Lauren’s 2016 VW Golf GTI S

Vehicle Details

  • Make – VW
  • Model – Golf GTI
  • Model Year – 2016
  • Trim – S 2-door
  • Options –
  • Engine – 2.0 Turbo (210 bhp)
  • Transmission – 6 Speed Manual
  • VIN – 3VWYT7AU7GM063590 (VIN Decoder here)
  • Purchase Date – June 14, 2018
  • License Plate – 8BEE259 (California) (SMOG Lookup here)
  • Color – Tornado Red

Additional Specs online here and an extensive recap of the Mk 7 over at Wikipedia here

MyCarFax Records here (logged in as Stefano)

New to Lauren Day!

Service History

Date: May 15,2020
Mileage: 24,548
Performed by: SpeeDee Oil Change, Sunnyvale

Services Performed: Oil and filter. Mobile 5W30 Synthetic.

Date: October 15, 2020
Mileage: 26,081
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Stefano’s initial inspection of the car between major services. Next annual service is likely due in May 2021.

  • Snow foamed and washed exterior. Needs polished and then waxed or ceramic coated. Maybe in the fall. Noted that the blacked out VW badge on rear hatch the finish is failing. Suspect it was aftermarket from previous owner. Perhaps restore to OEM chrome sometime.
  • Front tires 35% tread left, rears 65% left. Rotated tires. Set tire pressures to 37psi and reset TPMS. Found rear wheel nuts torqued to a zillion Nm. Coated wheel nuts with anti seize compound and properly torqued to 88 ft lbs.
  • Fluids checked. Oil OK. Brake fluid was down some, topped to max with Prestone DOT4. Topped washer fluid with -20° fluid.
    • Coolant below minimum. Topped with genuine VW G13 coolant. Inspected. Seeing signs of leak on front facing portion of engine, crusty bits visible on lower oil pan. Needs further inspection.
    • Brake fluid probably due for full flush on next service
    • Noted oil residue all around the oil pan drain plug. Suspect its not been getting changed as specified, and just reused. Next service clean area and replace with ECS magnetic plug.
  • Inspected CV joints, suspension, brakes, exhaust and chassis. All good.
  • Inspected exterior lights. All good.

Date: May 16, 2021
Mileage: 29,959
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Customer states the Drivers Side mirror got damaged with a minor impact with a garage door opening (?). Inspection showed the clear signaling strip was broken, and the lower black portion of the clam shell was torn away and broken. Lower portion not sold separately, so we sourced a used entire mirror assembly from local Sacramento auto dismantler. Removed lower shell and clear signaling strip from the used part, and then rebuilt her own assembly. Required complete removal of mirror assembly from car (door panel off, fishing out wiring loom, etc.). Went together perfect. Only remaining defect are some tiny scratches to the red mirror cap on the window facing side where it must have hit the ground when popped off during impact. Here is the result:

Date: May 18, 2021
Mileage: 29,959
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Following up on Water Pump leak discovered in the Oct 15, 2020 service.

Ordered a new OEM Thermostat Housing (rev M), OEM water pump, OEM union pipe, and OEM intake manifold gasket from ShopDAP.com (one of their kits). Followed the best of steps in the two how to YouTube video’s linked over on the VW Knowledge page. Took the time to really cleanup all the drips and stains of the old fluid on the side of the engine block and hoses, etc. During disassembly discovered on of the lower radiator hose mounting restraint was open and hose out of place.

Intake Removed and Water Pump partially out
Thermostat Housing Removed, and the ‘crust’ of the old leak showing. Notice its Rev H of the part. Rev M going back in.

While the intake manifold was off, took the time to cleanup several things.

  • Cleaned the intake port flow director blades. Minor oil/carbon buildup. Brake clean to the rescue.
  • Cleaned the chunky crud/carbon buildup on the back of the plastic intake manifold flaps/blades. Brake clean worked great.
  • Cleaned the Throttle Body. Throttle Body cleaner.
  • Intake valves had the dreaded carbon buildup everyone talks about with direct injection engines. Loads of caked on carbon/oil cake on the backs of the valves and valve stems (see photos).
    • With a cylinder’s valves closed, I went after it dry with a series of picks. Flakes off pretty easy, was gooey and balled up. Shop vac to suck out bits and blobs. Patience. About 5 mins of work per cylinder. Used 24mm on crank bolt to rotate engine to manipulate the valves.
    • Followed the FCP Euro video process for Walnut blasting intake valves (link on VW knowledge page). Purchased a 20 lb small sand blaster tank, 5 pound bag of 18/40 walnut shell grit, vacuum attachment blaster fitting, and special blasting wand. [note, wand did NOT connect properly to the blaster hose, had to go to Ace hardware and but a couple of NPT brass adapters to step down from 3/8 to 1/4]. Set Blaster to 60 PSI. Hardly used 1/4 of the walnut grit total.
    • Blasted each chamber with walnut shells for about 30 seconds. Then went back in with picks to scrape around the valve seat seam to pick loose the bits of goop and residual walnut shells. Then vacuumed while using compressed air nozzle in the port. Then another 30 seconds of walnut blasting. Then picked again (hardly any residual now). Then compressed air and vacuum again to suck out last dregs. Sprayed with brake clean, and used lint free rag to wipe out chamber of walnut dust and last bits of carbon.
    • Worked really well comparing before and after.
Intake Valve Chamber Before and After Walnut Blasting to Remove Carbon Buildup

