I spent some time last night cleaning the 2002 GLS that I picked up. Found some interesting things in the engine bay that I thought worth sharing. Mainly obvious stuff, but some of these things I'm starting to recognize as I keep seeing on other 24v EVs. :eek:
2002 VW EV GLS
First thing here, and I haven't seen if on my other vans, is this coolant leak from the throttle body. The hose at the top is the coolant return line, the supply line enters from underneath.
BTW -
you can also sort of make out the corrosion setting in around the brake booster as well. Leaking Coolant Hose
In the regular VR6 world -- the discussion of deleting these lines comes up now and then. Their purpose is to heat/warm the throttle body to prevent it from freezing and getting stuck -- ironically from the crankcase vapours that are fed in upstream. :mad: Since I'm re-routing my crankcase vapours to be downstream of the throttle body - I'm going to delete these lines and thin out some hoses. If you're in a hot climate -- I wouldn't lose any sleep at deleting this. In colder climates, unless you reroute the crankcase vapours I would leave it in. Either way, just make sure you clean the throttle body out once in a while.
From the garage -- here's a comparison of AXK and BDF throttle bodies (which I first cleaned a lot of oil grime out of).
Throttle Bodies
L-R: AXK version, BDF versionThese are basically the same thing between the two platforms, the difference is in how the coolant lines are routed. At one end, there is common coolant exit/entry, at at the other end a option (at installation) of 3 different exits/entries. Before examining it, I imagined these "lines" would have been better integrated to the throttle body with less stand off.
Honestly, it doesn't even look that effective in the first place! 
As I'm in "delete" mode, I tried to pull the hose barbs with some vice-grips but they broke off and I ended up drilling them out. The other benefit of this delete, is it eliminates the need for the fragile T-connection that connects the supply line. :thumbup:
Throttle Body Coolant Line
Barbs removed!Back to the new van....
Here you can see the EVAP line that runs from the N80 valve to the intake looks "wet". Can I safely pressume that some leaking was happening here ? -- the van does throw a P0441 code when I scan it.
Leaking EVAP line?
This is where I want to reroute my crankcase vapours -- putting it downstream of the TB. On Lucille, my plan is to basically pull the EVAP hose barb from this part of the manifold-extension and replace it with a tapped fitting. Possibly a T or Y fitting to maintain the EVAP line.
And then, just like Lucille's engine, the oil filler tube is covered in a nice amount of oil. :mad: I take it that the cap also vents -- but this seems a little too common place. Anybody else seeing this on their own van? I take it that crank case gases are getting trapped up in the long tube and then venting through the cap. :mad:
Dirty Oil Filler Tube
And then, I haven't seen a van that doesn't have this yet....
Dirty Power Steering Fluid Tank
Why is this? Crumby plastic components? Are the vans over pressurizing the line, is there too much fluid in the system? :mad:
From the garage, here's Lucille's leaky PS tank.
Lucille's Dirty Power Steering Fluid Tank
Anyhow -- just some all to common break downs of the EV system. Anybody else seeing similar issues?