VW Golf MK4 Fix Door Handle Staying Out After Pulling Frozen Door Too Hard

There is a design fault in VW Golf MK4 which cause the doors to get frozen shut if temperatures drop after rain. The door rain gutter rubber is covered by some sort of velvet material which soaks water and freezes to the doors.

There seem to be some protective foil part to fix this issue, below are the part numbers:

2 doors        1J3 898 105
4 doors        1J4 898 105
ESTATE/VARIANT 1J5 898 105 or 1J9 898 105

Once you pull the handle too hard, it won't go back in flush anymore. If you try to push it in, you will feel resistance and it will pop back up. Below picture is taken from a UK-MKIVS forum thread as an example to the situation.

To be able to fix this, you will need to remove the lock tumbler part from the door. Pelican parts have great instructions on how to accomplish this. It involves loosening one T20 screw which is conveniently behind a rubber grommet on your door. Below is a picture taken from the pelican parts instructions.

I found out that I needed to turn the screw several times before it got loosen. To not drop it accidentally, I loosened the screw 1-2 turns and check if I can remove the tumbler. When screw was out enough, it felt lose and also tumbler moved about 2mm away from door. From that point, it needed 1-2 more turns for being able to remove the tumbler completely.

Below is a photo where the latches are not in the rail. When you press the handle in, they touch to the rail and this is the reason for the felt back pressure.

Below is a photo after re-seating the latches in position.

The reseating is quite easy. It require a thin screwdriver, should be about 2mm thick. Make sure that it is hard enough to not bend. I used an electronics screwdriver.

I first pulled the handle little bit out towards the lock cylinder opening. It moves few millimeters that direction which helps when re-seating the handle.

Next, by using the screwdriver, I have pulled the lower rear holder/rail outwards as much as possible. Luckily the plastic around the opening protects the paintwork. The screwdriver should be thin enough for the latches on the door handle to be able to pass behind it.

Last step is to push the door handle in, going around the holder/rail parts. It goes rather easily through, and once the handle is in, it can be moved back to its original position.

Golf MK4 Adding a USB Port

Today all mobile phones and most other devices charge from USB ports. We need to have native USB port on our golf mk4.

You can buy some ready ports online but they have some serious limitations.

First of all, you can't install it unless you own a golf mk4 without rear window/seat heating. This is because of the plastic covers of golf mk4 are angled differently on left and right side. On models with seat heating, there are 3 buttons ready in place most left button for left seat heating, most right button for right seat heating and 2nd right button for rear window/mirror heating. So, we are left with 2nd left position to put our USB port. But with all wisdom, manufacturers design those USB ports to go to second right position where the window/mirror heater adjustment button is.

Second reason is, they are ugly! Below is a generic button you can buy online.

We surely do not want to look at this!

Third reason is that these generic USB ports do not support fast charge. We want fast charge when we are charging our phone while driving. Every minute counts!

Requirements:

So, I came up with my own solution to this problem.Needless to say, you need to be able to use a soldering iron and have some experience in wiring up electrical components.

1- I bought the generic model first which has a whole button and holder for the USB ports. I can't use this by itself since the heater button occupies the slot which it goes. But I used the holder part behind the button cover and integrate it into a dummy button.

2- You need to go online and find a 2 port QuickCharge 3.0 (now this is what my phones support, but in future perhaps USB PD) supporting cigarette lighter charger. You need to make sure that it is as small as possible due to space constraints. I went for something like below.

3- You need to have soldering iron, old usb cables, and a grinder.

Instructions:

1- First buy a dummy cover for the port you are going to use.  The model number is 1J0 858 180 C (and other side has same number but B in the end). The best way to check what you need is to remove the existing cover and look under it. Why do you buy one if you have one? Well if you accidentally destroy it, you can have a spare....

2- Now you need to disassemble your USB cigarette socket charger and mark in the middle of the dummy cover where you want the holes. Then you will use the metal piece from one of your old USB cables to melt down the holes. I used the soldering iron to warm up and push through the holes.

3- Unfortunately I forgot to make photos of the following steps. :(

  a) You need to make holes on the sides of the dummy cover so the clips from the USB holder can grab to it.

  b) Then  disassemble the cigarette lighter socket charger and remove the board of it. You need to desolder the springs etc. which form the negative/positive contacts.

  c) I added a red led to mine with a reasonable resistor to dim it so it will blend with other buttons etc. on the dash. I actually attached it to the output of the radio connector's light output which also responds to dimming etc.

4- Now you can assemble everything together and install it in place. Wiring is up to you. Easiest is to connect it to power from the radio connector.

I prepared a custom male/female extension adapter for the which took power from the lighter circuit to get power. The part numbers are 1J0919321 and 357919321 for plastic connector boxes. The numbers to male/female pins are N10319103 and N90732603. These are 4.8mm pins, anything larger won't fit into connector.

