This is one of those things I do once a year. I live on dirt roads and 12-15K is about all I can take before needing to do a change.
My local Walmart sells the Euro spec VW 502.00 Castrol Edge synthetic in 5 quart jugs and I think 1 quart as well. I think Mobil as well, but I stick with Castrol. Of course there is the dealer, too. You can get the cabin pollen filter there too. Very necessary this week. Advance Auto sells maybe 4 brands of full synthetic 502.00 oil. Pentosyn, I think even. Federated (formerly Robbins) will often carry it. I bought my 20,000 mile kit from the dealer so I have documentation for the warranty. Where I am, it is all sand (Granite State) so I tend to change the oil and filter and air filter and pollen filter and windshield regularly. The oil change interval is ahead of the windshield, but not by lots. I do wonder what gets through the air filter and then into the oil. It has to be good for the turbo compressor blades too.
Finally got around to replacing the original worn out shocks. They had 83k miles and 13 years on them! I decided to go with the Bilstein HDs. In my opinion the ride is nearly perfect now. Virtually no bounce or see-sawing when going over speed humps.
Hard for me to say, it's been a while since I had stock suspension in the car. The Koni's replaced some very old Boge Turbo Gas struts/shocks and Neuspeed springs, and there's a marked improvement from that setup. I currently have the Koni's set to medium firmness and not terribly low ride height, and so far I'm very pleased - but I'll probably futz with them a bit more as I drive it and things break in.
All the local autoparts stores in my area have the proper VW approved oil oil on their shelves. I buy the Castrol that VW uses for the original fill. The weight does not matter much...you are over thinking it.
EPC light on usually is coils or spark. find misfire plug and then move to another and see if it moves if it moves then its coil if not replace spark plugs and try again.
Carbotech Pads (F-CT682 & R-CT340 1521 Street Compound)
If you have cold weather as I do where freezing is a concern, I use VW OEM washer concentrate purchased from Deutsche Auto Parts. I can confirm this is the OEM fluid fill - smells exactly the same, works the same, etc.
Mine are 288 fronts (yeah, I measured) and combined with the pitiful rears the whole systems is not (as I've read many times) "sufficient for daily driving". Too many times I've worried I won't stop in time. Too many times I've come down an average hill with definite fade that made me worry should an animal dart out in front of me. I want something akin to my GTI's brakes. Not something that will stop a freight train but just something I know will stop. And stop firm every time. Definitely OEM . I'd rather not have red but whatever I have, it will have to match front/rear. After reading the limited information I can find across multiple forums, nothing has mentioned swapping the front TDI brakes (if they are actually 310mm) over to a 2.5l. It would seem that if the caliper is the same 2.5 to TDI, all you would really need is the rotor and the TDI carrier, correct? Regarding the rears, nothing seems available straight off the OEM shelf, except GTI, correct? Any non-red options there?
went in for my 20k maintenance/service on my 2011 GTI, Waterpump was shot, replaced free of charge but leaves me worried...
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