Posted on 11/29/2004 1:59:05 PM PST by Clive
My fella and I were going out of town. He was driving his "super reliable" car into which he pours nothing less than premium gas and synthetic oil and which, incidentally, is so much better and safer than my car that the two can never even be compared.
To boot, his car just got a tune-up and that became the launching point for a lecture about car maintenance habits and how I do not have any.
He should know. He's been working on my car all weekend. So blah, blah, I never check my oil (I forget), my tire pressure (um, my tire pressure measuring stick is broken), my radiator fluid (as if I even know where my radiator fluid is ...) and so on and so forth.
In fact, my car is in such shoddy shape, I should not even drive it anymore. Instead, I should just drive his car (which I'll simply refer to as super reliable from now on) but I have to remember not to start it in second gear because that WRECKS HIS CLUTCH.
In passing, my car-savvy fella mentioned that during his tune-up, the mechanic told him to consider replacing an ignition module or something of that sort. The mechanic, my fella concludes, is probably wrong and there is no problem with the car.
You should listen to the mechanic, I said, using up all the car advice I felt authorized to give. With your luck (he has the worst luck of anyone I know) the car will break down in the middle of a road trip and you'll be stuck there forever.
About 45 minutes later we were sitting on the side of the highway with the hazard lights on waiting for a tow truck.
That's right, Mr. Awesome-car-care-premium-gas-guy was digging around under the hood swearing and, to make matters worse, we gave the tow truck the wrong directions and were stranded for almost two hours at sub-zero temperatures in a car that would not start.
Two hundred bucks later, super reliable was in the shop and is there still, waiting for several hundred bucks worth of parts and labour.
In the meantime, the car's owner is driving my car (the one that does not have enough radiator fluid, the back doors do not open and is, overall, totally unreliable) to work.
Before I point out why this episode confirmed my attitude towards vehicles, consider this.
A couple of years ago I was driving my super junky K-Car along Highway 2.
I was just past Leduc when my tire seemingly exploded.
I pulled over, stupidly, on the left side of the highway and immediately realized I was stuck in the middle of six lanes of whizzing highway traffic.
I got out of the car, examined the tire (yep, it was flat) and pondered what to do next. I decided to walk to Nisku and call someone.
But before the traffic subsided for long enough to cross to the other side of the highway, some guy had already pulled over, put on my spare and asked me out for coffee.
Now I know I should learn how to change a flat and check my air tire pressure, but where's my incentive?
Obviously obsessive car maintenance, synthetic oil and all, does not eliminate breaking down on the side of the road.
Furthermore, if all of a sudden I learned to care about my spark plugs or my air filter, then so many guys would be deprived of the car-related lectures and rescues in which they secretly delight.
Besides, not knowing anything about cars means I generally listen to my mechanic when he says something needs to be fixed.
And let's face it, if it had been me driving ol' super reliable when it broke down, I could have got a ride back to town, and probably coffee, instead of trying not to die from the frost while waiting for the tow truck.
Save your breath. You're never gonna convince anyone of that, that doesn't already beleive it. I learned that years ago.
It still seemed to drive ok.
Other that it leaked out all it's power steering fluid. It pulls to the right and if I don't add fluid, it goes "thunkthunkthunk" and EEEEEEEEE.
And the ABS light keeps going on and off...
VW's are really easy to take care of. You'll need a set of ramps and don't forget to block your tires so it won't roll.
A good piece of cardboard to lay on wouldn't hurt.
hehehe...and the book was entertaining, too. I didn't get that far into working on the engine, but it was good to know that if push came to shove, I could rebuild that motor with little more than a hammer, a chisel, a screwdriver, and a crescent wrench. That little bug was a great car. My second Beetle was primarily for parts for the Ghia. I bought the Ghia for $250 (rebuilt engine), and always said I bought the engine, and they threw in the rest of the car for free. I sold the Ghia to a Volkswagen dealer for $400 (after owning and driving it for 3 years) to replace a '57 bug he had just finished restoring before his son took it out and rolled it. It had a gas heater in it that would drive you out of the car! When I ran that heater in the winter, I drove around with the windows down, and got an awful lot of weird looks for doing so. I miss that one, too.
goodness, I was reading what promised to be an interesting article when it just sort of died.
