maintenance VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 2009 User Guide

some area s, speed
is higher.
you are driv ing a new vehicle or a ve hicle with a new or rebui lt engine, do not tow a during the break-in period, about 283.
Technical requirements
tory informatio n an d heed the WARN­on page 149.
Use only a weight-car rying
hitch must be suitable for
you r
a "weight -dis­
tributing " or "load-equalizing " trailer hitch on your The vehicle is not designed for this kind of trailer hitch
Do not use a bumper-mounted traile r hitch
Never
a trailer hitch on the bumper or on the
bumper attachments. The trailer hitch must not in­
terfe re with the impact-absorbing bumper system.
Do not make any changes to the vehicle exhaust
and brake systems. From time to time, check that trailer hitch mounting bolts are secure ly fas­
tened. When you are not towing, remove the trailer
hitch. This
helps keep the trailer hitch from causing damage if your vehicle is hit from behind.
Engine cooling syste m
Tow i
ng a trailer makes the engine and its cooling
system work harder.
Before driving
maintenance more often because of the extra
load it has to move.
When you are not towing , remove the trailer hitch
Some models need a trailer hitch to tow or tow-start other vehicles. after it has
been removed. Be sure to stow it securely. <l
Trailer brakes
your trailer has its own brakes , make sure it
meets
151 .
T ra
iler
Trailer lights must meet regulations 151.
Never connect the trailer lights directly to the elec­
t rical system
of your
Outside mirrors
you cannot see the traffic behind you using the
r egular outside mirrors, then you must ex­
t ended mirrors. Extended mirrors may also be re­
quired by law in some countries
I states I provin ­
ces . Always adjust the outside mirrors befo re dr iv­ing. It's vital that you always have a clear view to
the rear of the veh icle .
Maximum po w er con sumption fo r the trailer
Do not exceed the power ratings listed in the chart
b elow.
E l
ectr ica l load Maximum power
Taillights total

Introduction
this sect ion
The correc t fu el grade fo r you r engine is sh own on
a sticker located on the inside of the fuel 125 .
More information:
book le t Warranty and Maintenance
Refueling
295
Improper refueling or handling of fuel can cause fire, explosion, and severe burns.
on page 219.
unleaded Premium grade gasoline is specified
for your vehicle, then Volkswagen recommends us­
ing
Detergent Gasoline with a minimum
octane rating of 91 (95 For more infor­
mation on Detergent Gasoline, please
go to the official Web sit e - h ttp :// www.toptiergas.com.
out and from evaporating.
into the vehicle's neck could cause fuel over­flow and fuel spray. Fuel spray and overflow­ing fuel are dangerous because they can cause fire or serious injury.
in exceptional circumstances you must get back in your vehicle
electricity can cause sparks that can ignite fuel vapors released during refueling.
T he gaso line grades most commonly sold in the
United
be found on the er pump:
Premium grade: 91 to 96
Regular grade: 87 to
Unleaded gasoline is available throughout th e
may use unleaded gasoline blended with alco­
hol or MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) , common­ly referred to as oxygenated fuels, if the blended
mixture meets the foll owing criteria :
Blends of and methanol (wood alcohol or methyl alcohol):
At the gas station 219

Care,
this sect ion
know how to carry out the
have the correc t technical information and the
proper too ls and supplies, and
are fami liar with the necessary safety precau­
t ions
you are uncertain in any
Fa cility. from improperly per­
formed work.
More
Exterior views
Windshie ld wipe r and was he r 129
S tart ing and stoppi ng t he engi ne
Brake fluid 179
Vehicle battery
E ngine oil 227
Engin e coolant 233
Parts, accesso ries, repairs and modifications 283
Unintend ed vehicle movement during mainte­nanc e work can ca use serious personal inju­ries.
Care , cleaning, maintenance
Never work under the vehicle unless you have safely secured the vehicle from moving. you mus t work under the vehicle with the
wheels on the g round , alway s make sure that the vehicle is on level ground, that
Th e engine compartment of any motor vehi­cle is a potent ially dangerous area and can cause serious personal injury.
Always use extreme caution when doing any work
Never p erform any work in the engine compartment unless you know exactly how to carry out the job and have the correct tec h­nical information and the correct tools .
you are uncertain about what to do, have the work performed by an authorized
Volk swagen dealer, an authorized Volksw a­
ge n Service Facility, or another qualified workshop. Serio us persona l injury may result from improperly performed work.

