A neighbor/friend has a 1999 Passat with 120K miles. A local shop said it needed new tie-rod ends and quoted him $1100 for the job. He asked me if I could take a look at it, I said sure. I don't work on German cars often these days since my brother moved to Miami but told him i could look at it to see if it needed the tie-rod ends.

I google the repair to see how easy/hard it is. I see tails on the VW forums on the using torches and cockeyed crowes feet wrenches to remove the tie-rods from the rack and steering knuckle.

He comes over Saturday at 1PM, lift it up, remove wheels. Sure enough the boots are ripped and the ball joints are rusting and there's play. I remove the ball joint clamp boot clamp nuts and retainer bolt. Both come loose like almost new fasteners. Then I press the ball joint end out of the steering knuckle with a gear puller. Everything works smoothly, and the tie-rod ends pops out of the steering arm. Wow, then I go for the adjuster rod lock nut, same thing. I get the left-rod off in less than 20 minutes. What is this? Most of the time any 10+ year old car getting suspension joints takes awhile and alot of force with corroded and tight fitting parts. Although corroded some, VW did a decent job with fasteners and coatings on 99 Passat's.

Bottom line, we drive to the local VW dealer pick up two tie-rod ends, install them. Installation is even easier. Car still needs a front end alignment, so in under 1.5 hours and four beers (between the two of us) we replaced both tie-rod ends. In the end it will cost him, ~$300 for two new tie-rods and a alignment. Without a doubt the easiest suspension/steering repair I've ever done. originally i thought we were just going to see if we could attempt the repiar and do it next weekend. I didn't even scrape one knuckle.

Wish all repairs came off that easy

 

The perfect repair doesn't happen too often, I'm just not a fan of dealerships as they do not care for your vehicle as you do. I normally only let them handle inspections but even then I get the car back and have to wipe grease finger prints off things and dirt marks off the pillar trim there that is commonly swiped by feet. Blah.

In a perfect world after having something worked on the car would be returned just how it was prior to. I am very picky though so that might have something to do with it. lol

 

You want to take a shot at replacing the turbo on my sister's 99 VW Passat? I'll buy you a 12 pack of beer.

 

I hope I have a neighbor like you when I get older

 

Every time. When I do it. Please don't anyone take this as arrogant, but I do all of my own repairs when I can, taking the time to make sure they are correct. From regular servicing to the replacement of ancillary items and the rebuilding of major components, I like to do them myself. My shop is equipped with most tools, and I love the satisfaction of doing in myself. Items such as warranty repairs or alignments are done at either a trusted dealership or a specific auto repair facility.

 

yu guys are so lucky that you know how to fix stuff. Some of us here (me) are hopeless cases.

neat that you help someone in need. He must not have many pennies to spare if he is driving an old car and again, it is need that you helped.

 

And if the job was that easy for the dealer, they'd still charge you the full $1100 and say it took them much longer and more effort.

 

Fixing cars for a living, I wish everything came apart so easy. I almost always return a car perfect to the customer though. Unfortunatley, its not always possible due to various reasons.

And if it took them longer than expected they would still charge you 1100.

 

Not often for me =(

There's always something that hinders a job that could've been done way quicker.

 

The last few times I did the repair work-- replacing the Bluetooth mic/HFL on the TL, changing the light bulb in the sunroof switch, replacing a door handle cap cover, etc.-- the job went very well and quickly, and the results were perfect.

Maintenance I now leave to mechanics: oil changes, brake pads, rotors, etc.

 

Not often. I don't work on my car too much, though I haven't let any mechanics touch my car yet if you don't count my friends.

I have the tools and, at one point or another had the knowledge to do something like a timing belt. However, I'm not comfortable enough with doing something like that yet. But of the repairs I've done, it's really satisfying when it's done right and even for someone like me, it usually goes well.

Funny thing is, I'm overly careful so it takes me a really long time to get things done. I'm not too experienced, but when I do let someone with more knowledge touch my car (while I'm working on it too) something goes wrong more often than otherwise

A lot of it has to do with the car too.... if you get something like a high mileage twin turbo Z32 300ZX, few repairs will be perfect.

 

I replaced a rear trailing arm on a 93 civic with a disc conversion. (not mine) and everything came out no problem. No rusted bolts, no breaker bars needed. It wS like all the bolts hD been oiled. Took 40 minutes.

 

As long as i fix it, every time. I might break a few old parts while doing it, but it gets done.

 

Not often for repairs.

Maintenance goes smoothly for the most part, fluid changes, brakes, rotors, spark plugs.

 

+1... i am usually pretty smooth with maint items as those are usually straight forward... but when i come across repairs (i.e.. radiator replacement, suspension replacement) my usual tie up has to do with not having the correct tool, or something else goes wrong...

 

^+1

 

i've worked on this passat before and it is the turbo four motor. Last time we worked on a coil pack and I recall just being able to see the turbo in the lower right section of the engine bay near the firewall. That does not look like a fun job but for a 12 pack....

 

One thing I do occasionally when I get stuck on a repair is call the service department of local dealer. The vast majority of the time the local Honda/Acura dealers service desk will ask for a tech to come to the phone.

The classic "tip" I got from a Honda tech over the phone was how to break free the ball joint on Honda/Acura's where the stud faces up so it's impossible to get a gear puller or ball joint fork on there. The tech told me they use two heavy mallets and hit the cast iron steering knuckle from opposite sides simultaneously where the cone fitting is. I tried it with ball/peen hammers and sure enough it works. I was worried I would harm the knuckle and the tech said their dealership had been doing that technique for decades always works and have never had a problem with that method.

 

I'm a DIY and only one repair came out perfect every time...and that is an oil change. Everything else will always require extra tools, effort, beers, bloody knuckles, etc.

 

I do most repairs/modifications myself (in depth motor work is not something I will do). Only when I anticipate a long, drawn out job does it go smoothly. Its usually the "it'll only take an hour" jobs that end up kicking my ass. Damn rusty bolts

 

lol, the crank seal replacement I recently performed would have been perfect had the process of seating the seal not given me a challenge.

I have an inner tie rod on the drivers side of the same car to perform sometime this week. Hopefully the parts from RockAuto will arrive before the weekend.

I will be rebuilding the power steering pump on my CL-S shortly as well. Looking forward to that, it looks incredibly easy per the manual. I hope.

 

Practice makes perfect.

I remember my first car repairs. Thank god for Acurazine for setting me straight on a couple of them

Acurazine DIYs FTMFW.

 

I threaded the head on my Integra from doing spark plugs the first time, I'm sure. Probably overtightened the lug nuts by several dozen too many ft/lbs too.

To reinforce my previous post, when my friend undid the transmission drain bolt for the first time on my Integra, it refused to come off. This was 5 years ago.... we didn't know but PB Blaster would have helped. Anyways, he caveman'd it and the bolt came off, as did a chunk of the transmission case



We subsequently learned that JB Weld = awesome. Didn't even leak a drop after that.

 

im the same way!

 

My friend/neighbor brought by a thankl you for the tie rod end replacement.