dad ran the Murraysville, OH Honda Plant for a LONG time and is now retired. Drove something like 50k miles per year back and forth from the plant.

Since I'm rambling...talk about a good deal! He got two super cheap unlimited mile lease deals as part of his employment. He always had the nicest Acura sedan and wife always had a 4wd SUV and never paid more than $200/month/vehicle payroll deducted. That price included insurance, full maintenance, repairs, etc. He literally paid $0 more than that and they took care of everything. Only catch was that his car was included in their R&D department fleet because he drove so many miles. It was actually him that led to a product change. He drove his Acura TL into a deep puddle and didn't come out the other side. Vent for the transmission was too low and the transmission was flooded with water. It came to a dead stop right there. He has lots of neat "Honda" stories. He's been to Japan something like 30 times.

 

Yes I know Tipp City, lots of good folks in Ohio also wonderful driving roads if you head southeast. I live north of Columbus. While you are there you should take your son to the Air Force museum it's a great place & he'll love it. Safe travels GAFIT.

Oh almost forgot. My friend bought a new 2016 GTI SE 2 door. When it came off the truck it was damaged. The dealer tried to fix it, but each time it came back worse than the time before. Finally the dealer stepped up & ordered him a new car. He got to keep driving the one with screwed up paint until the new one came in due to it being adapted for his use due to his handicap challenges.

 

That's funny! I'll share that with Mrs. Alco.

 

Our Fit has auto stop right now. Push in the clutch and it dies immediately. Manual start though. I have to mess more with the tune to get it to return to idle. Stock tune doesn't care or the aftermarket camshaft.

 

Anyone else notice how dim the reverse lights are on the Golf? The back up camera in my '13 Lincoln isn't nearly as good as the one in the Golf, but it's like daytime for backing up. The Golf at night is practically not usable. Just total darkness. Keep in mind that we live the woods, so being able to see backing is kind of a necessity.

Last week I realized it wasn't the camera, it's the back up lights. They barely put out any light at all and are a tiny, tiny part of the tail lamp. Almost like an after thought. Whereas my Lincoln's are brighter than our Fit's headlights and a large part of the housing.

So, we installed these...
I'm waiting till tonight for a final report, but they look much brighter during the day. Hoping it solves the problem. I can also see the spot in the housing that would have the European rear fog lights. They just filled the whole, but the spot is there on the circuit board and in the housing. Wonder if they illuminate those when reversing and the US cars are stuck with very little reverse lights. Also wonder how hard it would be to add those lights and use VAGCOM or something to add them. Not sure it would be worth the trouble, but interesting.

 

I'm pretty sure that rear fog light along with the reverse lights are just so people can see you not for you to see better. On the old rally car I had a fog light bolted to the rear bumper. It worked well, but I don't think that's a solution for you. I hope those LED lights you got help, but I'm doubtful they will.

 

They helped some. It definitely lights up the back better, but not great.

Maybe it's a VW thing or something, but my Ford's have all LIT up the rear completely. Last one and my current one lights up my whole driveway. Makes backing much easier. Maybe they know an old person will be driving. LOL

Actually, even the Mustangs light up the whole rear. New one even has the reverse lights mounted low to work with the camera.

Heck, even our Fit lights up the back better than our VW.

 

I think this says it all....

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article...reverse-lights

I would say our Golf fails in the second part of the equation..."The reverse lights also provide some illumination when the car is backing up."

At least the LED's helped some. Maybe I'll try that fog light bolted to the rear bumper idea! :D

 

i run LED's in the reverse lights on my old GTI and current Golf-R. illumination is excellent.

check out DeAutoKey.. they sell complete LED kits

 

Thanks! I will check them out.

I haven't driven the Golf yet at night since installing the LED's I bought. Wife said they are better. I'm hoping they are good enough.

Either way, I love the extra resource. Thanks!

 

no problem gafit. their bulbs are real nice. i swapped the lamp between the tails (on the gate), brake lamp and turn signals (front and rear) also the rear plate bulbs on my GTI as those weren't LED for some reason. never had an issue over the 2yrs i owned the car.

on my Golf-R i swapped the bulbs on the lamp between the tails, brake, and reverse lights bulbs as others came LED from the factory. if you get an OBD11 you can program the lamp between the tails (on the gate) to light up with the brakes so that all 4 lights up. its pretty cool.

 

On my Fit I changed out the reverse bulbs for brighter LED as well. What also helps is to kind of ride the brake while reversing too, that extra illumination lights things up.

 

Felix The Fit is making a terrible grinding/groaning noise when the brakes are applied. My daughter and I both think the noise is emanating from the passenger front. I can't see much with a flashlight and no floor jack/jack stands, so I can only guess it's a worn pad dragging on or digging into the rotor. The outside of the rotor looks fine. What would you guys guess? The car still stops fine.

I also see an engine oil leak toward the end of the oil pan on the passenger side. The area of the pan on the drain plug area and oil filter drain area are both clean. I fear it's the engine seal, maybe?. At least it's on the accessory side if it is the engine seal. CV and drive boots are good.

I'll probably wait until Felix comes home for Christmas and take it in to my trusted local garage. I've reached the point in life where I'm not going to suffer through working a long repair with cold hands and frozen ears. I don't know who I'd trust in distant "Collegetown" to work the repairs.

 

Could be a stone stuck between the backing plate & rotor. Sometimes hitting the brakes hard in reverse will knock the stone loose. Make sure that happens in a safe empty parking light.

You can pick up a decent floor jack at harbor freight & a couple of jack stands for not a lot of money. They do come in handy. Make sure your daughter knows how to check & add oil as needed. Good luck Alco.

 

Good idea on the stone, as the noise instantly appeared. That'll be the first thing I check when Felix returns. I have a floor jack at home, but we're elsewhere for Thanksgiving, so am short on options. :-(

 

Which reminds me.. I should check the oil levels on my GK and WRX today.

my Golf-R is sitting on Flatstoppers and hibernating. decided too much work to play and clean 3 cars in the winter plus looking after my GK. salt is such a biotch to clean.

 

The Yokohama's are gone! We were getting strange harmonic issues with them. Not sure if there was a belt separation issue or if they just didn't get along with the car.

Now have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ on the car. Just had them installed this morning so my only feedback is based on an 8 mile drive, but they seem excellent. Time will tell. I will say they look good.