Never pour or operating or on the engine. These
work on the system or the
disconnect the 12 battery. Make sure the is when you disconnect the battery , or the
have a functional, approved fire extinguisher nearby .
Warning
When changing or topping off fluids, make sure that you pour the voirs. Adding the wrong type of operating
and are
you find spot s
o f
first read and note the introductory in formation and heed the on
icon
appea rs Engine hood not prope rly closed.
in the dis-
th e engine hood is open or not closed properly ,
t he warning comes on in the i nstrument
D epending on your vehicle 's equ ipmen t and tio n s, a symbo l showing that the hood is not closed may appea r in the instrument cluste r
disp la y instead of th e warning light. The symbol be displayed even after the ignition is
swi tched off. Th e display goes out abo ut 15
onds afte r t he vehicle has been locked with the doors closed .
224 Care, cleaning , maintenance Proper
response
and instrument cluster text messa ges can cause the to break down in traffic and sion and serious

(continued)
qu ant ities ( n o mo re than 1 pint I liter).
11 . To av oid you mu st wait about 1 minute each tim e you add so that th e oil ca n n ow into the oil p an up to th e marking on the dips tick .
1 2 . Rea d the oil leve l o n th e dip s
tick aga in bef ore adding another amount , if necessary. N eve r
ad d to o muc h oi l
13 . After addin g the leve l mu st a t l ea st b e in the cent er of the 128@ ar ea, but neve r above
14 . Afte r addi ng se cu rely the cap on the eng in e oil ope ning . O th erwise , oil cou ld lea k out
w hil e the engine is run nin g .
1 5 .
the guide tube and p ush it
in Introd uct ion on page 222.
Engine oil
oil
R an ge @ You
may add oil (a bo u t 1 pint/ The oil leve l may go i nto the ran ge , b ut
no t ab ove the range .
R an ge @ You
mu
st ad d oil (abo ut 1 qu art Aft er add in g oil, make sur e th at th e oil le v-
e l is ab out in the middle of the @ ran ge.
Engin e can ignite when it touc h es hot en-
g in e parts. Thi s can caus e fires, burns, and
o th er se vere injuries.
spille d on a cold engine ca n also cau se a fire whe n th e engine warm s up.
op eni ng b ack o n tightly after adding oil and that th e dipstick
h as bee n pu sh ed
on p ag e 2 27.
Do not start the eng in e if the en gi ne oil leve l
i s abov e rang e@ . Contact an authorized
Volkswag en dealer or an authoriz ed V olkswa-gen F acility. the ca tal ytic converter and engi ne can be damage d
oil leve l sh ould neve r be abo ve
r a nge A . O th erwise oil can be draw n in by
the crankcase venti
lation sys tem and ent er t he at-
m osphe re v ia th e exha ust syste m .
Un der nor mal co
ndit ions , th e ra te o f oil consump ­
t io n d epe nds on o il qu alit y as as viscos ity, e n­
gi ne speed (rpm) , o ut side tem pe ra tur e, road cond i­
t io n s, th e amou nt of
oil d il u tio n ca used by co n­
d ensed water or fuel res idu e, and ox idat ion of t he oil. co nsump tion may incre ase with engine
wea r over time , unt il replacement of wo rn en gin e
p arts m ay beco me nec essary .
<l
To prov ide effective lubricatio n an d coo ling fo r in ­
terna l eng ine part s, in tern al co mbustion engines
u se so me o il. cons umpt ion var ies from engine
t o e ngine and m ay cha ng e ov er the li fe o f the en­
g ine . En gin es ten d to use more o il d uring the
b re ak -in perio d than they do aft erwa rd, when oil
c on sumption has stabilized .
Volkswage n reco mm en ds that you t o ch ec k the en ­
gin e oil lev el a t r egul ar int erv als , p re fe rably e very tim e yo u the ta nk, and always be fo re a long
Care, c leaning, maintenance