Took the time to really cleanup the mess from the leak (blow back). Cleaned hoses, oil pan, skid plate.

Refilled the cooling system with new OEM VW G13 coolant (just under 1 gallon consumed). Used my new Airlift II Cooling System filler kit purchased from FCP Euro so that it wouldn’t be hard to burp the system afterwards since all the air was sucked out prior to starting (worked great!).

She started up on first turn of the key. But, there was a tiny drip appearing between the new water pump and new thermostat housing. Damn – maybe a bit of debris causing the seal to fail? Stefano no happy. Took it all back apart again, inspected the gasket and surfaces, and super caredully reassembled again. And immediately a drip in the same place. Took photos and video with bore scope to send to ShopDAP for warranty replacement. They didn’t quibble (awesome) and just sent another housing and pump. Stefano installed the new housing and pump (third time is the charm). No drips or leak. Returned defective part and ShopDAP did full refund (nice!). Back in service again as good as new. Stefano is really good at swapping the thermostat housing and water pump (4 hours flat now). Thanks VW.

Due for annual service and brake flush. That will be up next.

All back together again!

Date: May 20, 2021
Mileage: 29,959
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: 4 year/30K Service performed. Since she’s not piling on the mileage, doing a hybrid service each time the annual ‘Service Due’ light comes on. Since we just did the big water pump/thermostat housing and carbon cleaning a few days ago, this is the more routine stuff. Included:

  • Changed the Engine Oil (OEM 5W-40 Full Synthetic)
  • Changed the Oil Filter (OEM)
  • Installed ECS Tuning magnetic drain plug
  • Replaced Cabin Filter (ATP Activated Carbon)
  • Replaced Engine Air Filter (OEM source from ShopDAP.com)
  • Replaced Key Fob Battery (Panasonic CR2025 – getting warning each time car started)
  • Flushed Brake Fluid (Prestone DOT4)
  • Flushed Clutch Line
  • Changed Windshield Wiper blades with RainX blades sourced locally from Napa Auto Parts.
  • Changed Rear Window wiper blade with Bosch (see parts page)
  • Adjusted the Center Console Screen Time to adjust for Daylight Savings Time
  • Topped windscreen washer fluid with plain water.
  • Connected OBDEleven Code Reader to system to verify no codes present.
  • Inspected all lights
  • Inspected Front and Rear Suspension
  • Inspected CV boots
  • Inspected Steering (sway bar, drop links, tie rod ends, steering rack gators)
  • Inspected Brakes (rotors wearing some, but pads look like new. 75% life left)
  • Inspected Tires
  • Set tire pressures to 37 psi front/37 psi rear
  • Reset Oil Service Due warning using the press button under display technique.
  • Reset Inspection Due warning using the long press button under display technique. Set for 365 days from now.
  • Recommend:
    • Interior and Exterior Detail
    • Exterior Polish and Ceramic Coat
    • Replacement of the aftermarket fading rear hatch/logo with a used one from dismantler to stock.
    • If about to be stored – topping off with fresh fuel and adding Stabil fuel stabilizer
    • Suspect original battery is still installed, and is at 5 years old now. Expect it to give up soon based on Rob’s and Karen’s died at 3-4 years.

Date: March 19, 2022
Mileage: 30,302
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Starting to notice a bit of a lump in the warm idle that comes and goes. Feels like a low level misfire. Connected OBDEleven and scanned for codes, none of relevance.

Since it was due for new spark plugs this year (6 year interval on service schedule) to replace the original VW OEM NGK 06K905601D I figured to start here anyways. Purchased a set of NGK Platinum PLFER7A8EG at the local O’Reilly’s auto parts store. Fitted the new plugs, verified the gap was 0.032″, torqued to 30 Nm. This has NOT resolved the issue, still feeling the lump at warm idle occasionally. Will continue to monitor and see if the OBDEleven and/or the ECUs monitor live misfire data, and if so then can look for a cylinder experiencing the issue.

