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Start/Stop tdi USA

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
My starter was apparently lost at a foreign sorting facility,
Dang even more bad news. That’s good they gave you a refund though.

Googles “should I drill into my transmission” 💻🤓

I’m not sure which one is harder, drilling out the hole for the sensor to go through, or drilling and tapping the hole for the bolt.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Yeah here’s mine, same story. I’m curious what the drill bit size would be for the main hole. It looks on the bigger side but doable I guess. I’m also waiting for a sensor to compare the size.

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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Yeah here’s mine, same story. I’m curious what the drill bit size would be for the main hole. It looks on the bigger side but doable I guess. I’m also waiting for a sensor to compare the size.
Your line of thinking is the same as mine... see what that sensor looks like to determine the "risk" of drilling out the hole for it 😂. I ordered the one from Amazon but it's not going to arrive until the first week of May.

I'll let that determine my willingness to spend 200 bucks on the starter. I keep searching eBay of course, but expect I won't find the deal like that first one at under $40 with free shipping 😣.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
I'll let that determine my willingness to spend 200 bucks on the starter
Sounds like a good plan 👍

My sensor is arriving on monday so I can post up some measurements if that helps. I probably won’t be able to get to actually doing this work for some time though. Not having a garage and everything.. I think to do the drilling you’d need to take the wheel off and fender liner to get good access to it.

Then, taking the shift tower out, etc etc. I was thinking I would put together some sort of tube attached to a vacuum to suck up any metal flakes from the inside. It would definitely be an operation 😬

And for something completely different… lol. I am also thinking separately that if this doesn’t work out, there might be a way to rig something up with one of the shift cables and a piece of metal/magnet that would do the same thing basically. I was watching Golf Wagen’s video on the sensor and it looks like the sensor tracks the front/back cable, aka the rotation of the shift tower. At the end I think I hear him shake the shifter in neutral - no voltage change. 1st, 3rd, and 5th are 3 ish volts, 2nd and 4th are 1.28V, and neutral is 1.8V. Seems like what the ECU wants is a voltage range between the upper gears R/1/3/5 and lower 2/4/6, with neutral somewhere in the middle.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
That's interesting. I have the coolerwerx shifter and there's a lot of opportunity in the shift box area to rig something up.

I was thinking the same thing about getting that hole drilled, definitely going to require taking some things apart for access. I had not thought about pulling out the shift tower but that makes all of the sense, haha.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
I had not thought about pulling out the shift tower but that makes all of the sense, haha
I mean I might just be paranoid about getting shavings inside the transmission, people drive around with the shift calibration lock lever thing broken off inside and sunk to the bottom and probably never have any issues lol. Still wanna try to do it “right” I guess.

Now don’t quote me on this, but I believe the right size hole for the sensor would be 15mm. I got the sensor today and was fitting it inside my set of wrenches 🔧 15 was the perfect size, it seemed to squeeze the O-ring nicely without being too tight. 16mm was too loose and 14 wouldn’t fit at all.

Update: A 19/32 inch drill bit may be easier to find here in Murica - only 0.0032” (0.0813mm) bigger than a 15mm.

Update 2: grainger has some 15mm bits so may order from them.
 
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Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Now don’t quote me on this, but I believe the right size hole for the sensor would be 15mm. I got the sensor today and was fitting it inside my set of wrenches 🔧 15 was the perfect size, it seemed to squeeze the O-ring nicely without being too tight. 16mm was too loose and 14 wouldn’t fit at all.
I offer no such courtesy, quoted 😂. I have some harbor freight calipers that shouldn't be too difficult to get down in there to measure that hole they didn't have the decency to drill out for us.
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Found another TDI start-stop starter on eBay. Waa a little over $80 shipped this time instead of $40 with free shipping. The one with free shipping was lost, I was refunded.

This one shipped DHL Express from Lithuania which makes up the price difference. But it arrived today!

I now have everything needed for this retrofit except the confidence to drill into the transmission case. Anybody got some of that available for a good price? 😬
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Lol this is where I'm at too, I have all the parts and wires sitting neatly in a box but I'm still not sure about the drilling. That's great you found a starter though.

I can say what I've tested so far (which isn't much) - I really need some calipers. And some confidence too! I have a 15mm drill bit and I've been meaning to test some holes in a piece of wood or something to see how the sensor fits. But when I test the drill bit on the hole in the transmission, it's ever so slightly bigger. I feel like the hole on the transmission, or at least the outermost lip of it, would be the right size and you wouldn't need to enlarge it(??) Idk. So 15 might not be exactly the right size. It would be reallly nice if they would have already drilled it out for us 😓
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Got some calipers today and I feel better about the 15mm size. The O.D. of the body of the sensor is about 14.8-14.9mm and my 15mm drill bit measures exactly 15.00mm. Around the O-ring the O.D. is about 15.7-15.8.

I still don’t know how to feel about the bit not quite fitting into the transmission hole but maybe it won’t be an issue 🤷‍♂️

I wonder if the OP of this thread is still around 😂
 

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
Are you still thinking pull the shift tower out and have a vacuum going while you drill?

Without looking I cannot picture how far it is between the tower opening and where we need to drill. If it's not far you could even stuff something down in there below the new hole point, drill away, vacuum out the shavings and pull out the rag/paper towel/whatever it was.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Yup I think your idea is the most realistic. If the opening’s big enough that sounds like it should work.

edit: maybe even finding a plastic cup that’s the right size would work too to put down there with pliers or something.

My vacuum idea, I think it’s a bit theoretical at this point, lol. I would need to make a pipe with a right angle on the end, probably duct tape that to the end of the vacuum, and lower it to the right height to make that work.

All of this is tough while the transmission is in the car 😅
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
I was watching this video yesterday (
) and it looks like when you open up the shift tower, it's essentially a hole straight to the bottom of the gearbox. So if we put a rag in there it may just soak up the oil.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
Well like everything on cars, it looks pretty easy in the DIY video you watch then takes an hour+ when try it yourself 😂

But seriously, in the videos it seems to be the 2 bolts on top, then the big plastic bolt/thing on the right side. Then people just kind of wiggle it out.

The manual says to remove the plastic bolt (“locking bolt”), the reverse light switch, the 2 bolts on top, then use a tool to push a spring loaded thing out of the way while you take the tower out. From the picture though it’s almost like you could use your fingers or a trim tool to do the same thing.

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