MK7 "Random / "Stupid" Questions Thread"

[uberdot]

I'm looking at a new 2019 Alltrack SEL DSG - under 10 miles on the odo - and has been sitting on the lot for 400 days.

What maintenance should the dealer do before I pick it up if I decide to buy it? I'm thinking:

Oil change
New battery?
Alignment - nothing to do with time, but many (most? all?) of these seem to come from the factory misaligned.
Cabin air filter

Not sure what to do about the tires or brakes (other than clean off the topical rust from the rotors)

what else am I missing?

In the early 80's, I bought a new 3 year old Ford Granada that had been sitting at the port in Germany the whole time. I drove it for 4 years without any issues (new battery) and sold it for $500 more than I paid for it. Ford did end up repainting the car a few months after I bought it because of acid rain, but they did a great job (with the exception of forgetting to put flexing agent in the plastic bits - Germans didn't have plastic bumper filler pieces back then and this thing had US bumpers).

Brake fluid flush?

 

[Cool Hand Pete]

I'm wondering about the mechanical process of downshifting hard - that is, fast downshifts without slipping the clutch or rev matching and getting back on the throttle hard. What parts of the car can be damaged or worn more quickly with these kinds of shifts? Obviously there is a hard lurch that happens, but what exactly is bearing the load of the gear-change is not obvious to me.

Is it hard on the clutch - if so, is it the pressure plate, the throwout bearing...? Is it harmful to another part of the transmission?

I'm asking because I'm running a JB4 in Map 3 and enjoying it. I'm still on the stock clutch (minimal to no slippage yet) but I have a Sachs clutch in the box ready to install when needed. Wondering what other parts of the car are likely to fail prematurely if I drive the car hard, specifically downshifting from 3rd to 2nd at speed for optimal torque/power.

(This is the stupid questions forum, but still I feel like I need to apologize...)

 

[Strange Mud]

If a bolt (let’s say a coil pack retainer bolt) had its corresponding hole stripped out would the loctite-d bolt still keep a grounded connection through the adhesive material?

Asking for a friend...

I would have my friend try it it....but sparingly. I was going to say I doubt it'll hold but there isn't a lot of force needed to hold pack in

 

[imthanick_a]

If a bolt (let’s say a coil pack retainer bolt) had its corresponding hole stripped out would the loctite-d bolt still keep a grounded connection through the adhesive material?

Asking for a friend...

No. NEVER half-ass electrical connections. Always whole-ass them

 

[uberdot]

I would have my friend try it it....but sparingly. I was going to say I doubt it'll hold but there isn't a lot of force needed to hold pack in

Well the damn thing was hopping all over based on the 42 misfires for that cylinder vs 1-3 misfires on the rest just sitting parked when the bolt was barely in. This is what I had to do temporarily. I don’t really know what the best solution to this is.

I extended the ground strap and rerouted elsewhere, but this is till I can figure out a better solution. The retainer bolt came out full of aluminum shrapnel when I removed it. It’s like it warped in the valve cover and took the threads with it. It’s not tappable unless the hole goes up to 7mm from 6, but then it wouldn’t fit the coil pack.

It currently runs fine but this is just getting by for now. I don’t feel comfortable with drilling into my valve cover but I don’t really see any other way.

 

[shovelhd]

No. NEVER half-ass electrical connections. Always whole-ass them

What he said. It might work fine, work for a while, work intermittently, or short out and melt the plastic or start a fire. Find a way to run a ground jumper.

 

[imthanick_a]

Well the damn thing was hopping all over based on the 42 misfires for that cylinder vs 1-3 misfires on the rest just sitting parked when the bolt was barely in. This is what I had to do temporarily. I don’t really know what the best solution to this is. View attachment 188070

I extended the ground strap and rerouted elsewhere, but this is till I can figure out a better solution. The retainer bolt came out full of aluminum shrapnel when I removed it. It’s like it warped in the valve cover and took the threads with it. It’s not tappable unless the hole goes up to 7mm from 6, but then it wouldn’t fit the coil pack.

It currently runs fine but this is just getting by for now. I don’t feel comfortable with drilling into my valve cover but I don’t really see any other way.

Im not familiar with the area under there, would there be enough room for a helicoil insert? If not you may be best off buying some aluminum alloy rods and melting them in there, re-drilling and tapping the hole.

 

[Strange Mud]

JB Weld and sell it.

what about tapping it out one size bigger and installing stud? It's aluminum easy tap...Nicks and his Helicoil is a better fix

https://www.grainger.com/category/f...internalSearchTerm=&refineSearchString=metric


https://www.mcmaster.com/metric-thread-adapters/metric-to-metric-male-hex-thread-adapters/

 

[imthanick_a]

JB Weld and sell it.

what about tapping it out one size bigger and installing stud? It's aluminum easy tap...Nicks and his Helicoil is a better fix

https://www.grainger.com/category/f...internalSearchTerm=&refineSearchString=metric


https://www.mcmaster.com/metric-thread-adapters/metric-to-metric-male-hex-thread-adapters/

This is a good option too. If I didn't have the fabrication experience that I do after 7 years doing fab on and off for projects at work, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it. But it's really not too bad of a job to do even without a lot of experience. My advice would be if you're comfortable doing it, measure the depth of the current hole and mark it on your drill bit that you use for helicoil or stud or whatever you end up doing. Wrap electrical tape around the drill at a spot slightly shallower than the place you marked so you cant go too deep unless you really force it. Use lots of tap-magic when cutting the new threads, you dont want a broken tap in there

 

[cb1111]

First, congrats! Is it Marrakesh brown? If so I'm jealous. If not, either way you will LOVE your Alltrack. I like mine a lot more than my previous 3 GTIs.

