Newbie with 2000 2.0

[stephenson]

Newbie on this forum - got here by trading a 92 Mitsu 3KGT for a 2000 Beetle! Quite an accident, but I did OK by the deal. Think wife may like the NW - too early to tell.

Other than a bit of body work here and there with some rust on corner of the newly skinned door, the car is pretty nice. Weirdest thing is the sunroof interior cover headliner material is coming apart - I am assuming it sat in hot parking lots here in Northern Virginia as a commuter car.

PO had timing belt, water pump, and tstat replaced last year - suspect it overheated due to the tstat and, given the mileage they were talked into belt and waterpump as reasonable.

So far:
- pulled plugs (standard plug is a four electrode type, right?) - Bosch versions were in it. Number 3 was loose and flopping around (finger tight) and number 4 was only a bit tighter. 1 and 2 were fine
- odddest thing was the blue coolant light remaining on ... engine functions normally with top hose heating first, then the bottom as the tstat opens - drives fine with blue light staying on; added more fluid (was at right level so I took it about an inch above mark and wiggled sensor (green top) wires and light went out - not sure which did it, but now light comes on for about a half mile of driving on warm morning then goes out - weird "innovation"
- changed oil to Penz Syn 5-30; oil was way dirty and oil cap has the look that means the oil was not changed in a timely manner over it's previous lifetime
- changed transaxle to store brand syn 75-90 (GL-4; relatively clean coming out but much darker than new
- starter was sounding a bit weird just as engine started and recall reading a forum thread about clutch dust so I pulled starter and cleaned the shaft and put a tiny bit of lube on it ... starter sounds normal now
- air cleaner box was being held down by only the front bolt; replaced the back one and also replaced the screw that was supposed to attach the air chamber to the induction tube
- rotated tires; PO had new brake pads put on and they look fine (where is best place to get the VW emblems for the lug covers? 3 are missing)
- scrubbed interior, including using carpet cleaning machine on carpet and headliner - Armorall and looks and smells much better
- removed sunroof glass and the sun shade ... upholstery cover on the shade was about 1/4 detached and the adhesive was coming apart (got very hot at some point?), so I pulled the upholstery (grey cloth) off the shade and cleaned it with soap and water to remove the adhesive - looks OK - black not as attractive as the grey uphostery .... maybe will replace it later, maybe not. The slider clips were still fine so lubed the tracks for both slide and glass and put it all back together. Works way smoother. I can't figure out why VW would have the shade slide on top of the upholstered edge of the roof cutout, though ... certain to destroy one or both pf the soft material surfaces
- did some troubleshooting on the A/C - hooked up hoses and got zip pressure high and 20 psi low side, added a can of 134a and got 80 psi low side but still zip high, button lights, no fuses blown, getting 8.8 V at clutch connector when A/C button off, and 11.5 (or at least it what my meter reads as it fluctuates back to 8.8V instantaneously) when the button is pushed on. There is a 5 sec or so cycle as system tries to power the clutch, but does sound like clutch is "clicking" ... are the clutches removeable and repairable on these?

What's best source and type of touch-up paint? Car is metallic blue and auto parts places dont have match - dealer can order but nothing is stock?

Been fun so far - a bit of a pain to work on due to engine to chassis packaging - just not enough space! First VW have had in about 15 years (previous gen beetles, several gas and diesel Rabbits and an Audi or two).