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I’m amazed at the skill and experience level of the people who post here. But you need to ask a more specific question before they can help.
Define “a few jobs.”
With the exception of the timing chains, a 12v VR6 is a pretty simple engine to work on.
Seems like you do not have much experience working on cars. The difficulty of the repair jobs vary widely with what you are aiming to repair. Some jobs could take as little as a few minutes and others might take hours. How knowledgeable are you with the systems you are working on? Car repair shouldn’t be done “willy nilly.” You should have a thorough understanding of the systems before working on it otherwise you run the risk of causing damage and making foolish mistakes. (Unless the job is very simple and routine like changing your oil, and even then you shouldn’t be completely ignorant)
I certainly hope your friend is knowledgeable.
I think the best way to find out what you’re getting into is to read the shop manual or repair manual first. If you’re a beginner, everybody was a beginner at some point. I took an auto shop class as a junior in high school in 1967. Most of the boys in the class had fathers who were auto mechanics and they had a head start so to speak.
The worst hazard for a beginner in my experience, comes from advice you receive from the “experienced” guys who are still learning. You need to be skeptical of free advice from somebody’s big brother.
Even in a shop full of professionals, there’s always somebody who is unsatisfactory and could learn a lot by watching the better craftsmen in the shop.
Nowadays, you find female students in high school auto shop. (As a substitute teacher, I’ve met a few.) You have videos you can find on the internet and some, like Eric’s, are more helpful than a Haynes manual or a Chilton manual, but there’s still a need for a manual especially when you want to work on something like a VW V6 or an Olds V8 and you don’t find a quality video.
I make use of all the info I can find. As a teenager, I made some expensive mistakes, but you could replace a daily driver for $200 dollars in 1966, and you could replace a 1964 GTO for $1300 in 1967.
I’ve used Haynes and Chiltons and factory shop manuals. Haynes or Chiltons would tell you what you needed to know if you were a beginner. The shop manuals were a lot more expensive and they omit details the beginner will find useful. They include details the beginner will seldom use. Years ago there was one that was a lot easier to use than the other. (Chiltons, I think.) You could go to the library and check out a couple of manuals for popular cars and read them. You might even find one for Olds and one for the VW.
The instructions are your best defense against free advice that is often worth just we pay for it.Yea it really depends on the ‘job’ as auto repair is ‘like a box of chocolates’ so it’s good to arm yourself with information before as has been suggested. If your asking a general opinion about VW’s well I can say that in my experience German cars are my LEAST favorite to work on because for some reason they feel the need to over engineer everything but when it comes to VW’s they over engineer and make it as cheep as possible so in short be prepared for bloody hands and some broken parts (mostly the cheep plastic ones). Know that there are a LOT of VW enthusiasts out there however that LOVE their cars and with good reason as they are good cars so you would have plenty of work should you specialize in them.
well glad yard dog and eric did not insult me very much, i do have a basic understanding of most of the systems in the cars, i just wanted to know whether or not there is anyhting i could be blind sighted by working on a VW rather than say working on a GM or Honda
as for what jobs i am changing the transmission fluid and filter, changing the oil and filter, changing the fuel filter, replacing the exhaust manifold and intake manifold as well as the alternator and headlight bulbs
just to be clear, i DO have knowledge about these systems i just never have worked on VW before and just wanted to know if there are any punches that are going to be pulled on me lol
thanks for those who gave good advice =3
Sarah
It’s been my experience that working on a VW, or any German car really, is an exercise in frustration, with lots of “What the five were they thinking when they designed this?” and “What moron decided that using hard plastic right near a hot turbo was a good idea?” moments, usually followed, at least in my case, by throwing tools around, slamming the hood closed and telling my manager to tell the customer to take their Nazimobile to the dealer.
Not to scare you or anything, but the Germans have a particular way of designing things that doesn’t really make much sense to me. For example, you mention replacing the transmission fluid and filter. Check to see if there’s a transmission dipstick before you take the transmission apart. Most likely it doesn’t have one and you’ll have to buy a special tool to replace the trans fluid. Information on replacing the alternator, intake and exhaust manifolds is not available to me, so I can’t give any insight on how to go about replacing those parts. Knowing how large that engine is, in comparison to the engine bay it’s crammed into, I hope you’ve got really small hands with really long fingers and at least 3 elbows on each arm. That seems to be what I need every time I have to work on a VW. The headlight bulbs should be straight-forward to replace. The fuel filter is probably in the gas tank, but I won’t swear to that. Trying to decipher a German service manual is tricky, as the information is never where you would expect it. At least, what little information that’s available in their manuals is tricky to decipher. Most of it is simply missing.
