Got a new car

Well I did it.  Bit the bullet and, after thinking about lots of different possibilities, decided to go with what I know:

2013 VW Golf TDI with tech package.  It took me a while to find one, but as I learned from my last car, if you don't get what you want the first time, you'll spend the rest of your ownership trying to add it (and in many cases you still won't get it).

Here are some of the many features:

• Heated seats (my previous car didn't have this and I regretted it for 12 years.)
• Xenon headlights with "follow" action
• LED DRLs
• 17" rims
• Dual power seats
• Nav, SDcard slot
• Bluetooth smartphone integration
• Sunroof
• DSG transmission (basically a standard transmission that is robotically automated)

It's going to take me a year or two just to get a handle on what is in this car.  I apparently have the RNS315 radio, which is different from the RNS516, but is apparently now standard on the tech package, I'm guessing because it's a little cheaper(?). This is the kind of stuff I am dealing with.

The only mod I've done so far is to rewire the lighter outlets so they are "always hot".  The new VW's have apparently finally gone to the dark side of shutting off the 12V outlets when the key is off.  It was driving me absolutely bonkers because every time I turned the car off my phone would reset, not to mention the fact that the battery wouldn't charge unless I left the ignition on.  I don't understand how the rest of the world can tolerate this.  My guess is that all the car manufacturers have gone to this standard because a few people managed to keep killing their car batteries, or starting fires.  Luckily it was pretty easy to rewire - no cutting wires, soldering, or even removal of any trim.  I am thinking about putting out a kit on eBay in case anyone else wants to do this.  If this sounds good, please let me know so I can gauge the interest level.

I'll be posting in the future with more details, but here are my (really) early impressions:

• It's fast, but laggy (stomping it from stop = almost 3 seconds delay before launching)
• Handling, on the other hand, is amazing - responsive yet very refined
• Car tech has come a long way in the 12 years since I bought a car.
• God help me if I ever have to fix this thing.

And for anyone who has this question on their mind, no I'm not planning to convert it to run on SVO. 

My 2002 Golf is for sale. It is clean, and, of course running the best it ever has.  I will miss it (almost as much as I will miss not having any car debt).  But I will have a LOT more free time. 

Emergency repair after brake caliper cease

Happened a little while ago now, but I didn't get a chance to write about it.  The driver's side brake caliper had been dragging for quite some time.  After a trip the wheel would be extremely hot.  I'd been planning to deal with it some weekend, but when I noticed some brake fade, I had to do something.  I ordered a new hub on a hunch, and it turned out to be a good call.

Driver side rear end torn all the way down after the components were damaged from high heat.

The caliper pins had frozen up causing the brake to be stuck on.  The pads were worn down to nothing.  The heat caused the tone ring (associated with the ABS sensor) to warp.  Since the tone ring is integrated with the hub, I had to replace the entire hub assembly.  

While I was in there I also replaced the splash shield (shockingly, the dealership had this item in stock!  The first time ever). So the whole process went like this:

• Remove wheel
• Remove brake caliper
• Remove rotor
• Remove hub nut (after locating my old VW hub nut socket!)
• Pull hub assembly (used jaw pullers)
• Unbolt stub axle
• Get the &*@#$!ing bearing race off without damaging the stub axle (I used air chisel.  It was fast but delicate work.)
• Replace splash shield
• Reinstall stub axle
• Install new hub
• Install new hub nut
• Reinstall rotor (it was only a little warped, acceptable).
• Repair and grease caliper pins
• Reinstall caliper
• Install new brake pads
• Install wheel

I did this all in under 2 hours, as I needed to get my car back on the road in a hurry so I could return the trailer I had borrowed.  Then I finished building a deck. 

On a philosophical note.

I've spent a lot more time this summer working on my house instead of the car.  The work wasn't really that hard (I didn't have to figure out how to drill out a single rusty bolt), and now we have a beautiful kitchen and a new deck.  I have a great feeling of accomplishment and something that I can share with our friends and family.  Really got me thinking. If I put half the amount of labor I put into my car into my house, I would end up with something that is actually worth money in the end.  Meanwhile, my car just sucks money and time and, if I'm lucky (and determined enough), I am left with a car that will get me around.  I looked at my car log, and the amount of money I've been putting into it for parts alone would pretty much justify the payments on a $20K auto loan.  Add to that the fact that I'm really getting tired of dropping everything so I can lose an entire morning, afternoon, day, or days working on my 12-year-old car.  Even though I love my car, I think the time has come for me to trade up to something that I can "just drive".  When I got my Golf TDI, they were very difficult to come by, but the new ones are pretty easy to find and absolutely drool-worthy.  I've also considered getting a Prius, as they are loaded with tech opportunity.  They get similar mileage, but they run on gas which is cheaper than diesel (at least it has been for about 10 years).  I wouldn't have the option of running on vegetable oil, but it's been quite a while since I've done that, and I probably won't have time to do it again.

Anyway, just something I'm considering.  I'm not in a hurry to do anything yet, and as it happens it looks like the crop of cars I found interesting on Craigslist has sort of dried up.  Meanwhile. my inspection is due and I have a coolant temp sensor to replace.  So for now, tune into the next episode!

Seal replaced, back on the road!

Last night things moved ahead considerably.  I was very happy to see that the replacement seal arrived priority mail (from idparts.com - they've never done me wrong) on Monday, after I ordered it on Friday night.  I also went out and found a seal puller (similar to the one pictured) at Sears, of all places.  None of the regular auto parts stores carry this thing for some reason.

The elusive seal puller I finally obtained.

Bye Bye, 5th Gear

It had to have been within 10 minutes of my staring at the odometer, marveling at the nearly 199,000 miles I had wracked up on my VW Golf and thinking how trouble-free the car had lately been, when my cruise control disengaged, and the car started to do the all-too-familiar "death coast".  Without thinking or trying anything else, I immediately turned on my four-way flashers and started moving into the breakdown lane -scoping the distance to the next rest area.

Diesel Haulin'

In the final days before the snowstorm, I managed get my act together and squeeze in the acquisition of half a cord of wood.  

Pre-Winter, Auto Mechanic Intermission

I've been fortunate to have had a pretty long break from playing home auto mechanic, but lately things have been wracking up quite a bit, and for a number of reasons, I had to take action.  The most recent project was on my 2002 VW Golf TDI (for more about this car, you can have a look at my old blog, Veggie Golf).  I was going to hold off, but the oil building up in the driveway was an indication that I really needed to get on it.

Items to fix:  Leaking cam seal, timing belt replacement (maintenance interval reached), rear brake rotors and pads, and a few other odds and ends.  When I got into the timing belt cover, it was pretty clear the cam seal was doing very little to keep the oil in the engine.

This is the lower timing belt compartment after I cleaned it up a lot. 

Any doubts were sufficiently quelled when I drained the oil from the crankcase, and got about 2 qts. max out of it.  This is dangerously low, especially for a diesel, and even more especially for a turbo equipped engine.  Feeling lucky, I went ahead and ordered the parts for the timing belt change, including belts, tensioners, and bolts.  Most of the operation went pretty smoothly, although I don't remember ever having so much trouble getting the engine mount bracket in/out.  I probably spent about 2 hours screwing around with that thing alone.

The new cam seal went in pretty easily.  The old one didn't seem damaged, but rather appeared to have come unseated from the camshaft somehow.  I didn't spend too much time worrying about it, but I paid close attention to how I put the new one on.  All back together now, have to pressure wash the engine bay and then off to the muffler shop to fix the broken flex joint, which is causing exhaust to go into the car.  All told, probably about a 10 hour job for me (I'm definitely out of practice).