Checking engine coolant level and topping off
Fig. 13 1 Coolant expan sion tank in the engi ne
compartme nt.
Please first read and note the introduc­tory Information and heed the WARN ­on page 233.
Park the vehicle on level ground .
Always let the engine down
the engine hood in Introduction on
page 222.
There is a sy mbol on the cap of the engine coolant expans ion tank 132 .
Checking engine coolant
When the engine is cold , check the engine
coolant level relative to the marking on the side of the expansion tank 13 1.
the coolant level in the tank is below the mini ­
mum mark ("min"), add coolant. When th e engi ne is warm, the engine coolant level may be slig htly
above the upper edge of the marked range.
Adding engine coolant
Always protect face, hands and arms from hot
escaping coolant or steam by covering the cap
with a large , thick rag.
Carefully unscrew the cap
Add only new engine coolant according to
The engine coolant level must be inside the
marks on the side of the reservoir 131. Do not
236 cleaning, maintenance Fig.
132 Coola nt expansion tank cap in the eng ine
compa rtment.
Screw the lid tightly .
Even in an emergency , do not use any other kind of coolant additive if engine coolant meeting
add distilled water only As
soon as possible , have the correct coolant ratio re­
sto red using engine coolant that meet s
WARNING
Hot steam and hot engine coolant can cau se serious burns.
Neve r open the hood you see steam or coolant escaping from the engine compart­ment. Always w ai t until you no longer see or hea r steam or co olant escaping from the en­
gine .
opening the hood. Hot components will burn skin on contact.
Park (P) (automatic) or Neutral (manua l only).
- Take the vehicle key
out of the ignition.
-
veh icles with Keyless Access, make
sure that the remote control vehicle key is out of range of the vehicle and that the ve­hicle cannot be sta rted by depressing the
starte r button 44.
-
Always keep children and others away
from the engine compartment and never
l eave them unsupervised.

Introduction
this sec tion
b attery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Th e standard 12 vehicle battery is pa rt of the
veh ic le electr ical sys te m .
N ever do any wor k on
the ve hic le elec trica l system
unl ess you
know ho w to carry out the job ,
have the correct te chn ical infor m ation an d the
p roper an d
are familiar with t he necessary safety
Faci li ty .
Meaning
A lways w
ear eye pro tec tion !
B attery acid is highl y co rrosive.
ces hydrogen gas whic h is highly
away from
Warra nty an d Maint enance
283
238 Care, cleaning, maintenance
Working on the batteries or the tem in your vehicle can cause serious acid
burn s, fires , explosions , or electrical shocks. read and heed the and safety precaution s before working on the batteries or the
switch off the ignition and
cable from the standard 12
always
switch off the light first.
batteries in
wear eye protection . Never contact with your eyes, skin, or clothing.
battery acid is very corrosive.
ness. wear protective gloves and eye
protection . To reduce your risk of injury, er acid through the vents and burn you.
you get battery acid in your eyes or on your skin , immediately rinse w ith water for minutes and then get immediate attention.
disconnect th e negative ( -) first and then the tive
switch off consumers
before reconnect ing the 12 batt eri es. connect th e cable(+) first and then the
n egative cable(-). Never reverse the polarity of the c onnections. Thi s
explo sive mixture of ga ses is en off when the battery is being charged.
e quipm ent. Never short circuit the battery terminals . High-ener-gy spark s can cause serious personal injury.

