LightningRhod's quest to 200k.....and beyond

Pic of the rear with the rear spoiler, valance, and Neuspeed exhaust. Really happy with the look:


And added this to commemorate the "Beyond 200k" event:

Future Plans:
The recent incident with having no coolant and almost being stranded with my 8 month son in the car got me thinking it might be time to retire this car from daily driving duty. The car has held up pretty well over the last 13 years with all the road trips and track days under it's belt, but I felt like it might be time to move on to something else. So I currently have an Audi RS3 on order and it should be delivered early/mid next year

I won't be getting rid of this car, but it will be relegated to project car/main track car status once the RS3 comes in. I'm going to keep the GTI in the lineup until the wheels fall off

Hope you all are having a great time driving your GTI's. Still having a blast in mine even after all these years. Cheers

Good to see that you still have your GTI, not sure if you remember me, but I had my first track day with you at Sonoma too back like 11 years ago LOL. I still have mine and still tracking it, but retired from DD since the pandemic with me WFH.

APRMK6GTi said:

Good to see that you still have your GTI, not sure if you remember me, but I had my first track day with you at Sonoma too back like 11 years ago LOL. I still have mine and still tracking it, but retired from DD since the pandemic with me WFH.
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Yeah of course I remember you . I got you and @Thumper to come out to the track with me. Thanks for posting these pics, brings me back to when the car was shiny and new! Nice to see that you still visit this forum

LightningRhod said:

Yeah of course I remember you . I got you and @Thumper to come out to the track with me. Thanks for posting these pics, brings me back to when the car was shiny and new! Nice to see that you still visit this forum

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Yup, I still remember it, so awesome to have a full group of GTIs blasting around the track.

LOL I told my wife I was going to go out to the track just once to really open up the car like you can't on the street. It'll be a fun trip I said, just once........... I did 12 track days at Sonoma, Laguna Seca, and Thunderhill that year. Haven't stopped since, 12 tracks west of the Mississippi , planning to add COTA next year and now I am finally giving back and started instructing new drivers.

All thanks to you LightningRhod

Remember that huge cruise we put on to go out to Point Reyes with MK6Medic? We had like 24 GTIs and a few Rs I think, people out there probably thought they were being invaded LMAO Man them were the days

Glad to see another high mileager. I'm almost to 190k, recently replaced a leaky coolant expansion tank. I have an APR knockoff intercooler to install (ebay). My suspension or steering rattles a little randomly, but everything is tight when I check it. Seems like these cars age well, all things considered.

I love to see these high mileage GTIs doing track days.

Have you had any issues with the coolant lines? Still original or did you replace any of them? I’ve done a few track days in mine so far and I have this nagging fear that I’m going to be the guy with the high mileage car that grinds everything to a halt because a coolant line let go.

Thumper said:

Yup, I still remember it, so awesome to have a full group of GTIs blasting around the track.

LOL I told my wife I was going to go out to the track just once to really open up the car like you can't on the street. It'll be a fun trip I said, just once........... I did 12 track days at Sonoma, Laguna Seca, and Thunderhill that year. Haven't stopped since, 12 tracks west of the Mississippi , planning to add COTA next year and now I am finally giving back and started instructing new drivers.

All thanks to you LightningRhod

Remember that huge cruise we put on to go out to Point Reyes with MK6Medic? We had like 24 GTIs and a few Rs I think, people out there probably thought they were being invaded LMAO Man them were the days

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I'm happy and glad to be the catalyst to your track day hobby . That's awesome to hear that you're now paying it forward and instructing new drivers. That's an eventual goal of mine, but I can live vicariously through you for the time being

The cruise to Point Reyes was really fun. It was awesome seeing a line full of GTI's running through SF all the way to Point Reyes. Man those were the days, such fond memories.

Hope you've been well this whole time!

zrickety said:

Glad to see another high mileager. I'm almost to 190k, recently replaced a leaky coolant expansion tank. I have an APR knockoff intercooler to install (ebay). My suspension or steering rattles a little randomly, but everything is tight when I check it. Seems like these cars age well, all things considered.

