The past week in Car repair

[kamzcab86]

No work on the Cab other than plugs and oil change over the past few months.

The Jetta, however, had its control arm bushings replaced this week... by an indy VW shop. What they did in one hour would've taken me all day... and that's if I had the tools to do the job. When I got home I began the fun (NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!) project of replacing the HVAC control unit (Bentley makes it sound so simple): Out came the glove box, the front center console, front ashtray, the lower dash panels, the entire assembly that houses the radio, cupholders and HVAC control unit (Bentley didn't mention that I needed to remove that thing)... and I had to remove the center armrest, rear cupholder and ashtray just so I could pull the console extension back in order to remove the actual center console (Bentley didn't mention that either)! All because a very small piece of plastic broke inside the fan switch (I, naturally, took the old unit apart). Speaking of plastic breaking, the morons who designed the right side dash panel failed miserably... the tips of all 3 plastic clips broke upon removal of the panel. Anyway, it's all back together (went back together a helluva lot easier than it came apart)... everything was detailed before re-installation, and most importantly, the fan is back to blowing air!! Oh, in the process I became 22 cents richer, and if I had a time machine I could go back to the year 2000 and claim a free medium drink at In-N-Out. Gotta love finding crap that falls out of the crevices.

[Calimus]

Axles & Hvac controls oh my. Glad you folks got those items taken care of.

Nothing much going on here car wise. The New Super Turbo Beetle ate a coil pack on Friday, but it's kinda like knowing you will be putting gas in the car every week, you know the coil packs are going to fail. Had it replaced on Saturday and off and running.

Outside of that, I've just had a lot of family stuff going on. Great Uncle is in the hospital, Aunt is in the Hospital and even Cristine did a few hours in the ER the other night. Been a hell of a few weeks and I'm just ready for all the family + hospital crap to be over will so I can get some sleep.

[Briano1234]

DAm, and I thought I had a bad week. The Daughter called as I was fetching parts in Buford... "Dad, the car went "pop" and we stopped and the rear tire is hissing badly." "What did you run over?" I inquired. "Nothing Daddy Nothing...., and it is the same tire as the last time" (three weeks old).

"Well Change it!" "but Daddy I am wearing a dress".....

Get the part, drive by the house, Take a tire off my Cabby, and drive it and the hydraulic jack to the Perimeter Mall..Change the tire, take her tire to the Tire Shop, and there is a small bolt sticking out about 1/2 inch.... When they Break the tire off, it is a 6 inch long, 9/16 headed bolt that is a 1/2 in diameter......It went in the tire Head First.... go figure... I really think that she purposely aims for shit in the road.

[Calimus]

Brian, maybe you should install a nice electro-magnet in the front bumper. Only problem is, after it picked up everything she could possibly run over, it would drop it all at the first destination, and she would prollie drive over all of it at once upon departure.

Oh, as to the "I'm in a dress" comment. I solved that one. Buy a set of coveralls for them and pack it in the trunk.

[sixsracing]

My oldest daughter waits until 15 minutes into the Patriots game to call and tell me BOTH front tires (read 17" brand new Kumho's) are flat on her Jetta. She's 5 minutes from where she works (they have a compressor) and 5 minutes from home. Tells me they were not flat when she left. I change both with some 14" alloys I have laying around (sometimes I really love life) and bring her wheels and tires back to the shop. Put air in them and they hold for days before they get down to 10 PSI or so. Soooooooo they were not flat when you left work huh? No more 17's for that one, she just lost her cool wheels for the duration.

[Briano1234]

Well, I had to get another flat fixed yesterday, on the Oldsmobile.... Dam Nails.... Then a 8 hour car ride to Montgomery and back, we left at 4:00 didn't get there till 9:30, and the return took less than 2 hours.... Bumper to bumper from GA400 Nothlake mall, to dam near Lagrange.

I feel sorry for all those southsiders and the GA DOT fiasco on 85 south...........

[Briano1234]

Well daughter called, her cabby started to roll backwards when she was in gear with the brake on.......

So....
Tranny fluid was low.
Brake fluid okay, but decided to change the brakes (front pads).
The driver side really pithed meoff.
The upper caliper bolt stripped the head, and none of my "easy" outs worked, so I cut down the rubber boot, and clamped a baby vice-grips on it 3 smacks with a hammer it was loose... Didn't have the long bolt in my spare crap....
There are 15 golf/jetta/cabriolet at Pull-a-part,, and the first 4 were all stripped.
Finally got 2 long and 2 short bolts, then got a rubber boot, but when I got home I had the short boot vs the long one...
And the last thing that I found was that the axle bolt was loose..... so tighten torque... do other side which only took 15 minutes from jack up to jack down.... Go finger...

Then I found that one of the a/c mount bolts had backed out.... remove alt
loosen the a/c comp replace bolt,,,,, retighten.... a 50 minute job took 3 hours...ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[Calimus]

It never stops does it Brian?

You are definitly staying busy, thats for sure. Not too much in my area for a change. Fixed the coolant leak on the jetta. Turned out to be a worn out o-ring on the cooant temp sensor. Managed to get to it without having to tear the entire front end back off the car. So far, almost 24 hours later and no leaks. Hoping I finally have things licked.

Now I just have a few things to do to the Beetle in prep for the trip to Chicago over Xmas while we visit our daughter.

[sixsracing]

Lost all oil pressure in my wife's Lexus last week, defective WIX oil filter, never again. While I was fixing that, had the Beetle idling in the dead bay so that FBG could have a warm ride to work. When she left I looked over and saw the 6" oil slick it left behind. Ran out the door and flagged her down. The oil cooler seal had let go as they all do in sub-zero weather. Change that and get the car back to her by 2pm. Bring my daughter's Golf in to get my winter wheels and tires off and exchange them for 14" studded and guess what, her car is down on oil and has a good slick coming from the oil cooler. So I got to do two of those crappy things in less than 24 hours for FREE. I stock 3 oil cooler seals in my cabinet at all times.

[gull]

Heh, I hear you. Mine went out last year. Combination of old age and running the wrong oil grade for the weather. (Don't run 20W50 in the winter, duh.) Managed to get maybe two miles down the road before the oil pressure buzzer went off. Walking back I realized I could follow the trail all the way back to my parking space. Nowadays after I back out, I look at the parking space to make sure I'm not leaving anything behind.

[sixsracing]

The replacement o-rings are made of better material. You can tell the difference by looking for the two locating protrusions on the inside diameter of the o-ring. If they are not there then don't use it.

[Calimus]

Interesting to know about the oil cooler seal on the beetle. I need to go over ours to see how the 1.8t is setup and know where to check as we will be in Chicago for Xmas visiting our daughter at school. The car will prollie be parked most of the time we are there, so it's another thing to check when we go to head back south.

[Briano1234]

Interesting to know about the oil cooler seal on the beetle. I need to go over ours to see how the 1.8t is setup and know where to check as we will be in Chicago for Xmas visiting our daughter at school. The car will prollie be parked most of the time we are there, so it's another thing to check when we go to head back south.

Going to Chicago in the winter........ Pack warm......

[Calimus]

Thats no joke. I still have a good memory of winters in New York. So the theme for this trip is "layers"

[sixsracing]

My understanding is that only in extreme cold weather is it generally a problem. Chicago would probably qualify. In my opinion the Beetle is easier than the MkIII vehicles. Remove the filter, disconnect the two coolant lines, unscrew the large nut that holds the cooler on and it's in your hand. If you have any seapage at all around the cooler I would not hesitate to replace the o-ring. $4.00 part saves $2500.00 motor.