Loving the golf...but time for repairs

[gareth blackstock]

G'day
I have had the Golf for a few years now, and she has 320,000 on the clock and doing great. My question is, I need quite a few parts, and I thought I could buy another mk4 auto for parts, but there seem to be so many variants of the same model that buying a parts car may be a big gamble.
I need rotors all round, door locks, drive shafts, interior bits and odds and sods. Hoping to get a low mileage one with a buggered engine or the like.
Is there a model inter changeability website? I have searched around and nothing much.

Cheers, gareth

[Sirocco20348]

What model golf is it??

[JustCruisn]

Probably not worth your time.
Anything you get is gonna be just as old as your car, any part that is better is not gonna be much better.
e.g. a drive shaft can be a bugger to get out, they can get stuck in the hub and you will have to do it on both vehicles then install. A new one would be half the effort.

Don't put in used brakes, seriously just get new rotors and pads, they will last for years anyway.

Have you looked a wrecking yard for the interior bits yet, what sort of money do they want for them ?

I'd only consider a wreck body for a gearbox or door panels etc

[The One]

As mentioned above, use new necessity parts e.g: brakes, driveshafts. Interior check the classifields here or gumtree, ebay etc, you shouldn't have much of an issue finding bits like that, if you need help r.e: fitment interchange between models we will need to know yours first.

[gareth blackstock]

G'day all,

Thanks for the replies, some good advice there. My model Golf is: 1999 2.0 Auto, I think the GL. You are all correct about using second hand parts, especially rotors, etc. But I am also running a 2001 Holden VX, 1985 Yamaha FJ1100, 2 year child, full time job, and a wooden house built in 1958.
So I am as close as it gets to stealing wheels off parked cars and selling them on ebay....just joking...

Anyway, I found another Golf on ebay for $500, admittedly it is a 1.6 manual, so drive shafts are out, perhaps better idea to get them new...but considering the door latches, tyres, rotors, perhaps even the brake pads, I still stand to save a lot of money if the parts match up.

Even if the engine is no good to me, it still only has 204,000kms on the clock... considering a cheap pair of rotors are $110 each, tyres $125 each, brake pads around $125 a pair, door latches around $75 each and I need two... so far the $500 Golf is looking good...

And I have come across a few people wrecking Golfs on ebay, but as I live in Ararat, postage is a big part of the sale price to me.

If only there was a "pick a part" nearby...

cheers, Gareth

[Bora Sport]

You should be able to get complete driveshafts including cv and boots new for less than $200.00 a side. Try brakesdirect.com.au for the brakes.

[dylan8]

Driveshafts are normally pretty cheap to refurb if you cant find new. just make sure they use genuine/quality parts.
Should be able to get some wheel and tyres cheap second hand, just look for defects in tyres and try to get something less than 5 years.
Whats wrong with the door latches? often just the adjuster breaks or slides off.
Plastic bits in any km mk4 are going to be stuffed, they tend to wear with age rather then use.

[gareth blackstock]

G'day,
Thanks for the tips on getting some parts, and I realise a drive shaft may be cheap at $200, but still, these things add up. It would have been nice to get a decent parts car, I reckon it would have saved me $100's. I found some drive shafts for $125, and rotors for $110, both sourced locally. Sadly I cannot come near to affording genuine parts, so cheap and nasty for now.

The problem I am having with the doors is specifically the door lock actuators, I think I have the dreaded "bad solder" problem. I am not looking forward to fixing that as getting the actuators out was a nightmare last time. I reckon these doors are assembled with the idea that noone will ever take one apart to repair anything.

cheers, Gareth

[JacobD]

You can find bits like your rotors and such at a wrecker. Take some calipers and measure them up to see how they compare to new?
Door actuators would also be super cheap at a wrecker. If you're looking to save money, second-hand is the way to go. Of course you do compromise slightly on quality though..

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[kendog]

I highly recommend taking the effort to take the door actuators out and soldering them. Worked perfectly for me on all 3 doors that needed it at the time (4th is only just showing slight signs now). Bite the bullet and do it, nothing like knowing all your doors are locked when you walk away from the car every time. Doing a few doors at once you get a bit quicker. If you buy door actuators at a wreckers, you still have to go to all the trouble of getting them back out and in again, and they might start stuffing up in a few weeks again anyway, and you've wasted time, money, and back to square one. Re-solder worked for me, and it's been a few years since, all 3 still fine.