oilhammer
Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Yeah, the few that are left.
"There was a day when manual transmissions were much more reliable than an automatic" Fletchman
They still are more reliable.
Two sons... two overheated TDI's. . .
They both knew they had leaks. (one at the plastic thermostat flange, the other in the middle of the outlet hose where it rubs against that rubber block that keeps it out of the fans). I nagged them both endlessly to get it fixed. They both drove anyway. Eventually; overheat resulted, in both cases. In the first case it was a catstrophic seize-up during rush hour. In the second case, apparently just quietly blew the head gasket.
(You know you've "arrived" as a father, when your son runs the car out of diesel on the freeway in Chicago, in 20-degree weather, pushes it the last 1/4 mile to the gas station, calls you long distance, and you talk him through a fill-up, buying a 17-mm crescent wrench so he can crack the nut on the #3 injector to bleed it and get it to start).
(Just wish he had fixed that outlet flange. The part was like what; $20?; + $80 worth of fresh G12 ).
I agree with the Camry idea; though the Toyota RAV4 was an awesome platform, because the kids sit up a bit higher, have better visibility, and can see where they're going better. And also a little better protected in collisions. Older RAV4's though are kind of in higher demand than camry sedans so they're a few hundred bucks more.
My daughter also overheated her RAV4, but that really wasn't her fault - the previous owner did a half-ass job on the TB, and didn't replace the water pump! That was my first head gasket replacement, and she got another 100k out of that truck before her dirtbag boyfriend "borrowed" it and wrecked it.
I love this story.Wow my daughter was driving and the hot light went on: she pulled over and turned off the car. Then she called me. My daughter grew up watching me work on cars and it must have paid off. On her car it was the water pump impeller that came apart.
I came to her place with tools and she did 95% of the work.
Taught the same daughter to drive a stick: foot off go pedal, let that clutch out without stalling, clutch in shift into 2nd. It took about 3 blocks and she had it figured out.
Of course her mother would fight with her and she would come out to the garage to commiserate and help me.
Especially the garbage 01M 4-speed automatic VW paired with the ALH motor. 02J 5-speed conversions were popular."There was a day when manual transmissions were much more reliable than an automatic" Fletchman
They still are more reliable.
Amen - best $3000 I ever spent on the car.... Took care of everything I didn't like about the car...."02J 5-speed conversions were popular" 20IdigoBlue02
Still are. Best thing I did when I got hold of my auto a year and a 1/2 ago.