# 2002 TT Quattro Roadster Owner as of last Friday



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

That's Friday March 15th...It's not perfect, and I keep finding new things, but it's mine! After a few months of online searching, I put a note on the windshield (yes, I'm in USA) of one near a friend's house and got a callback after a week. A pretty good price, a new battery, a third party mechanic review, and I went for it. Short throw shifter, recent downpipe and clutch repairs, good. Dings, tempermental headlight switch and torn outer cv boot slinging grease not so good.

A friend at work has a 2004 (or 5?) and gave me some stuff, a rear emblem as mine was missing, some center caps that didn't fit his wheels but did mine, but then he offered me his stock wheels for a great price, which is what you see on the car right now: his on the front (my right front tire was a little leaky) and mine on the rear. I'll put the caps on when I get all the same wheels on. So far, everyone likes the front ones better, so look for me to sell my stock rims soon! Took me forever to get the rear license plate off, the screws were rusted so badly I could barely identify that they were philips heads, ended up just cutting them off and installing nuts on the stubs, no worries.

Today was the first nice day, so down went the top, and trying to put it back up revealed a problem: the plastic trim that protects the glass during the raising wasn't really attached and the window was getting stuck. Ugh. The little slides on the piece are all broken as well, so I'll have to be xtra careful until I get that sorted out. I'll be searching the forum for help on that immediately, it's already convertible weather.

Looking forward to the community, I have been a member of thesamba.com for years as I was a VW guy back in the day, so I'm sure this crowd is as helpful as that one!

Cheers!


----------



## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

Welcome


----------



## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi David, Welcome to the TTF & TT ownership.
Hoggy.


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

Well, here we are almost a year in, and after driving it all summer it's been sitting since October, and now the work begins: it started getting hard to get the car into 1st (shifting felt a little crunchy) and one day, pedal went to the floor. Back bled it, got the pedal back for a trip around the block, but back to the floor.

Bled it a bunch, but always had air, so I found a used bleeder block in case it was leaking, but nope. Never did leak brake fluid from anywhere. Finally had it towed to a shop last week and got the bad news, as you all have probably already guessed: clutch slave (throw-out bearing), according to their pressure test. So, clutch is probably ruined as well, from the fluid. Both CV boots are torn and slinging grease, so they priced that all together, $2886.03. I love how specific that estimate is. I have an experienced mechanic that will do it for less, referred by a work pal that also has an MK1 TT. Whew.

Of course, there's more. As it was sitting in my garage and I was bleeding and wishing that would work, I was noticing a little green-tinged fluid collecting right by the shifter linkage arms, easy to spot with the battery box and air intake removed, and sure enough, they found a leak at the coolant flange, as well as an oil leak, so it's due for a new valve cover gasket and cam adjuster seals. I can do that, but I may have the mechanic that's going to do the clutch and CV boots do it while he has it in his shop.

The passenger front tie rod needs attention, and the control arm bushings look shot, they say, so that's on the horizon, but first is the clutch work, coolant and oil leak repairs. It's been a mild winter, I miss driving it!!!


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

I should add that it was a great summer of driving!

I found a better set of seats, and was able to sell the ones I removed for the same price; I replaced the passenger door panel and painted the driver side one (it was green, everything else in the car is black), sold the stock wheels that were on it for the same price I paid for the newer wheels, so there's been plenty of good news! I found a TT in the local salvage yard, where I got a better little behind-the-passenger-seat compartment hatch, and it has a better rear center console (mine is broken on the inside, and the door latch is broken like everyone's). It's not all bad news!


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

It shifts no nicely now! Amazing what a new clutch, slave, and a solid instead of the dual mass flywheel (his recommendation "well, if it was my car") will do. Also replaced the front axles rather than mess with fixing the CV joints, and the coolant flange. Ended up a few hundred bucks more than his estimate, but it's done! So glad to have it back and on the road. Ordered silicon breather hoses and valve cover gaskets, that's next to stop the oil leak. Of course, the cam chain tensioner tool is the only thing that's arrived so far.... Ugh. I can't decide if I should replace the control arm bushings or just replace the control arms, but that's in the future. Now, if it would just stop raining.


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

Valve cover and timing chain gasket work complete. I put new plugs in as the old ones were sitting in oil when I opened it up. Driving after the work revealed a brake booster vacuum line fault, sorted that out for the time being (I said some bad words when the brake pedal got hard all of a sudden, for sure), and today the breather hose kit arrived, so I've got some fiddling to do this evening! I also glued some spots where the top has come away from the rear glass with Permatex Black Silicone Adhesive Sealant per lots of forum searches and recommendations, and that appears to have adhered well. Sun is out, I want to drive!

Since the valve cover gasket job, I've had a bit of a stutter or miss sometimes when I accelerate, so I guess I need to check all my coil pack wires and connectors. Ugh. I hate it when fixing things breaks things!


----------



## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi,The joys of TT ownership. Hope it was cheap to begin with & now it's been worth all the hassle.
Hoggy.


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

It was a fun car all last summer! I was cheap-ish to start, but having just dropped over $2k on the clutch, front axles, and coolant flange, I'm over $6k invested.

This spring has been frustrating, though, and today the connection at the turbo inlet pipe from the "hockey puck" broke completely off the inlet pipe, so it appears the issue was a boost leak that is now a real problem. Just when I thought I'd be cruising around topless again, I'll have to replace the inlet pipe, which is a bummer and apparently not a fun job (are any?). It is what it is, I guess.


----------



## David PT (Mar 20, 2019)

Used aftermarket silicone turbo inlet pipe has been installed, that was a bit of a bear. It took two tries, the first time the hose clamp wasn't seated far enough on and it popped off. Local guy I sold seats to had a spare hazard switch, so I now have working turn signals. It's the little things, right?

After spotting a small brake booster line leak (well, my son did), and test driving it, it ran poorly, so back to the forums and it turns out that the #4 ignition coil gave up the ghost...replaced it and within a mile of driving it, #3 died as well... and so it continues. I've only ordered 2 for now as it looks like #1 is newer than the rest. They should be here by the weekend. My wife is getting sarcastic about it all, can't decide if that's a good thing or not!

I will say that getting all the N249 vacuum hose etc. nest out of the way so many times has me thinking about relocating all that from the top of the engine, but I also cleaned up all my cover pieces, so I'm torn.... 

I just want to drive it. Soon...


----------

