What have you done to your mk4 (golf/bora) today?

**dainese** · 29-04-2012, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by kenbot

We had problems with the thermostat/housing leaking at the connection to the engine, water and coolant everywhere! For a long time we tried several different combinations, like old seal with new thermostat, new seal with old thermostat, etc, etc, but to no avail.. The only thing that got it sealed & got me home was a good whack of gasket sealant.

I'm guessing that the non-genuine thermostat gasket was the problem? I want to fix it properly, and am thinking of ordering (genuine): thermostat, thermostat seal/gasket & thermostat housing so far, any other input?

Also, I seem to have a little more pep planting the foot now, it could be anything, I even changed over to BP on Fri. But what I also noticed now when accelerating hard is a small rapid vibration/shake/shudder through the steering wheel and accelerating pedal I think..

Any thoughts on that one?

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, but we DID have a bit of uncertainty lining up the crankshaft when doing the timing belt. We looked through the little window of the crankcase, and the only things close were a screw with 2 marks either side of it. We lined it up with the screw, as that's what the last one (timing belt) seemed to be lined up with as well.

did you clean and scrape the housing on engine side? a small smear of gasket sealant is fine. i've used non genuine for years as a mechanic and unless they are really dodgy (never seen one), or they are damaged, they should not leak. same goes for the sealant and gaskets.

a timing belt off the mark that little should not cause a physical vibration like that. not if its only a litlte off. checked the mounts? if you let clutch out quick, is there much movement.. .hard to say without seeing or feeling it.

**kendog** · 29-04-2012, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by dainese

did you clean and scrape the housing on engine side? a small smear of gasket sealant is fine. i've used non genuine for years as a mechanic and unless they are really dodgy (never seen one), or they are damaged, they should not leak. same goes for the sealant and gaskets.

After several failed attempts, and frayed tempers at 8pm, we used a little more than "a small smear" to make sure that bad boy finally didn't leak. There was an extremely small (a few hairs thick) rounded edge on the thermostat housing mount, in the same area that the leak was, so I'll order a new one of those with the thermostat and seal. Is there any special way to put them in together?

Originally Posted by dainese

a timing belt off the mark that little should not cause a physical vibration like that. not if its only a litlte off. checked the mounts? if you let clutch out quick, is there much movement.. .hard to say without seeing or feeling it.

Did we look at the right crankcase markings? The only other marks were on the other side, probably 180 degrees away.

It isn't really like a clutch not grabbing, I've felt that before when it's cold, more of an evenly balanced small fast vibration. Do we need to check the engine mounts with a torque wrench?

**dainese** · 30-04-2012, 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by kenbot

After several failed attempts, and frayed tempers at 8pm, we used a little more than "a small smear" to make sure that bad boy finally didn't leak. There was an extremely small (a few hairs thick) rounded edge on the thermostat housing mount, in the same area that the leak was, so I'll order a new one of those with the thermostat and seal. Is there any special way to put them in together?

Did we look at the right crankcase markings? The only other marks were on the other side, probably 180 degrees away.

It isn't really like a clutch not grabbing, I've felt that before when it's cold, more of an evenly balanced small fast vibration. Do we need to check the engine mounts with a torque wrench?

maybe we should start another thread for this?

rounded edge? all mounting surfaces should be clean and flat. you coooould leave the sealant on there.. if you really wanted to.

you should line up the marks before taking off the belt. it gives you a reference point in case you move anything (and i think also stops the engine fouling when not in sync rotation with cam/crank).
if you're confident that nothing moved when you removed then replaced the belt, then it should be fine.

i was talking about the engine mounts. hard to say though... not clutch, letting clutch out quickly jolts the engine, and its a good way to tell if mounts are worn (or loose (but dont do too much if its loose).

**kendog** · 30-04-2012, 08:04 PM

I meant to post this this morning..

...
... Aaaaaand now I'm sitting in my car with the bonnet up on the side of the road, instead of being at work.

I just went to accelerate normally on flat ground in 1st, then: crunch, bang, crunch..!!
I threw the clutch in, put it in neutral and rolled to the side street. The engine was still idling fine, revs fine, so I put it back in gear and tried to let the clutch out slowly: crunch, crunch, etc. same in reverse. ....

Massive fear that the gearbox has died!!

- k
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**kendog** · 30-04-2012, 08:11 PM

After waiting for the tow truck for over 4 hours, then another 1/2 hour before we left, we finally got it off to my mates' workshop.

To cut a long story short, he rang with the news that it was a cracked drive shaft. Hooray! Only $500 including the tow, not the whole 'couple-o-grand' that the gearbox could be. Expensive ($1300) and stressful weekend for the little golf.

Oh well, I now know what the vibration was!

- k
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**JustCruisn** · 01-05-2012, 07:38 AM

Geez mate that is bad news.
So what does the $500 driveshaft include ? New CVs etc ??
Have you considered 2nd hand ?

**dainese** · 01-05-2012, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by kenbot

After waiting for the tow truck for over 4 hours, then another 1/2 hour before we left, we finally got it off to my mates' workshop.

To cut a long story short, he rang with the news that it was a cracked drive shaft. Hooray! Only $500 including the tow, not the whole 'couple-o-grand' that the gearbox could be. Expensive ($1300) and stressful weekend for the little golf.

Oh well, I now know what the vibration was!
k

yeah, sorry to hear. interesting that it played up after the timing belt..

did you support the engine when you took out the engine mount? to access the belt case/cover?

**kendog** · 01-05-2012, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by JustCruisn

Geez mate that is bad news.
So what does the $500 driveshaft include ? New CVs etc ??
Have you considered 2nd hand ?

$110: towing,
$300 labour & parts initially,
$90 extra for the 'spline' or something?

- k
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**kendog** · 01-05-2012, 01:06 PM

I'll ask about the CV joints etc too.

- k
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---------- Post added at 01:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 AM ----------

so, from what I understand, it's the part of/after the drive shaft that goes into the gearbox, the spline? and the CV etc, out to the wheel, left side.

Sorry for highjacking the thread, when I'm better organised, I'll sort out my own build thread, and only put headlines & a link here in future.