I took the ignition status from the radio connector and used a relay which turns on when the key turns on and provides power to the USB port. Without a relay, the cigarette lighter socket provides power constantly. This will cause the port to use 2mA to 10mA (depending on circuitry) constantly. The amount is little, but many such small additions eventually add up. Also, I figure I can use the cigarette lighter socket if I need to charge a device when I am not driving.

But the wiring is all up to you and your skills. Below is photos of the end result. It charges my LeEco phone with Qualcomm processor at about 16W-18W range. Which is plenty if you want to charge your phone quickly. Actually it is so much power that USB cable gets slightly warm.

LG Washer / Dryer Hands on Review 8Kg - W5J6AM0W / F4J6TM0W

I have recently obtained an LG washer/dryer. I don't necessarily need the dryer but it was a good price to get a combination machine and test how they function at the same time.

I got the W5J6AM0W model with 8Kg washing and 4Kg drying capacity for 399,90EUR. However I believe the review applies to F4J6TM0W model which is exactly same as the W5J6AM0Wmodel but twice more expensive and the only change seem to be the text 5Kg drying. Since both machines have exactly same specifications (drum size, power consumption etc.) I have hard time believing there is any real benefit on the 5Kg version. I imagine the most important factor in drying is the drum size. Both machines have 58l drum capacity.

To summarize machine has a lot of useless features. But it washes well and silently. It dries reasonably well and the price is right. Would I buy it again? Yes I would definitely buy it. But perhaps my next machine will be an LG 12Kg/8Kg Washer/Dryer. I will keep my eye open for good prices on those.

Below is the actual review machine in action:

It looks quite similar to many Samsung models. This is because Samsung stole the design from LG (if it was Apple, they would have sued Samsung already). LG has been producing direct drive machines at least since 2002!. The look and technology of the LG models have evolved since 2002, but still they resemble the original models.

The machine is very silent and stable. The loudest part of the machine is the drain pump. All LG machines I have seen had very loud drain pumps. I always wonder why they never use a more silent part.

The drying function works reasonably well for t-shirts and other thin textiles but for example jeans stay slightly moist and should go to another drying cycle.

Common Complaints:

Before I purchased the machine, I made a through Internet search to see which model is better for my purposes. Most complaints about LG models were the missing 30C washing program and machine not showing the wash time before the program starts.

I thought this machine also didn't have 30C program. But it has the 30C in settings. In either case, I was ready to accept the missing 30C program. I bet clothes get as clean in 20C as well. Even though some people claim in reviews that machine didn't clean their clothes good because it does not have 30C program. I believe those people are mistaken since they can't really know for sure if their clothes would have been clean even if there was a 30C program. Still an odd choice by LG to put 20C but not 30C in settings. I would fire the person who did that. I doubt anybody would complain about a missing 20C program because I have never seen any clothes require such strange washing temperature.

About the remaining wash time, since machine does check amount of clothes in the drum before starting to wash, it can't show you the remaining time. This is quite understandable but still, the system is quite flawed. Because if you change the program after amount detection, machine tries to re-detect the amount. Today, it should be smart enough to figure out that if the door was not opened, clothes amount can't change. A total oversight by whoever is writing the logic for the washer and I would also fire that person :) Machine could still show an average time estimate so I could choose between 2 programs easier if I am in hurry. I built a table for myself to figure out what to expect from programs and printed out.

In the end, neither are show stoppers and I am not sure why people are complaining about these redundant things. So far the only problem I have is the smell with drying cycle. Machine gives out an extra strong new machine smell every time I use the drying cycle. I am sure it will go away in a few months. Also the machine is very heavy, you need at least 2 people to move it around.

Exciting Hints:

It is very unclear how to start a spin cycle only or only a dry cycle from the manual. But there is a very practical way to access those functions.

For a drying cycle only, you can start the machine and then press the 'Dry' button immediately. Machine defaults to a '1400RPM spin + DRY' functionality. You can keep pressing the 'Dry' button to select the desired drying program and if you want cancel the spin altogether by pressing 'Spin' button or select another spin speed. Then start the program by pressing the play button.

Same goes for initiating a spin cycle only. You simply need to turn on the machine and then press the 'Spin' button to select desired spin speed and press play button to start the program.

LG Smart Laundry App / LG SmartThinQ App 

The manual mentions LG Smart Laundry app but this does not exist in Android Play Store. However I found the LG SmartThinQ App but this app did not even start and it has only 2.1 rating on the Play Store. Seems like more people should be fired. (and indeed many reviews suggested this in Play Store!)

Update: I figured out that the app won't start if your device is rooted. It was possible to start the app by disabling root, starting app and then enabling root again. It goes to show how bad the programmers who designed the app was. They were just adding annoyance features to program instead of focusing on what matters.