I was just out in Tucson for a few days a little over a week ago, and there are old early '60s bugs still being driven around on the streets there. I saw a lot of cars I haven't seen for a while. Here in Ohio, they rust away long before they wear out. Muir was from SoCal or Arizona, if I remember correctly.
Enjoy the book! I know there were several updates to it, he kept adding more for other models. Mine was the Bug-only version, can't remember what edition it was though.
"...had a girl convinced that her blinkers weren't working because she was low on 'blinker fluid'."
When I lived in Alaska and newbies came in from Texas to work the pipeline, we'd send them to the auto shop to have winter air put in their tires.
I just take my used oil to a local repair shop. They have no problem with me dumping it in their tank. I'd bet most shops are the same way.
I used to take the car in for oil changes, but the $30 price combined with the usual 30-minute wait started to irritate me.
Plus I always had to supply them a filter because the Ford-specified Motorcraft filter for my car has a silicone anti-drainback valve, and do you think the filter that Jiffy-Lube uses has a silicone anti-drainback valve? So if I was going to Wal-Mart to buy the filter, why not just buy 6 quarts of oil along with it and take care of the problem myself?
I have found that if I park my car so that the front wheels are just at the end of the inclined portion of the driveway, there's plenty of ground clearance to drain the oil and change the filter. (The driveway has an upward incline until about 3 feet from the garage where it's level)
Sounds like you've got a short somewhere in the circuit. I had a similiar problem with my old Celica.
I had bought it used and someone had put a wrong-amperage fuse (too high, like 10 in a 15 amp or something) in the horn/hazard/radio socket. I didn't think anything of it at the time.
It eventually blew so I replaced it with the same amp fuse that was in there. Then that one blew. So I put one more in there and the wiring started to smoke. I yanked the fuse out and ran for the fire extinguisher.
What had happened was that the horns were rusted out (low to the ground under the front bumper, on road-salted Vermont roads). The replacement of the wrong amperage fuse zorched all the wires in the front end of the car - cost me about $300 worth of rewiring work.
Moral of the story: 1) use the right amperage fuse, don't cheat and put a higher one in there, 2) if it blows, there's a good reason it did, 3) find the short....
LQ
I drive what is the equivilant to a hairdryer.
But if this broad wrecked my clutch by starting it in second gear all the time, I'd choke her for being so monumentally stupid.
I gotta get this fixed and get it sold so I can buy my midlife crisis Bug!
;-)
It's never blown a fuse since we bought it new...and we got the appropriate fuse according to the manual. It's something...just gotta find out what it is.
I actually knew a couple with a daughter who's name was Ginger Snapp.
I have no idea.... and I am not curious!
You know... I just don't think $30 is a high price to pay for $15 worth of oil and a $12 filter changed in 30 minutes while I keep my hands clean.
And 2J.... who I posted to, is a wacky enough chick that she might also really dig changing her own oil for the pure cathartic experience of it.... but it ain't for me. :~D
One thing I hate is that if I get it serviced and they have to take the wheels off they put the bolts back on so tight I can't crack them to get the wheel off if I had a flat.
What I do is after I get home pull the wheels off the car and put them back on again (with hubby's help) without using an air wrench on the bolts so I can get them off if I have to. They're still on tight, just not impossible.
LQ
That's the cause. This fuse (which is hot at all times) supplies power to the instrument cluster which in turn sends a vehicle speed signal to the powertrain control module (the computer) which controls the transmission.
In other words, when this fuse blows, it doesn't know how fast the vehicle is going, so it can't shift the transmission.
Let me continue to study this wiring diagram and I will get back to you with my ideas as to where the problem lies in just a little while.
I'll just be stuck on the side of the road with a dry radiator.
You must be the only one left that actually changes a flat. Most people just drive to the nearest station with the flat on the car.
LOL Now you're just flattering me...
Hair's met me in person...she knows me well enough to know that I'm pretty determined when I put my mind to something.
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