Fig. 133 the engi ne compartment: Remove the
cover from the vehicle battery.
first read and note the tory information and heed the on page 238.
of the battery if th e vehicle has high in with a
warm a nd if the vehicle has an
Prepare the for work in the engine pa rtm ent 222
the engine hood in Introduction on
page 222
With a hard cover: Press on the 133 in direct ion of t h e arrow and remove the cove r upwa rd.
W ith a son cover: the cove r to the
side in th e direction of the arrow 1 34 .
Checking the vehicle battery acid
the lighting co nd it ions are poo r, use a so tha t you can see the ba ttery charge
indica tor and
The rou nd batt ery window on th e top of the battery ch anges
Care, cleaning, maintenance Fi
g. 134
cove ring of the vehic le battery .
Action cation
Battery
is too The vehicle battery may need to be Light yellow replaced. Have it chec ked by an or colorless thorized Volkswagen or an a uthor ized Volksw ag en
is sa tisfac-
tory.
Working on the batteries can cause serious acid burns, explosion, or
can burn unprotec te d skin and cause ne ss. and eye protection.
Never out of th e battery vents a nd burn you.
Never open a vehi cle battery .
you get battery acid in your eyes or on your skin, immediately rinse with water for several minutes and t hen ge t immediate
medical attention.
you any battery acid, get medi-

Charging,
on page 238.
Charging the vehicle battery
Vehicle batteries should be charged by an author­
ized Volkswagen dealer or an authorized Volkswa­
gen
because the factory -installed
battery requires a charger with overload protection
Replacing the vehicle battery
The battery in your vehicle is
batteries meet­
ing standards TL 825
electrical system, note the following :
off
Unlock the vehicle before disconnecting the
battery; otherwise the alarm system
Fir st disconnect the negativ e cable(-) and then the positive
Connecting the vehicle battery
Pr ior to reconnecting the battery , switch off electrical sys tems and devices and the ignition .
Connect the posit ive cable(+) first and then the
negative cable (-)
After the battery is connected and the ignition is
sw itched on, different indicator light s may come on. They should go out after you drive a short distance
ice Facility and have the checked.
th e ign ition not start after reconnecting the vehicle battery , lock the vehic le from the outside
and unlock it again. Then try to start the ignition
again.
lhe ignition cannot be switched on, con­
tact an authorized Volkswagen dealer, an author­
ized Volkswagen
o r another quali­
fied workshop for assistance.
Automatic electrical load deactivation
onboard electrical system management auto mati ­takes steps to help prevent battery drain.
The idle speed is increa sed so that the alterna­
t o r provides more power.
Th e power to devices that consume a lot of electricity is cut back or switched off completely.
When the engine is started, the power supply to the 12
Long periods when the engine is not running,
especially when the ignition is on .
Using electr ical sys tems or devices when the
engine is swi tched off. Leaving the
The selecto r lever is left for a long period of time in any position other than P when the ignition
is swi tched off =>page 175.
Failure to use th e proper battery with proper mounting and connection s may cause short circu its, fires, and serious persona l injuries.
Always use only maintenance-free or cy-
cle-free, leak-proof batteries with the sa me
s p ec ifications and dimensions as the original
equipment b attery. Specifications are listed
on the battery housing.
Wh en the vehicle battery is ch arged, it produ-
ces highly explosive hydroge n gas.
th e engine compartment

this se ction fin d i nfo rmation abo ut
Was hing the
244
Was hing with a power washer . . . . . . . . .
. . 245
Clea ning windows
and outs id e m irr ors . .
. . . . . 248
Caring for and cleani
ng chr ome and
a luminum parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 248
Care
of rubber door and window seals . . . . . . 249
Deicing door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Undercoati ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
C leani
ng the engine compartment . . . . . . . . . . 249
Regu la r
and expert care helps to preserve the value of your vehicle. Such expert care may
Limite d Warra nt y if corrosion repair or re pa int ing is necessary .
from your au­
thorized Vol kswagen deale r or Authorized
More information:
ca re and clea ning
the instructions and
care products containing solvents can
damage plastics and other vehicle the materi­
Wash the vehicle a t
fro m enteri ng the
storm drain sewer system. to was h motor
When buying vehic le care products , try to choose those that are not harmful to the envi­
ro nment.
Never throw ou t ordinary household waste. Always read and
h eed the instructions and on the
package .
Vehicle care and maintenance 243