The past week in Car repair

[kamzcab86]

There is no automotive joy here. Dropped the A6 off at the body shop this morning and was handed a Mitsubishi Galant as my rental. This car sucks, it has no soul and there is more plastic in 1 square inch than in all of Joan rivers face.

The Ford Mustang I had years ago as a rental was so god-awful I returned it (after driving it, I cannot understand why so many people praise that shitbox of a cheap sports car)... and was given a Taurus instead. But it sounds like your Goofus** is far worse!

**Anyone old enough to remember Highlights will remember the Goofus & Gallant cartoons, in which the Goofus character was the exact opposite of Gallant.

No car repair to speak of... only prettying up the van to take to Bugorama this past Sunday. I did, however, install its new license plate (oh, and new, redesigned hook-ups):



Came home with first place and a way cool trinket... which I'll show off elsewhere once I take a pic of it.

[Calimus]

Yea, I'm not a fan of the Mustangs of today either. I also had one as a rental in 08' when I went to Orlando on business. However, I did have a lot of fun with it. Turned off the overdrive and the traction control and that livened things up considerably. When I took it, it had 15 miles on it (they had gotten it in that very day) and when I brought it back a week later it had 400 or so miles on it and needed new rear tires.

The westy is looking great Kamz, congratz on 1st!

[Briano1234]

Farging rubber clutch switch bumpers......Daughter called, my car won't start.... Take her my car... Take the solenoid wire off and start the car drive it home, and have to take the seat out, as well as the clutch pedal assembly to replace the rubber stop that fell out... simple 2 minute fix, but to have to take the Pedal assembly down to get to it...BS.... I used a bolt on her brake pedal.. and clutch so it should last a while. Maybe i can get my car in the air long enough to look at the suspension... I think I have a inner tie-rod that is bad...

[CalAltaDubber]

Well, after a delay, I started to bring the bunnys home.

First on the list is Posh Bunny (only because it was parked in front).

Not taking any chances, I brought my air compressor along. That was a good thing because the left front tire was flat (only on the bottom). So pumped it up, removed the covers, put the battery in and trned the key.

Started right away. But it seemed to run a little rough. Did another once over of the engine and noticed the #4 spark plug wire was off. doh!

Hooked it up and she ran great.

Tomorrow night is the same process to get Topless Bunny home.

[eric4321]

I finaly drove my Cabby for the first time since November! I feal like I just about gave her a comlete overhaul. What started as a fuel leak ended up in my droping the engine and trans becuase I found a trans leak. I changed every seal on the engine and trans, installed ARP head studs(great product worth the $ imho), insalled the rubber gasket with windage tray on the oil pan, rubber valve cover gasket, all new mounts from BFI, all new clutch parts/lw flywheel, did a power steering delete, changed rear axel bushings and brakes, and replaced all the rubber fuel line on the car. I ordered a new top today and that should go on next weekend.

[CalAltaDubber]

Phase II of my plan went of really well. I went to bring Topless Bunny home last night. It was a little dirty from sitting in the barn even though it was coverd up (same as Posh Bunny). Any how I removed all the covers and installed the battery. gave a quick look around the engine (yes all the spark plug wires were connected this time) and turned the key.

She sprang to life as if it was only parked there a couple of hours ago.

Driving it home was a little sketchy though. For storrage, I replace the wheels with four space saver wheels. There are perfect for the purpose, but driving any distance on them is crazy. Good thing the barn is only three km from my house.

Now I have to prepare the two bunnys for the summer.

[Briano1234]

Well the Green Cabby lost the water pump belt on 400. Daughter got it off the road, no damage done, but had to cut the power steering belt off as I couldn't get it loose to put on the new wp/a/c belt.

Then there was the proverbial spray of a/f everywhere, so I could of sworn that the Jug took a crap, so I replaced it and the cap.

