DIY Car Maintenance
 

Ok I'm looking for some advice about whether I can do some work on my car myself or if it's best left to the professionals. It's a mk4 1.4 golf

First thing is the wishbone bush is knocking quite badly so I need to put in a new wishbone. The garage quoted about £120. I've had a read through the haynes and the only thing putting me off is the bit that says "tighten the rear mounting bolt to the specified torque and angle". It doesn't say what angle or how you measure it?


Second problem is the alternator has started whining this week. Apparently it's not worth replace the bearings, and better to just get a new alternator. He wasn't sure which alternator I needed but worst case was £180 for the part, so £350 with labour and VAT. Gulp
Looks pretty simple in the haynes. Just the belt removal and tensioning that I'm not sure about. Is that pretty straightforward?

Oh and the other thing is I only have a trolley jack. Don't have any axle stands. So should I give it a go or get the wallet out :)

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Don,t go under a car with out a back up of Stands.
The torque for the arms probably in the tec data.
but if you attempt it Do get stands as all that pulling about might get it falling of the jack and hurting you, with no one to get you out from underneath it.
Dont change the alternator with out reading the precautions about the battery and and air bags etc oh and your need a radio code when you disconnect the battery

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Glad I'm not the only one with a shagged alternator, plus a pinhole in the exhaust.

Alternator I can do, because my van doesn't have any big gizzmo's, but its £120 I could do without spending.

Exhaust is a cheap fix £28, but is a garage job as the bolts holding the section together are beyond plus gas and will need cutting off with oxy/actelyne :-(

Axle stands are cheap, so worth a little bit of expenditure, put the wheel under the chassis to save your legs as well.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Replacement alternators require the pulleys swapping over. Usually a specialist tool required to be able to lock the shaft whilst turning the nut.

Also again specialist tensioning arm required to make sure you get it right.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

ah famous last words, I rarely ever work on my car now due to muttering these myself. It doesnt help I only have £500 snotters that are always shagged and worn out, so every job snowballs into deaper depths of hell!!

Why use just that garage doesnt hurt to phone around, my recent gearbox change was done by a mobile mech, about £200 cheaper than a local garage.

Lee

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

all sounds easy enough, i echo the axle stands but also if you have steel wheels (or alloys that wont get damaged) shove them under the door seals encase the unlikely event that the jacks fail the car will fall onto the wheels saving you being made dead and most importantly money for damage

the belt should be on a spring loaded tensioner which keeps the belt under the correct tension. usually there is a locking eye so you can push the tensioner back to the stop and then stick and allen key through the two eyes to hold the tensioner back. i usually put a screw through the tensioner eyes so once its its bolted back onto the side of the block and the belts on you just unwhind the screw and the tensioner pings back into place.

most of all haynes like to over elaborate everything, usually things are alot simpler than what they say it is.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

You don't want to do it yourself, you want the Ecosse section's very own Shmoo.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Don't do the wheel thing . Unless your thinner than a road wheel .
Get or blag a set of stands and use them .

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

The torque isn't a problem, it's more the angle thing I'm not sure about

Airbags?

Unlucky. Everything seems to be happening all at once just now.


I'm thinking I might try a second hand one. I know it's a gamble but hey it saves a bit of money just now.

I'd rather learn if it's not too complicated. Save a bit of dosh :)

Cheers for the tip

Too far away lol

I probably am tbh, but yeh I should really get some stands. Last time I was under the car I just parked with two wheels on the kerb :lol:

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Darren , the thing I always think about is access . Underneath the car is hostile environment as you know , the nuts on any threaded section are gonna be a right swearfest to undo . You may need a long bar or even a bit of pipe on the end of that bar to get the leverage required to undo anything on the wishbone . You may have to factor that into the equation . And it`s bloody cold out there so within 10 minutes your gonna be nipping in and out to warm fingers up . I would also get a mate in to give a hand so you can swap roles and have a spotter with you .

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

air bag. Some cars have what's called satellite impact sensors.
Clout one a bit hard and "bang".
It will caution you in the manual if its got one.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Aye there was a Renault famous for that , also heard one about a BMW that would unlock the doors if clouted so that access could be gained by EMS if there was a really bad crash

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Hopefully VW are a bit more sensible.My sisters got a Scoda (VW in drag) And that don't have any.
We have a Renault system on one of the models we work on . but as long as you read the book no worries.
Pathfinder and Navara with ESP we have to recalibrate the steering angle sensors when you dis/re connect the battery.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Well I went to the scrappies and paid them £60 to swap over the alternator. I was thinking how brilliant it was, all fixed for a fraction of the new cost. Started it up, and it's still whining :(

He reckoned it might be one of the pulleys needing replaced.

I was thinking about getting him to do the wishbone too but after throwing £60 away I thought I'd call it a day


blegh

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

did you at least keep your alt that he took off as it may be ok if it is indeed the pulley?

still you could have paid the garage more to do the job for them to then say the pulley is goosed, but can we have x amount of ££ more than you paid the scrappie for the job we have just done.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

Yeh kept the old one

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

take it to citygate vw, they will charge you a lot less than main dealer... i got a full service for £70, main dealer price £300

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

I think the petrol costs alone would hammer this . 482 miles from Carnoustie to London ...... and then back again .

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

that why i said "if the stands fail"

edit: no i didnt, i meant stands not jacks

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

How handy are you with bike mechanics?

The torque on the wishbone on a mk4 golf isn't anything special. Haynes are covering themselves by specing what tightness to put it at.... All you need is a 1/4" torque wrench which you can get from lidl. Replacing the wishbone isn't easy it will require a bit of muscle and if there's a ball joint involved you might need some hammers.

Do not get under a car on a trolley jack or a scissors jack very dangerous. And even if you're on axle stands make sure you're not alone.

The alternator is an easy swap for a new one or one out of a scrap yard. Just make sure you disconnect the battery before you start.

You can replace the bearings on the alt but with so many secondhand ones avalible there's no point.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

if the bearings are shot on the cam pullys or water pump its usually a grinding noise rather than whining, try poring water over the cams ect to see if it would drown out the noise. It worked when I've done pully's but usually wont if its the water pump

also is it a TDI? I'd be inclined to look into seeing if the turbo's on its way out or if the induction is leaking somewhere along the lines. Although the whining shouldn't really be noticeable until 1500 to 2000 revs as it'll be spooling up at those speeds.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

After seeing the breaker guy swap the alternator over with a socket set in about 15 minutes, I'm pretty sure I could do it myself. But I don't need to now.

It's more a whine than grinding. It sounds just like the noise of a knackered driveshaft a guy at work had. And the mechanic had a listen with one of those metal rod stethoscopes. So it must be in that rough area I would have thought. It's not a diesel so no turbo
It's loudest when it is cold. And you can hear it on idle.

Re: DIY Car Maintenance
 

flywheel?

duno not to good on vw's dont like working on them much either, driveshaft sounds like an odd thing to get knackared, if it were the bearings it would be knocking