diesel4life

Fuel is consistently at the $4.00 a gallon mark here. Hard to understand why when gas has been down to the low $3.20's for weeks.... JR now Free

Any chance this could be related to a faulty damper? Several years ago the damper let go on my uncles Pete several hundred miles from home. He didnt realize it at the time and continued to drive and barely made it home. It cost him a bottom end. Sorry for your misfortunes thats a real bummer. JR now Free

When my pcm was replaced the shop that diagnosed it had to take it to the dealership to have it flashed. JR now Free

Thanks Bill. I actually signed up over there yesterday and have been reading bits and pieces. I haven't even begun to break the surface yet though! JR now Free

What kind of chips/ programmers are available for the A4 engines? I have noticed the last 2 days when starting the car cold the coolant light stays on for about 5 minutes and then goes out. Resevoir is full. Gotta track that one down. JR now Free

Yep, the skinny peddle on my 85 Golf lived the majority of it's life matted to the floor board, but once you got up to speed and had to maintain, she was a real fuel queen. I used to pull up to the pump behind the Sohio gas station near my house and fill it to the brim with 15 to 20 dollars worth of off road fuel. Nobody cared then, times sure have changed. JR now Free

I've actually been looking at the newer ones for some time now, but either everything I find is too far to go look at or priced out of this world. Having the history of this car along with the price was a no brainer, and will give the wife some time to decide if she would like to invest in a newer TDI or find something else. judging by her reaction so far, I'm willing to bet she's sold on the TDI! Just for a little fun, here's my first vehicle ever. 85 Golf, non turbo diesel. She lacked on the power butt you could go forever on 10 dollars worth of the pink stuff..."ol Silver" is what started the diesel disease for me lol. JR now Free

Thought I'd share our new gas miser. 01 Beetle TDI 5 speed 118,000 miles Picked it up dirt cheap from an elderly lady. Acquired all service records as well (dealer serviced) Bought it for the wife to commute back and forth in but if I can get my hands on the keys I'm going to run around in this little roller skate as much as I can. This little car is a blast to drive!! So far I've put one trip on it of 105 freeway miles between 65 and 70 mph. Filled up before I left and again when I returned. She used a whopping 2.4 gallons. Cant complain about that one bit! JR now Free

Craig (the guy that built my harness) is a member on another forum. I have had mine installed since April and have no complaints so far. He went above and beyond any harness I've seen to date. Even Sterns harness is not as heavy duty and requires some assembling once you get it. Craigs is strictly plug and play. He is a very upstanding man and I have actually talked to him over the phone several times since meeting him. If you are interested in contacting him let me know and I will send you his contact info. JR now Free

The hub bearings are very easy to tap with a grease zerk. I actually had both of my units separated a few years ago and they were nearly dry. At the time the truck only had around 70k miles but they were also 12 yrs old. I suspect they don't get very much from the factory and that is probably the main reason they fail especially on low mileage rigs.... Not something that needs greased very often at all but IMO if youve ever got them out it's only an extra hour or so of time to drill and tap them. Then every few years add a couple of pumps and your good to go... I know an old timer around here that delivers campers and boats with a 97, he tapped his wheel bearings early on at a low mileage when the truck was still fairly new. He's got over 400k on original units now and no noticeable play in them yet.... JR now Free

Good to hear let's hope it stays that way although it does seem too good to be true.... JR now Free

Geno's garage. They deal only with Dodge/Cummins accessories, have been very knowledgeable with the few questions I've asked, I always have my order sitting on my doorstep within 3-5 days max, and never had a problem with anything I've ordered from them. They stand behind everything they sell there. JR now Free

Nice job! Is that the tail end of a Town Car I see? Those cars ride like a dream. I've always liked the Lincoln/Mercury line up. We've got a Mountaineer Premier and it rides smoother and quieter than most cars. Very comfy to ride in. JR now Free

A passing filter can dust an engine in short order depending on the environment. I've seen it happen on a tractor out in the fields. One thing about Cummins is they have done their homework when it comes to filtration. In most cases people take a step backwards when they "upgrade" they're air intake system. JR

He didn't get hit by a big maroon truck by chance did he...:DJR

To be honest I've never really looked for one, I have heard of people putting them in 2nd gen trucks but figured since they have not been out nearly as long they would be harder to find and probably worth more than the NV's are. Is that not true? JR

