Post Weekend Updates – Brakes, Sensors and Fuel Pump Edition

I finally got some time to work on the car this weekend.  I was able to do install the speed bleeders, do full flush and bleed with ATE Superblue fluid and finally install the thrust sensor.

Some strange findings on the thrust sensor – I took of the old one only to find out that it was already the updated version.  Dammit.  I hope it was on it’s way out or something.  If you didn’t know already, I was having fuel supply issues on a long trip.  Read all about it here…Click me! I won’t find out until I take another long trip in the heat.

The problem seems to be cropping up in the forums a little more, so at least I know other people have experienced the problem.  There’s still very little information on exactly what is going on.  If anyone knows anything, leave me a comment!

About the speed bleeders… (SB1010S)

They worked perfectly!  That was probably the least trouble I’ve had with bleeding the brakes.  Granted, it would probably be even easier with a pressure bleeder.  These turned out just fine but if you want to spend just a little more, you can get the pressure bleeder and be able to use it with multiple cars.

The ATE Superblue brake fluid is helpful in determining whether you’ve flushed all the old fluid out of the system.  The fluid is, you guessed it, blue.  Once the fluid coming out of the bleeder is blue, you know you’ve flushed all the old crud out.  ATE has an amber colored fluid that you can alternate between flushings to help  you determine if you’ve flushed the Superblue out of the system.  Same specs, just amber.  It’s called Type 200 I believe.  The ATE fluid is a little pricier than store bought but the specs are excellent for a daily driver; 536 degree dry boiling point and 396 wet.

I also re-lubed all the caliper and pad slide points.  I opted to use high temp grease for the back of the pads instead of the tacky silencer stuff.  It might help the pads shift around when they need to instead of tacking them in place.  I’ve been getting an annoying squeal for the past few weeks despite the pads being good still.  Hopefully the the grease will allow the pads to move just enough to eliminate it.  So far so good.

I also did a quick cam follower check to see if anything out of the ordinary, glad to report that after 30,000 + miles on the 2nd cam follower, the DLC coating is barely starting to show some signs of wear, and this is on APR stage 1 software too.  Sweet!

INCOMING!

Now we all love racks.  Well good news because I’ve got a new rack on the way!  The metal kind!  Not the other kind.  That costs more money.

I decided to finally order a VW luggage rack, also known as the Classic rack on some of the forums and vendors.  The part number is 191071130F and it cost me about 120 shipped from 1stvwparts.com.  They seem to be produced in limited quantities (ECS no longer carries them but DBC and 1stvwparts still has them) so get your kicks while they’re around.  As usual, pics and updates once it arrives!

Braking Things

SB1010S

See what I did there?  You know, with the title and things?  Clever aren’t I?

Time to do some more maintenance.  I recently received these suckers in the mail.  I ordered them from speedbleeders.com.  You need a total of four of them.  They are kinda spendy at 33 bucks shipped for four but anything to make bleeding a little faster.  AND you don’t need to hold someone hostage for an hour!  Everybody wins!

The part number is SB1010S.  I haven’t confirmed the fit yet, as I have yet to install them.  They’ll be going on this weekend.  The thread size is M10x1.0.  To go along with bleeding, I also have in my possession, the finest Cambodian bre… I mean one of the finest brake fluids for the money, ATE SuperBlue.  20 bucks shipped for a liter at DBCperformance.com.

Among other things, I also fitted a set of PBR XBG (formerly PBR Metal Masters) rear pads.  They’ll be up for review in a little bit.

I’ll let you all know how well this all works out after I install them!

Bah, Sensor Issues!

I took  a trip to Las Vegas recently, (where I promptly lost money) and on the way there, I finally experienced one of the joys of owning a Volkswagen, a beautiful check engine light.  It was glowing, there in my dash, taunting me with its haunting beauty.  (Somewhat long winded story ahead, cut to the chase by scrolling down)

Well, the damn thing started kicking and bucking as I was headed down I-15, maybe 30 miles or so from Primm (now renamed Terrible?)  I couldn’t accelerate smoothly, the throttle wouldn’t respond and the engine just cut out intermittently.  Quite annoying when you’re trying to make it to the side from the fast lane.  I should mention that it was about 106~107 degrees or more outside, that’s really the only time it started doing this.  Basically no throttle and minimal power.  I couldn’t pass this big rig going literally 30 mph without the power cutting.

Anyways, I limped to Primm and was able to let the car cool off.  I needed to scan the car, thankfully I brought a netbook along.  Low pressure fuel codes come up.  Usually it means your fuel pump / follower has gone off the deep end, but I know mine is in good condition.  Another problem that will bring up a low fuel pressure code is the thrust sensor, located right off the high pressure fuel pump.  It’s almost certainly this pos sensor that caused me so much trouble.  There is a TSB out for it so they should fix it under warranty, unless the TSB expired already or you’re out of warranty.

Anyways, once the temperature cooled off a bit, the car never acted up again, until the ride home, where it started losing power around the same area.  Again temps seem to have played a role in this. It was fine the rest of the way.

Short Version:

This is the updated sensor’s part number: 06E-906-051-K

If this sensor isn’t reading correctly it may cause a low fuel pressure code to be set and it may also cause a check engine light to be set off.  You will know if it’s acting up because it will essentially cause a fuel cut.  Very unpleasant feeling I must say.

It is screwed right into the side of the high pressure fuel pump.  I’ll get a picture up when I get the part in.  It is around 36 dollars plus shipping from online dealers and I hear around 50 straight from the dealer.