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Glad to see another OG member on here still running their GTI . I have the same issue as you, have to replace my coolant expansion tank due to leaks in it.

MrFancypants said:

I love to see these high mileage GTIs doing track days.

Have you had any issues with the coolant lines? Still original or did you replace any of them? I’ve done a few track days in mine so far and I have this nagging fear that I’m going to be the guy with the high mileage car that grinds everything to a halt because a coolant line let go.

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On top of my leaky coolant expansion tank, I might have a leak in the lines as well. Found some puddles near the coolant lines that I can see in the engine bay. I'll have 034 Motorsports (local to me) take a look at it and assess where else I could be possibly leaking. So it's probably safe to say that my track days are on pause until I get my cooling situation sorted out

I had a bad expansion tank too, and the hard plastic lines that run across the front of the engine beneath the intake manifold also sprung a slow leak. My radiator also seems to be seeping a bit and needs to be replaced.

My biggest worry is blowing a rubber hose on track but somehow all of my original lines pass the squish test and show no signs of cracking.

As much as I want to get out and do more track events I’ve out it all on pause until I tear it apart and basically replace everything.

LightningRhod said:

Glad to see another OG member on here still running their GTI . I have the same issue as you, have to replace my coolant expansion tank due to leaks in it.


On top of my leaky coolant expansion tank, I might have a leak in the lines as well. Found some puddles near the coolant lines that I can see in the engine bay. I'll have 034 Motorsports (local to me) take a look at it and assess where else I could be possibly leaking. So it's probably safe to say that my track days are on pause until I get my cooling situation sorted out

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Forgot to mention, when I was fixing things I found the plastic nipple on top of a heater hose was brittle and leaking. Look by the firewall. Before that, I had replaced a plastic outlet pipe on the head near the water pump.

MrFancypants said:

I had a bad expansion tank too, and the hard plastic lines that run across the front of the engine beneath the intake manifold also sprung a slow leak. My radiator also seems to be seeping a bit and needs to be replaced.

My biggest worry is blowing a rubber hose on track but somehow all of my original lines pass the squish test and show no signs of cracking.

As much as I want to get out and do more track events I’ve out it all on pause until I tear it apart and basically replace everything.

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Plastic cooling parts are the Achilles heel of modern cars. Killed that Mini Cooper I tried to fix too.

So just to post an update here on some of the work that has been done to the GTI recently:

- Replaced broken front lip (Maxton Design)
- Installed new side skirts (Maxton Design)
- Replaced/upgraded radiator (CTS Turbo)
- Replaced hood latch (was very sticky over the last few years, finally got around to getting it replaced)
- Replaced hood and trunk struts
- Repaired side mirrors (with Gorilla Glue lol. OEM adhesive disintegrated and mirrors were literally dangling off at highway speeds)

One interesting thing to note was that because I have both an upgraded intercooler (Integrated Engineering) and radiator now, there were some clearance issues the AC lines and charge pipes near the radiator fans. So 034 Motorsports had to do some custom welding for the charge pipe and bent the AC lines slightly to get some clearance.

Upon inspection, some suspension things need to be replaced:
- Whiteline rear end links
- Tie rods and ball joints

The big one though is the amount of leaks found during inspection. Here is what is currently leaking:
- Upper and lower oil pan
- Upper and lower timing chain tensioner panel
- Oil cooler
- Oil line from turbo to engine
- DSG fluid coming from transmission cover

The oil leaks seem like a very large (financial) endeavor to remedy, so I might retire this car from track duty. Convince me otherwise though

In other news, I got an update on the RS3 and looks like it is scheduled to be delivered ahead of schedule some time in June. So hopefully that'll get me back to the track sooner than later

So I'm gonna try to mitigate my oil leaks with this oil additive I found at my local auto store. Figured I'd give it a shot and see if it helps. Not expecting miracles though

LightningRhod said:

So I'm gonna try to mitigate my oil leaks with this oil additive I found at my local auto store. Figured I'd give it a shot and see if it helps. Not expecting miracles though
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Interesting. Please keep us posted!