As far as tools goes, you’re going to need hex sockets (aka Alan keys), possibly some Torx bits, as well as the usual assortment of regular metric sockets. Something else to be aware of is this; German cars are known for having electrical issues. I had a Jetta in my shop a couple months ago for a battery replacement. We had put a battery in it three weeks prior, and it was stone dead. The alternator was working, but there was a massive parasitic drain on the system. While I was attempting to find the parasite, the entirety of the electrical system slowly imploded on itself. First, the dome light stopped working, then the radio turned itself on and then back off again, then the windows stopped working, after which the horn honked and then the rest of the electrical system stopped doing anything. I removed my test-light from in-line with the negative battery cable and the negative battery post, hooked the cable back to the battery, started the car (fortunately the starter motor still worked) and told the customer that I was sorry, but it needed a lot more diagnostics that I was able to provide and that he had to take it to the dealer. I think he traded it in on something else.
I have to agree that even though I’m one quarter away from completing my degree in Automotive Tech, I would be intimidated by working on anything German or Bavarian. I spent some time as a lube/light line tech in a Cadillac/Olds/BMW dealer when I was a kid. The BMW’s were never sent to the lube rack guys (me) for even oil changes, but the three factory trained BMW techs. Even if you have basic insight into the systems you mentioned, I would probably pass on the job. It has nothing to do with you being a girl (woman) as I think you are reading into from the above posts.. I would probably pass on that work myself, and I’ve been turning wrenches on domestic and Japanese cars for almost two decades even before I got my college edu-macation.
Best advice I can give is to know both ends of the job you are doing. If you are replacing the transmission filter and fluid, make sure you know how much and what type of fluid is going in, and where and make sure that you can put fluid back in before you take any out. VW likes to bury their air filters, and as said have had their share of electrical demons. I had a VW beetle that I could turn the key off and remove the key, but as long as I kept my foot on the brake, the engine stayed running. Realize this was a 1970 VW beetle with a relatively straight forward electrical system!
Asking in advance though will put you on the right track. Make sure you know your torque specs for the manifolds, etc….
It’s nothing you’re not capable of I’m sure, but working on German cars is equipment intensive. There’s workarounds for having the special tools, but I wouldn’t want to experiment on anyone’s car but my own.
As a example, I think the 03 Jetta VR6 had the 5 speed tiptronic transmission, which is a “sealed” unit which isn’t supposed to require any maintenance. We all know it does, but the engineers who designed that transmission don’t make it easy for the average DIY’er. Draining it is about the only part that doesn’t require any special tools. Once you drain it, unless you want to break the tamper proof red seal on the top of the transmission and pull the plug out from underneath (which will break too most likely), you’ll probably need the VW/Audi gravity feed tool. As 3SheetsDiesel said, there isn’t a dipstick on that transmission, so you’ll need a VAG-COM cable and software to monitor the transmission fluid temperature (40 degrees celcius if memory serves me right) so you don’t overfill it.
A good set of triple square sockets is another must for working on those cars. Stripped out triple square bolts can ruin your day.
I’d scour the VW forums and see if you can find any workarounds for the special tools if you’re unable to borrow or purchase them. I’ve worked on tons of them, and it can be done, but do your research ahead of time (vwvortex.com is a good place to start, I’ve googled a vw spec or 2 in the past, and it’s usually on their forum somewhere).
It sucks to get something tore down to find you don’t have the right tool to move forward, but if you do enough research you should know what you’re getting into and what you’re going to need to get it done. And like Eric said, be ready for bloody hands, keep the band aids close. Good luck!
well since im in 2 schools at the exact same time, 1 for nursing the other for surg tech, i always keep a first aid kit in the glove box
thanks for the helpful advice guys and i am going to those forums to see if i can’t learn a thing or 2
3SheetsDiesel nailed this one.
I have worked on a few VW’s too but that VR6, the room in the engine bay is very limited. The VR6’s are known for timing chain issues around 100k miles so bear that in mind.
I would suggest finding some good service information for those repairs to aid you.
And why are you replace the intake and exhaust manifolds?
im replacing them because (mind you i don’t know HOW THE HELL he managed to do this) there are cracks and holes in the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold is on it’s last leg so to speak lol it would probably disintegrate if i tapped it with a rubber mallet
i’m gonna see what other info i can find about this car before i dive in head first =P
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