Big Sky Euro

Put a "winter front" on it today (from idparts.com), and hopefully, finally and forever fixed the leaking rear window washer hose. Anyone need extra VW washer hose? I have about 20 feet. Could only order it by the roll at MIG.

I also installed some sound damping material (Stinger Roadkill) on the skid plate & engine cover. I did the skid plate first so I didn't have enough to do the engine cover; so I did the middle 1/3. Maybe that's enough.

The winter front is both above and below the license plate. However, the top part on the driver's side covers the air intake. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet. It can breathe thru the aux. intake upstream of the snowscreen (which has been removed).

New battery day! Old battery did not like the sub-zero temperatures last week (neither did the fuel) and the car refused to start. Even with a charged battery, and even with a jump battery connected, it just wasn't going to start.

I took the battery out and brought it inside to thaw out and charge. I looked at the part number online. It was a 3-year-old Interstate, but it's capacity was only 75 amp-hours, which is apparently barely enough for a diesel in cold weather. The new VW branded battery is rated at 80 Ah. According to MIG, the car's VIN says the bigger battery is indicated for the TDI.

Bigger it is. 12" long vs about 9" for the old one.

And, I worked on the engine cover. Finally it has a VW emblem on it! And I modified it so that tools are no longer needed to remove it, just pull up & it pops off. With it off, I added some sound damping material to the bottom of the cover. Now I have such material on the bottom of the engine cover & top of the skid plate - no more "rocks in a coffee can" sound that a cold ALH creates at startup on a cold morning. The diesel clatter we know & love is still there, but the raspy-ness is gone.

For the fuel problem, I think I got un-winterized (or inadequately-winterized) diesel wherever I last bought it; in western SD, Billings or Livingston, I don't remember. At -20 it was probably as much gel as liquid and the only cure for that is a warm garage. Well, the car was parked on the street, and I needed to make a right-angle turn to get it in the garage. To turn the wheels that much requires a running engine, and to get the engine running requires warmth. So I let it sit until Wednesday when it started right up. Then I put some winterizing additive in the fuel!

I had the same problem with my pickup... It sat in uptown butte for four days. The additive did work eventually though! I don't think i like diesel.... nice golf by the way. what kind of mpg are you getting?

~37 in the summer. If it had a manual trans, then it would be around 45. This is my first winter with a diesel, we'll see how it goes.

yeah my brothers 03 jetta is a manual tdi. He gets right around 45

You need to replace your fuel filter as it is ruined from gelled diesel.

Roadhog wrote:You need to replace your fuel filter as it is ruined from gelled diesel.

For real? I've never heard this. But it's also my first winter with my first diesel.

TDI in MT wrote:

Roadhog wrote:You need to replace your fuel filter as it is ruined from gelled diesel.

For real? I've never heard this. But it's also my first winter with my first diesel.

Well when mine gelled, it ran after it thawed, but had a lot less power. Wouldn't even rev over 3k. Replacing the fuel filter fixed it.

Ok good to know. It's been driving just fine, but maybe that will fix my recurring P0674 (glow plug #4) fault. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking... I put deoxit on the plug tips & harness sockets last night but I'm not sure it made a difference.

This started after the fuel gelled, when I was able to start the engine. Now I clear it and it will stay cleared for a bit, then come back. Never had the problem before.

The p0674 code should be gone for good now. Glow plug #4 showed 1.x megohms resistance; it should be 0.5 to 1 ohm. New glow plug installed, no more check engine light.