New NGK plugs!
New versus Old after 30K miles and 6 years

Date: March 23, 2022
Mileage:
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Still feeling lumpy idle coming and going. Connected OBDEleven and monitored the engine live data for total misfire count and per cylinder. Cylinder 3 had a batch of misfires for a short period, then smooths out, then comes back a bit later.

Since its not the plugs, opted to swap the Coil Packs between Cylinder 3 and 4 to see if the problem follows the coil. No initial signs of any misfire after the swap, but several drives later was feeling it again, and connected OBDII and monitored live data. Only Cylinder 3 was still showing any significant number of misfires (all of them might accrue 1 misfire over 20 mins of driving). Since the issue didn’t seem to follow the coil, the issue might be down to a dirty or misbehaving fuel injector. This engine is direct injection, so getting to the injector requires pulling the intake manifold, and also needs special tool to change things like injector seals if being rebuilt rather than replaced. New injector is $215 ‘ish. Tools are $155 to rebuild, and rebuild kits are like $10 each. Going to monitor for a while more before committing, and see of the condition worsens to where it happens most of the time and we can narrow down more with OBDII.

Date: September 11, 2022
Mileage: 31,364
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: 6 year/30K ‘sorta’ service performed. Since she’s not piling on the mileage (just 2K since last service), doing a hybrid service each time the annual ‘Service Due’ light comes on. Since we just did the full-monty service last time, this is the more routine stuff. Included:

  • Changed the Engine Oil (OEM 5W-40 Full Synthetic – 6 liters)
  • Changed the Oil Filter (OEM)
  • Replaced O-ring on ECS Tuning magnetic drain plug
    • Minor skim of tiny metallic powder on plug when removed. I think this is normal.
  • Inspected Brake Fluid Level – was fine
  • Inspected Engine Coolant level – was fine
  • Topped windscreen washer fluid with plain water.
  • Inspected all lights – all good
  • Inspected Front and Rear Suspension – all good
  • Inspected CV boots – all good
  • Inspected Steering (sway bar, drop links, tie rod ends, steering rack gators) – all good
  • Inspected Brakes
    • Rotors showing some wear, but pads look good with 8mm front, 7mm rear life left)
  • Inspected Tires
    • Fronts were 8/32nd, Rears were 6/32nds.
    • LR show some uneven wear on inner tread row. Alignment due?
    • Did NOT rotate tires front/rear since the fronts currently have more meat on them.
  • Set tire pressures to 37 psi front/37 psi rear
  • Set spare to 60 psi.
  • Connected OBDEleven Code Reader to system to verify no meaningful codes present.
  • Reset Oil Service Due warning using the press button under display technique.
  • Recommend:
    • Now that she’s 6 years old she is due for a serpentine belt replacement. We have one on order from ShopDap.com
    • Need to get the aftermarket black wheel nuts (from USPMotorsports). Stefano refused to reinstall the stupid plastic caps.
    • Still can feel the slight misfires in the seat of the pants at start and idle. See the previous entry . Need to finish the replacement of Fuel Injector on Cylinder 3 and service injectors 1, 2 and 4
    • Couldn’t figure out where the Tow Hook stores in tool kit near the spare. Need to look at Karen’s GTI to figure it out.
    • Recommend an engine bay pressure wash to tidy up the dust, etc.
    • Exterior Detail
    • Exterior Polish and Ceramic Coat would go a long way to protect her.
    • Replacement of the aftermarket fading rear hatch/logo with a used one from dismantler to stock.
    • Suspect original battery is still installed, and is at 6 years old now. Expect it to give up soon based on Rob’s and Karen’s died at 3-4 years.

Date: November 5, 2022
Mileage: 31,696
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: Follow up service tackling a few items noted in the Sept 22 service.

  • Replaced the serpentine belt with new VW OEM belt ordered from ShopDap.com and using the video on the VW knowledge page.
  • Properly stowed the two hook after reviewing Karen’s GTI toolkit.
  • Replaced the wheel nuts and covers with Black Wheel Nuts from USPMotorsports. Looks much nicer and saves all the hassle dealing with the stupid plastic covers and picks that scratch the black painted wheel surfaces.
  • Checked/set all four tire pressures to 37 psi and reset the TPMS monitor system via the dash. The seasons have changed to be much cooler, so this was necessary.
  • Checked all the fluids. All good.

Date: December 7, 2022
Mileage: 31,965
Performed by: Stefano

Services Performed: The OEM VW Battery was getting weak. Slow crank on start. The original battery was still fitted with date code 1816 (18th week of 2016), so it was over 6 years old. We opted to get a new Duracell Type 47 AGM battery from Batteries + Bulbs. This is under warranty until 2025. Hopefully this one lasts a solid 5+ years.

Also topped of coolant with a few ounces of VW OEM G13. Can’t see any leaks at the water pump or thermostat area. Unsure where its vanishing to.