The Highest Mileage Alltrack I Could Find

[parapraxis24]

Yep, so I went and bought the highest mileage Alltrack I could find. Why? Because I wanted to get out of car payments for the first time in I can't remember and that was the only way I could roll the positive equity from my previous car into paying cash for this one and owning it outright.

An addition to the "why" is because I previously owned a 2018 mk7.5 GTI Autobahn that I miss quite a bit. I didn't want to pay for another one of those, plus the one I sold was an ideal car and would be hard to replace, so something on the mk7 platform would have to do. Plus it's wagon, duh.

So I bought a 2017 Alltrack SEL with 212k miles on it. Platinum Gray Metallic over black interior with DAP & light package. Honestly it's in fantastic condition all things considered. I mean, look at that driver's seat. The original owner either weighed 85 lbs or perfected levitation.

The good:

• One owner
• So Cal owned (yay no rust)
• Dealer maintained up until the end
• 2 keys!
• Original window sticker
• Pop-in VW sun-shades
• First owner was kind enough to include two brand new VW cabin air filters

The bad: It had 212k miles on it so some stuff wasn't great.

• Shocks, we're riding springs baby
• Engine mount, fully collapsed
• Possibly dying definitely dying fuel injector on cylinder 1
  • Also now cylinder 4...woohoo!
• Slow oil leak from the lower timing chain cover and/or the oil pan
  • I mean slow slow, like a drip every 100 miles slow.

Otherwise it's exactly what you'd expect for a VW with 212k miles on it. I also want to stress the importance of getting a PPI done on something like this. The dealer was kind enough to drop it off at a local German shop to get the PPI done. They found the aforementioned issues for me, none of which concerned me. It also helped me talk the seller down $500 from the already cheapest SEL in the country lol.

I flew into LA on a Wednesday at about 10am, and then drove it home 1250 miles to Seattle. I made two stops, one in Santa Cruz because I had a free one night stay from Marriot, thanks credit card points. Then again somewhere between Eugene and Portland. Oregon allows for up to 24 hours camping in all rest stops. I found one that had people in it, and stopped around 11 PM for the night. I had slept before in the GTI, so this was like that but better because wagon, duh.

Next posts will be maintenance and mods to keep track of because why not?

 

[parapraxis24]

First up was maintenance. I conveniently had oil change stuff left over from when I owned the GTI. So a quick trip to Advance Auto for one of their oil change specials: Mobil 1 0w40 with a Purolator filter. Also sent off the oil to be tested. Turns out, driving 30k miles a year all highway does basically nothing to wear metals.

Then brake fluid, because that was called out in the inspection. It was real bad, like the 4kish (no sure when the change was) mile oil looked better.
Went with ATE typ 200. I've had good luck running non LV fluids in the GTI so I didn't bother here either. FCP Euro for that lifetime warranty, thanks bby.

 

[parapraxis24]

That collapsed motor mount? Never would have found this without the PPI. And it 100% explained the sometimes rough idle that felt like misfires, she was a rockin'.

I opted for all new hardware here. I'm sure most everyone considers these twice time use but at 212k miles I'd rather get new stuff. Install was really easy, a floor jack with a 2x4 to spread the load across the oil pan was all I needed. That coolant bottle can fuck off though, only because it's just in the way even when you move it to the side.

 

[parapraxis24]

When I say dealer maintained, I mean it. This guy had the dealer do everything up until they traded it in.

Brakes? Yep OE VW pads and rotors. Plugs? You betcha VW plugs. Crazy.

Anyway, spark plugs because while the carfax did say 40k service at 200k miles but that doesn't mean things weren't declined. So these spark plugs either were installed at 160k miles or 200k miles but I have no idea. But they're easy to do so I did them. I went with the NGK rutheniruermdmsir whatever they're called. Mostly because I was bored on a Saturday and these I could buy locally and pick up same day.

They looked fine, but it did show me that the valve cover sealant is failing around cylinder 1 spark plug. Also likely can explain the dying fuel injector if it's getting oil on it or there's extra buildup in that cylinder.