To be honest, the app was useless. It provided a large list of unnecessary washing programs.  The worst thing is that you can't really know what any of the programs set exactly until you transfer the program to the washing machine. Many of them being redundant, like a "Rainy Season" program, whatever that means.

Also for example the 'Wool' program wanted to wash in 40C temp which I think is too high.

Available Wash Programs:

 
The machine has way too many wash programs. It is almost like it was designed to make people confused. Actually some features are totally redundant. For example the 'Add Item' button is almost same as 'Pause/Play' button. The only difference is that the machine does not pause in situations where it is not possible to unlock the door. For example if the water temp is too hot.

The same goes to programs like 'Wash+Dry'. This program is same as the 'Cotton' program with 'Dry' option selected. (of course the amount of laundry must be about 4kg)

Some programs are only for certain limits. For example 'Hygiene' and 'Baby Care' are same as they limit you to same wash temperature and also they have similar washing times. but 'Baby Care' won't allow you to put over 1000RPM spinning speed.

Also, for example the 'Wool' wash does not exist in this model, but you can safely use 'Gentle Care' program for same results.

Is this an error? No not really. The manufacturer have obviously figured out that people are willing to pay twice more for washing machine which have special wash option for wool and baby clothes. They scramble engineers and figure out "lets limit maximum temp or spin and put it to a new program name". I know from experience that people won't believe me saying this and keep paying twice for the same features available in cheaper machines. So I really can't blame the manufacturer for trying to milk the consumer.

Below are some estimations from machine with empty drum:

As you can see, the numbers does not make any sense :)

Cotton 40C 0RPM 1h:16m
Cotton 40C 400RPM 1h:23m
Cotton 40C 800RPM 1h:25m
Cotton 40C 1000RPM 1h:24m
Cotton 40C 1200RPM 1h:16m
Cotton 40C 1400RPM 1h:18m
Cotton 60C 1000RPM 1h:29m
Cotton 60C 1400RPM 1h:33m

As you can see machine incorrectly figures 4h washing time for 'Cotton+ 60C 1400RPM' (I didn't try if it does take 4hours!) Yet another person to fire :) The difference between Cotton and Cotton+ is that the Cotton+ will be limited to 60C maximum temp

Cotton+ 40C 0RPM 1h:44m
Cotton+ 40C 400RPM 1h:50m
Cotton+ 40C 800RPM 1h:53m
Cotton+ 40C 1000RPM 1h:54m
Cotton+ 40C 1400RPM 1h:58m
Cotton+ 60C 1000RPM 1:54m
Cotton+ 60C 1400RPM 4h:06m

Mix program:

Mix 30C 1000RPM 0h:59m
Mix 30C 1400RPM 1h:03m
Mix 40C 1000RPM 1h:07m
Mix 40C 1400RPM 1h:11m

Hygiene and Baby Wash

Baby Care 60C 1000RPM 3h:13m
Hygiene 60C 1000RPM 3h:09m
Hygiene 60C 1400RPM 3h:13m

Gentle Care and Stain Care. Stain care forces a prewash and gentle care maxes out settings at 30C and 800RPM, also disables drying possibility.

(Gentle Care cold wash reduces wash time by 1min)
Gentle Care 20C/30C 400RPM 0h:23m
Gentle Care 20C/30C 400RPM 0h:28m
Gentle Care 20C/30C 800RPM 0h:30m

(Stain care allows 30C,40C and 60C which uses same time for all)
Stain Care 30C/40C/60C 1000RPM 3h:37m
Stain Care 30C/40C/60C 1200RPM 3h:39m
Stain Care 30C/40C/60C 1400RPM 3h:41m

Yet another fail, where the low temp dry actually finishes "before" normal high temp dry program which is not possible.

Quick 30 20C/30C 800RPM 0h:30m
Quick 30 40C 800RPM 0h:38m
Quick 30 40C 1400RPM 0h:43m

This feels like another fail, Low Temp Dry adds normally 48m to a normal program at 1400RPM. Yet here it adds a whopping 1h:19m.
Quick 30 40C 1400RPM + Low Temp Dry 2h:02m

Wash+Dry 40C 1400RPM + Low Temp Dry 2h:16m
Wash+Dry 40C 1400RPM + Normal Dry 2h:26m

I measured the temperature inside the drum using a type-k thermocouple:

Normal Dry 82C - 96C 0h:45m
Iron Dry 87C - 94C 0h:35m
Low Temp Dry 70C-77C 0h:35m
Eco Dry 82C - 95C 0h:50m

Additional options which add extra time to programs.

Rinse+ adds 12m
Crease Care adds 10m
Normal Dry adds 60m at 1000RPM and 58m at 1400RPM
Iron Dry adds 48m at 1000RPM and 46m at 1400RPM
Low Temp Dry adds 50m at 1000RPM and 48m at 1400RPM