Because the gear ratios are similar to the 47re..... I have been keeping an eye out for a 5600 almost as long as I've been driving a Cummins. Either in a parts truck or seperate if the price is right but everytime I have come across one the asking price was more than I was willing to spend. A perfect find would be someone wanting to swap from a manual to an auto. Most people wouldn't even think about swapping to an auto but they are out there, either due to health reasons or plans to drag race. I just need to find one of those people. JR

I know it has been mentioned but don't discount the possibility of an internally collapsed brake hose....I've seen it first hand. For clarification, the truck only pulls when you apply the brake correct? It drives straight other than that? I have also seen where control arm bushings can cause a pull one way or the other. They get enough slop in them and the brake torque changes the alignment and causes the truck to pull. I'm sure you would notice if they were that bad though because there would be general driveability problemsJR

Hey Rick, I've personally never had to mess with mine before, but I remember a friend of mine having problems removing the old bushings on his arms. He actually bent the arm trying to press the old one out because it was really froze in place. He said he didn't have very much on them and was surprised when it folded like a pop can You may not even have anything to worry about especially if your truck has spent its entire life out of the rust belt (unlike my friends) but just a fore warning! Good luck!

You got that right! They said the Looney Tunes were too violent, those same people need to turn on the TV and pay a little more attention to what's being put out there now a days. Especially some of the "adult themed" cartoons. They put them on the cartoon network and TBS yet they expect kids to not want to watch them...it really pi$$es me off the garbage they air. I've got a small list of programs I let my kids watch and the rest is OFF LIMITS. OK, rant over, sorry bout that

You say your trans does not hook up very well until it locks, does that mean you can feel it slipping? Or any shudder? Even a fresh transmission rebuilt to OEM specs does not do well with much above stock HP levels. On my former 00 my stock trans would not even hold up to level 5 on my Smarty. Gave me torque convertor shudder in a bad way. I removed it and towed many many miles in stock form before it gave up the ghost. Without a build sheet and knowing what has been done to your truck there is no way to really know what it's good for, but you can tell a lot just by listening to it. As long as it isn't slipping under acceleration your probably ok for a while. How long is anybodys guess. A trans temp gauge would be good insurance especially if you tow frequently. With any kind of mods to the engine it would be a wise investmentHey Bill, LOVE the avatar!! "Good morning Sam!"

I'm not sure that a flash will do you any good. It may be worth paying a diagnostic fee and take it into a competent diesel repair shop. They should have a scanner that reads live data. Plug it in, start the truck, and read the live data feed on the scanner. This will tell them what is and isn't communicating and where the source of the problem is. Makes it a lot easier to make a decision on spending several hundred dollars. I went through the same thing with my pcm although the problems your having are different than what I was seeing. It is very difficult to diagnose on your own without the proper equipment which is why I made the decision to take it in and let the pros fix it. Luckily for me my friend which is a transmission rebuilder personally knows the owners of the shop I took it to and he reassured me they knew what they were doing and wouldn't just throw parts at it on my dime. $125 diagnostic fee but they waived it because I let them perform the repairs. Yes I had to pay labor rates which I hate to do but sometimes that is the cheaper route in the long run. If you know of a good shop I would probably take it in and at least let them diagnose it. You can then choose whether or not you want them repairing it. The problem will be finding someone who works on them and knows what they are doing. The average repair shop that wrenches on gas engines 95% of the time is likely going to be as lost as you or I would be.

I would be careful with the impact you can stretch the threads if you rattle it too much..... I'm not sure exactly how your going about it but I've never had any issues with a long drift pin and a bfh....you just can't be shy....The first time I did mine I thought a press would be the way to go as well but after screwing around for a few minutes trying to block the rotor/hub assy up and trying to hold an extension between the press and the stud I was trying to press and operate the press WITHOUT damaging the rotor I said screw that!!! And went to the drift pin/bfh. Much easier IMO.EDIT: Hmmm, I have no clue how this posted to this forum....oops. It was meant to be in response to the wheel studs.JR

The closer you are to the lower and upper limits of a torque wrench the less accurate they are. I don't torque alot of things when I'm wrenching on a vehicle but if it has to do with bearings I like to follow the manufacturers recomendations. JR

Since he is going for 180 ft lbs, I am assuming it is the big castle nut on the spindle that goes through the hub.Hey Hex, can you just rent a wrench from a local autoparts store? Places like Autozone and such will give you all your money back after you return the tool....JR