If you go the oil change route, remember to request that they utilize 5W-40 instead of the new 0W-20 shite ( when I brought my AT in for its first oil change under the "VW Care" package which inlcudes 2 oil changes, I requested the 5W-40 instead. The service manager pushed back, stating that "since this is warranty work by VW it has to be what they're prescribing." I responded that VW's 502 spec still applies to the new engines, they just created a NEW spec and the new ones come from the factory with THAT spec. From a VW/Warranty perspective, they don't care whether you use 0W-20 or 5W-40, as they've ALWAYS required 5W-40 until the 2019MY. The only difference is the 0W-20 nets 3% better gas mileage and doesn't statistically increase the likelihood of warranty payouts, so they went with that for marketing reasons. 5/0W-40 is still the business.

No dealer is going to replace a battery that is functional. You could VCDS it and see what the battery life is like and if it reports poor health you could ASK for a replacement. If they say no, get it in writing. If the battery fails on you in the first year/12K miles they'll replace it for you, since you have a paper trail proving you did your due diligence, they denied you, then the exact issue you were hoping to avoid occurred.

You could wager with them on the alignment. "Perform the alignment. Show me the specs. If it's within spec on all 4 corners, I'll pay for the service. If it isn't, it's on your dime."

Cabin filter... The car hasn't been running much at al so I highly doubt the filter is messed up. They're also like $5 or $10 on amazon for a mann filter so if you want to ask you can, but it's unnecessary and either way wouldn't cost you basically anything. I'm sure they're already not making money on the car, so they're likely not gonna be too interested in eating more expenses. But it's been 400 days, and they've gotta get rid of it. So you do what makes sense to you.

This has nothing to do with the amount of time the car has sat on the lot, and wouldn't be covered by a dealer anyway, but I changed my haldex fluid at 5K just for peace of mind. I've heard too many issues of VW under or overfilling Haldex and DSG units from the factory. Just too important of a piece of equipment that costs too much to fix out of warranty for me to take the "chance" they didn't fill it properly from the factory.

I wish it were the brown interior - it is black.

The 1.8 in the Alltrack is not spec'd for 508 oil - it requires 502 oil and to keep your warranty coverage, you'll want to use the proper oil - not what you think is "best". BTW, 508 has added dyes so VW can tell if you're using 508.

Good point on the haldex/DSG fluids.

 

[uberdot]

This is a good option too. If I didn't have the fabrication experience that I do after 7 years doing fab on and off for projects at work, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it. But it's really not too bad of a job to do even without a lot of experience. My advice would be if you're comfortable doing it, measure the depth of the current hole and mark it on your drill bit that you use for helicoil or stud or whatever you end up doing. Wrap electrical tape around the drill at a spot slightly shallower than the place you marked so you cant go too deep unless you really force it. Use lots of tap-magic when cutting the new threads, you dont want a broken tap in there

Thanks for suggestions both of you. I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002KKPXK?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Helicoil M6x1 kit

This:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00065VEP4?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Cutting Oil

And this for good measure, incase the helicoil operation fails, I have a solid ground at least:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RZ85MMN?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Braided ground straps 1 foot length

Guess I have a busier weekend now
I’ll make a write up and post it in DIYs and my build thread when complete.

 

[cb1111]

Is there something I have to do to save the position of my passenger side mirror? I enabled the dip in reverse a long time ago, but it always returns to a position that's aimed too high so I'm constantly adjusting it down.

Yep, buy a car that has that feature. There are door controllers and all sorts of other stuff to add.

 

[cb1111]

Brake fluid flush?

Brake fluid is 3 years (I'd say from date of getting to the lot. If everything was sealed up, then it should be fine.

 

[imthanick_a]

Thanks for suggestions both of you. I bought:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002KKPXK?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Helicoil M6x1 kit

This:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00065VEP4?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Cutting Oil

And this for good measure, incase the helicoil operation fails, I have a solid ground at least:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07RZ85MMN?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
Braided ground straps 1 foot length

Guess I have a busier weekend now
I’ll make a write up and post it in DIYs and my build thread when complete.

Good luck!

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

I wish it were the brown interior - it is black.

The 1.8 in the Alltrack is not spec'd for 508 oil - it requires 502 oil and to keep your warranty coverage, you'll want to use the proper oil - not what you think is "best". BTW, 508 has added dyes so VW can tell if you're using 508.

Good point on the haldex/DSG fluids.

Well it sounds like you didn’t read what I said for comprehension, since I stated that it was *also* 502 spec. you scolded me for “using the proper oil, not what I think is best.”

you could’ve just said:
“It’s not 508 spec, so they just gave you (me) what was already in it (5W-40), which was what they would’ve given you (me) regardless.”