 

[parapraxis24]

Replaced the blown shocks with Blistein B4 all around. If I were to do it again I'd do the B6 in the rear and B4 in the front. The rears are under damped from the factory, and the B4s aren't much better. They can't handle quick rebound very well. Go over a speed bump at speed and instead of rolling over it, the shock shoots back down like you're letting go of a clicky pen.

But the trade off is a pair of B4 shocks in the rear is the same price as one B6 from Rock Auto. Also brand new shocks > completely blown shocks. This thing rides so smooth otherwise.

Only pictures here are from the PPI because fuck everything about the front suspension and whomever came up with this design. But I'll share the tools I used.

I also replace everything except for the rear dust cover, those I just reused. This includes front mounts, bearings, bump stops, boots and hardware. Same in the rear, new mounts, bump stops and hardware.

Front shock nut for Bilstein is 22mm. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQM6QJNR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

I didn't want to caveman this and full send it with power tools. Though on disassembly to get the spring, idgaf, thank you impact wrenches.

Also I didn't buy these for this job, but they're awesome for wherever you need a hex drive. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082M1L6S7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The work in 12mm sockets or wrenches. Great for drain plugs, and in this case the front shaft on the new shocks to counter hold. Because wouldn't you know it I don't have a 7mm allen key, and my other hex drive sockets were too tall to fit.

I hoped that this wrench would work for the rear https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KRHJ3LP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

It doesn't. The ring is too thick to fit into the rear shock mount. So that did get the full caveman treatment and sent it with the impact. Oh well.

This spreader makes the front struts possible: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M6GHM93?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

And last, you aren't a shade tree VW mechanic without 12pt triple square bits. A few of these are even the tamper proof variety, I have no idea why. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WK9I3O?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[parapraxis24]

Did a full rear diff service. I went with the Vaico kit from FCP Euro for the Haldex, because it included a new screen and o-rings. I used Fuchs sintopoid (that's a fun word) 75w-90 for the pumpkin. Since Fuchs tends to make all the fluids for VW it's the one I opted for, and the Vaico is made in Germany so it can't be all bad.

It's very possible the previous owner had the haldex fluid done on time by the dealer, but again, Carfax doesn't specify what was done, just that something was done (other than oil changes, it says that every time). The haldex fluid looked basically brand new, and the screen was entirely free of any debris or wear material. The gear oil was stinky, but otherwise looked good for possibly having 212k miles on it.

Those CTA bits helped a ton here, my regular hex drive sockets were stripping the drain/fill plugs, I guess they weren't fully seating. Good thing I ordered four total and the Vaico kit comes with one. Two for the diff, two for the bevel box, and one for the haldex so I had five total, ended up consuming four just for the rear because of the ones I messed up.

 

[parapraxis24]

VCDS mods and discovery of things the previous owner already did:

• Windows with remote
• Windows with KESSY
• Close while raining (weird thing to do in So Cal but whatever)
• 5x convenience blink (I changed it to 4x)
• Fan speed in auto mode
• DRL on/off in menu

I've since added

• Dial sweep
• upped the cornering lamp speed limit (60kph I think?)
• Added the confirmation lock/unlock to menu.
  • The PO had it beep on unlock but silent on lock? Weird choice IMO so I flipped it to the opposite
• Passing assistant with ACC (it'll speed up when you flick on your turn signal if you're below your set speed behind someone)
• ACC remember last setting in menu
• Disabled unlock on Park.
  • I absolutely hate this choice by VW to be the default, it's small, but annoyed the crap out of me here and in my old GTI.

Things I still want to do:

• Disable NAR restrictions for the headlights
• Disable DRL "wink" with turn signals
• Road sign recognition
  • Not sure if this is possible on the mk7

They also either removed the red lens or swapped Euro outer tails and did the necessary coding. I'm so happy to have rear amber turn signals and I don't lose a brake light when using the turn signal. So much better.

I do want to put LED bulbs in the rear, but that's lower on the list.

I also think they did LED plate bulbs, but I'm not sure. When I mounted my license plate they are VW/OEM stamped on the lenses so maybe the Alltrack came with them? Idk.

That's all I've discovered so far in terms of coding. Everything else is how I remembered it being from my GTI.

