Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

So, in general, raising the car with washers or pipe/spring seat provides just as good a ride as with new springs? I had considered buying the pair of preassembled strut/spring columns from that other parts website, but $200 is a hefty price to pay for a comfortable ride, esp if I can just get new s...

I looked into purchasing a tow dolly, and unfortunately I just can't afford one right now. To rent a set is $150, but I invested in the tow bars and lights years ago and haven't had a problem with them yet. My experiences towing have been fine, and while I know this method puts extra miles on the tr...

I'm fixin' to hook my Jetta up to a rental truck using tow bars, all four wheels down. I've towed shorter distances before, but never the 700+ miles I'm about to do. Just curious if anyone might have any tips or warnings about this type of thing. Also, as I'll be taking up residence in Philadelphia,...

1,000 miles in and the Jetta is still running nice and smooth - and my fuel economy is through the roof! I've gotten it up to 48 mpg with light highway travel, and down to 40 mpg with crazy city driving. This is a HUGE improvement from the 25 - 33 mpg I was getting before rebuild. Despite the succes...

A wtb post is what I might end up doing. For the time being, I have the reverse lights out. But I might just leave the harness disconnected so juice isn't constantly flowing through the switch/wires. My up shift light doesn't even work, at least not that I know of... no W terminal on my alternator, ...

The lights go out when the tranny wiring harness is unplugged. The terminals that the black/red and the blue/black wires connect to show 20 ohms of resistance, so there's obviously not full continuity. A local VW mechanic suggested a bad switch. It's odd that it would go bad all of a sudden, but I d...

Well, the gear on the shaft itself looks fine, as does the intermediate shaft. There is some wear though on both the male end of the oil pump shaft and on the female slot of the vacuum pump. Seems like this type of wear is normal though. When I installed it without the cover on, I rotated the engine...

I got my vacuum pumps in the mail today. I installed it and got good braking power. Drove it around for 10 miles with no apparent issues. Hoepfully I'm in the clear! The old one (along with the ones I received in the mail) all had seals in the bottom of the shaft of the vacuum pump. I don't think I'...

it's bizarre, while some are cursed with reverse lights that don't work, I found when I put everything back together on my car that the reverse lights are always on. I haven't had the car on long enough to risk burning them out, but I'm curious where the problem might lie. The only thing that has ch...

New belts too, of course. You'll find, like the rest of us, that these diesels shake the living daylights out of everything attached to the engine, and that the belts suffer from this abuse the most. Some of us go through new belts every thousand or so miles. The ATF in the cylinders is not a bad id...

I'm with Bob - run 15w40 (Rotella seems to be preferred) all year round and you'll be fine!

what would i be checking for?

I've always used 15w40 for my diesel - I figured that was standard for these cars. Others here vary the weight of their oil depending on the season.

You can find the manual for your car here:
http://www.amazon.com/Volkswagen-Rabbit ... 0837601843

They make dash repair kits, but the results could be less than desirable. Obviously, replacing the dash would be your best option... barring that, patching and repainting could yield okay results.

Yeah, the oil pump and intermediate shaft turn freely. I could have initially installed the vac pump incorrectly, causing the shaft to press up against the cover plate, resulting in the grinding of the pump. I have two pumps on the way from a generous ebay seller (bought one with a nipple intact, se...