[Calimus]

Well, at least it wasn't the timing belt Brian. Nothing really to report here. Not going to BAP this year due to house cat that's gotten so old he needs to eat every few hours. However, tomorrow I'll be putting a new cv boot on the beetle. Have to tear the outer joint off to do it which is an all new thing for me. I've replaced many a cv axle, but never torn one apart. At least it's something new.

[Calimus]

So, it looks like I got another dose of Brian's Irish Luck. Cristine is going to be taking the Beetle on a trip to Fl next month and I noticed that the CV boot split on the drivers CV axle so I figured I'd take care of that and do an oil change this weekend. An that's where things went wrong. I ordered a boot kit which came in no problem and so I set to task Saturday morning.

Getting the axle out should have been simple, however, the tie-rod end broke free inside the ball joint. This leaves you with a stud that just spins as you try to loosen the nut. So out comes the zizz-wheel and a trip to the parts store for a new tie-rod end. Got the axle out and tore it down. Cleaned the joint & repacked it with new grease and when to put it back together with the new boot (this is the outer joint BTW). Third hammer blow an that's where I screwed the pooch. I had the shaft in the vice, left hand holding the joint onto the shaft, right hand with the hammer (tried a dead blow first, but it wasn't working out so I switched to a 5lbs mini sledge). Me left hand twitched and I ended up striking on he edge of the threaded ends and screwed the threads...bad. Back to the parts store, new axle ordered. Didn't mess with a rebuilt one, just got a new one. Had to wait till today for it to come in. Picked it up after work and put it in without any more issues. Great, now on to the oil change which went fine till I tried to remove the filter. I was using a strap style filter wrech which broke at the wrong time sending my left hand right into the block. Now it looks like I got into a fist fight as I have three shredded knuckles. Broke out the metal filter wrench and finished the job while bleeding all over everything. Crawl under the car to give everything a once over and notice that both boots on the passenger side cv axle have also dry-rotted

So, another axle will be in the post. I can't complain too much though. The car was originally from Florida so the boots rotting is rather expected and at least they hung on till 92k. This prompted me to check the A6 though since it's at 168k. Thankfully, all 8 boots are in mint condition.

[Briano1234]

oh shit

[Briano1234]

ok, drivers side wheel bearing, ball joint tie-rod end and strut. The Drivers side head light blew out on low, so that is going to be changed tomorrow, along with the Strut, ball joint and Tie-rod on the passenger side.

[Briano1234]

Ok, I finally did the passenger side and it was fighting me... Forgot that I had changed the lower frame so all I had to do was unbolt the old ball joint, sweet.
Put the strut all together and changed the ball joint, so I went to hang the strut and got the first nut caught, and the press bolt fell out of the other side.
So I pressed it back in, and dam, fell out when hanging it again so should I go waste an hour getting a new one, or pull out the Wire welder....... ZAAPPPPPP welded both of then just in case.
Sprayed the weld with black primer.

The Tie-rod wouldn't seat to tighten, it just spun and spun so I cocked the wheel and smacked it with a MBFH (medium big frigging hammer), which must of scared it in to submission as it tighten right up....

So tomorrow go get it aligned.....

[Calimus]

Guess I need to get a MBFH since my BFH didn't get the same result with the tie rod end on the beetle a few weeks back. No new car work for me. Cristine has the Beetle in Fl and I've just been relaxing the last few days. However, after she gets back, I'll be replacing the CV axle on the pass side of the Beetle, but that should be pretty simple.

[Briano1234]

Got the alignment done today, and it drives so nice........ but the passenger side rear axle is out, and I am gonna have to shim, or replace the stub.

[Briano1234]

fArging Pisson Nathfider blew the by-pass hose, and it was a beatch to get to, 2 sprint clamps that the clamp were spun backwards, then the hose was only 4 inches long with a 90 in the middle. It was behind the timing belt cover and sandwiched in by the t-stat housing, and Distributor.... Plus taking the a/c pulley bracket fan, and shroud off. It was as much fun as the caravans, by-pass hose... Now I know why I love rabbits......