 

[parapraxis24]

I replaced all of the head rests. An upside to not having red stitching like the GTI, is that it's really easy to find headrests that match if you don't look too closely at the fact the stitching doesn't match. Sure the Alltrack uses white stitching and my replacements all have black stitching but it's not obvious. At least it's much less obvious if it were a GTI without the red.

Anyway. The front headrests are from an A3 with the comfort package or something. Which means they move both up and down, but also fore and aft. Plus they're bigger and softer. After 212k miles the driver's side was f'in gross. Hair oils had soaked into it and solidified :vomit:

The rear head rests are from a B8 Audi A5/S5. They're also low profile but again, black stitching instead of white, but they were $50 for the pair so I'll survive. The downside to these is that the adjustment bars are a little short and have only one detent. Which means they don't extend very high. I suspect that the overall seat height in the A5 coupe is higher, so the limited height adjustment doesn't come into play. This is only a problem if you have tall passengers in the rear. Being able to fold down the rear seats without having to move the front seats and the added reward visibility is a trade-off I'm willing to accept.

 

[19birel]

No payment is a great feeling (I always say I'm allergic to them haha) and it seems like you found the right 200k mile MK7 to get there, with a full VW maintenance history sounds like a good buy. Love the progress you've made getting it to Stage 0 as well!

I didn't know it was possible to remove NAR headlight restrictions on NAR headlights, I'll have to look into doing this on my GTI- I just assumed ROW lights had some different hardware as well as coding to match.

 

[parapraxis24]

No payment is a great feeling (I always say I'm allergic to them haha) and it seems like you found the right 200k mile MK7 to get there, with a full VW maintenance history sounds like a good buy. Love the progress you've made getting it to Stage 0 as well!

I didn't know it was possible to remove NAR headlight restrictions on NAR headlights, I'll have to look into doing this on my GTI- I just assumed ROW lights had some different hardware as well as coding to match.

Yeah I really want to buy a house at some point, so ditching the payment means I can put everything I'm not spending on a car payment into savings.

As far NAR restrictions, I know it's possible on the mk7.5 I remember reading the thread when I had mine, but I can't remember if the mk7 can do it as well. I would think so but I can't remember all the details.

 

[bobloblawGTI]

I didn't know it was possible to remove NAR headlight restrictions on NAR headlights, I'll have to look into doing this on my GTI- I just assumed ROW lights had some different hardware as well as coding to match.

As far NAR restrictions, I know it's possible on the mk7.5 I remember reading the thread when I had mine, but I can't remember if the mk7 can do it as well. I would think so but I can't remember all the details.

I believe this was the thread in case anyone is curious. I tried these out and can't say I noticed any big changes, but it's been a few years since I looked into it.

 

[19birel]

I believe this was the thread in case anyone is curious. I tried these out and can't say I noticed any big changes, but it's been a few years since I looked into it.

From what it sounds like the differences are certainly incremental rather than anything major, makes sense I guess since these are just AFS and not Matrix like some of the Audis and Porsches that can do crazy things with beam pattern.

Might have a go playing with it after work one day this week

 

[parapraxis24]

Not much lately, just a mini milestone today.

On deck is a DSG service and changing the bevel box fluids. Going with Fuchs for everything since I believe they’re the OE supplier anyway, figured it can’t hurt.

After that or before that, depending on how I feel, I planned on replacing the single fuel injector I was getting a DTC for. Then after checking the last time the EPC light turned on, it was for a different injector. I’ve gotten errors for both 1 and 4 at this point, so at 215k miles it makes sense to just do all four at once.

The job looks fairly straight forward but I hate the idea of messing with the fuel rail (fires and stuff) so I’ve been putting it off. Maybe next weekend.

 

[aegis]

After that or before that, depending on how I feel, I planned on replacing the single fuel injector I was getting a DTC for. Then after checking the last time the EPC light turned on, it was for a different injector. I’ve gotten errors for both 1 and 4 at this point, so at 215k miles it makes sense to just do all four at once.

The job looks fairly straight forward but I hate the idea of messing with the fuel rail (fires and stuff) so I’ve been putting it off. Maybe next weekend.

I caved and just had my shop do injectors. Some things I'm just leaving to the professionals until I can monetarily afford to fuck things up.

 

[aegis]

Also, I absolutely hope my car lasts 215k miles, that's insane.