Wall of text about how bad of a car owner I am, followed by some questions.
I have a 2005 beetle TDI manual transmission model, and I'm the only owner of it. I recently hit 112k miles. Those miles are probably 70% freeway, and most of that freeway mileage done at 80-90mph.
My beetle has, I suspect, been a much better car than I deserve. I bought it new, tried to take good care of it, but as money got to be a tight and problematic issue, I had to start doing more of the maintenance myself.
Somewhere along the way I got the idea that all it really needed was semi regular oil changes.
Long story short, for a long time, (36k miles-now) I thought all I really needed to do was change my oil. I took it in for each service interval while under warranty, and requested the service attached to the milage. They didn't notate anything in the manual, and I didn't know/think to ask.
Things I have done for repairs and service.
Changed the oil* (we'll come back to this) and filter every 3-5k miles.
Changed engine air filter every 30k miles.
Changed cabin air filter at ~85K miles (and realized based on the specific
plant/tree debris in it, that it had probably not been changed ever.)
I changed my serpentine belt at around 90k (which is apparently 40k late), when I noticed some cracks on it.
I built a replacement wiring harness when the original glow plug harness failed.
Replaced those glow plugs then as well.
I built a little hose brace doohickey to hold the turbo high pressure hose in place when its aluminum nubs stopped holding it in place and paying $300+ for a hose was simply not on the table for me.
Replaced headlight and other bulbs bulbs when they (well one) died.
Replaced the battery when it died.
Replaced the starter after trying the re & re and finding it still unreliable and sluggish to start the car.
Replaced trunk and hood pistons. Hood because I ordered a set of all three, trunk because they stopped holding up the door. The self re-latching problem listed below existed long before that, and has continued unchanged since then.
I run various fuel injector and system cleaners in it periodically, as well as engine oil cleaners (seafoam) right before every few oil changes.
To my knowledge, it has never had, at least since I started maintaining it:
(AKA things that have not been done, that probably should have been)
The right oil.
I used random 10w-30 oils at first (for 20-40k miles), then read about the 505.01, never found any of that local, found an SAE 30w that was 505.00, thought that was right, and used that in the summers, and a 0w-40 that is also a 505.00 the rest of the time.
These were literally the only two oils I could find locally that even listed a VW spec. That had me swapping from pure synthetic back to petro every summer and back again, which I guess is probably also not good. I thought I was doing ok with that, it was only later when I looked at the manual that I realized that 505.00 was not what it said, and presumably 505.01 has more magic than the .00 standard.
brake pad or rotor replacements (I had the front wheels off last week and they look like they have a fair bit of life left still).
a fuel filter change
gearbox oil change (I did not even know this was a thing before this week, I thought the manual transmission used engine oil)
anything done with its water separator (not even sure what or where that is, but I saw it listed in the service intervals.)
brake bleed/fluid flush manual says I should have done this 5-6 times by now.
sunroof frame clean/lubrication. Sunroof works fine, but I didn't even know they needed that.
power steering fluid change/flush (I don't even know which is applicable)
anything done with its coolant
I am about to (but not set on it if there is a good reason I shouldn't) change the gearbox oil, and now I discover that no one around here can get the "right" 75w-90 gear oil, as they are all gl5 or gl4 and gl5, and apparently that isn't correct.
Current observable problems it has.
passenger side power lock very unreliable, mostly only works during the hottest weather, and stops working again when it gets below 90F. Acts like its a bit stuck or encountering some resistance that is lessened by heat.
driver side window can barely get up the last 6 inches without someone gripping both sides of the glass and lifting in conjunction with the window regulator trying to lift it. It also seems to work better in the heat, and also seems to be working against some resistance. In the cold ( since we have fairly cold winters) I don't even dare put it down for fear of not being able to get it back closed at all.
The bottom engine cover was ripped off when I had to take evasive action to avoid a head on with a semi. Ended up going over a curb fast enough to tear it mostly away. Never did get it fixed.
The power trunk re latches itself if you don't open it within about 1 second. As in, if you use the door control you'd better be FAST to jump back there and start lifting it.
The questions.
First, any thoughts on fixing the observable problems would be cool. They are for the most part not "cant drive" problems, so I have never given them enough attention.
Second, given that the car has about 72K miles with the wrong oil, in all seriousness, should I be concerned about finding a way to order the perfect correct oil? I would like the car to keep on kicking as long as it can, but at this point its hard to believe it makes as much of a difference as the manual implies.
Third, regarding what is probably the original gearbox oil. It shifts fine (I think), I have some 75w-90 gearbox oil that is listed as gl4/gl5. I have been unsuccessful at getting anyone locally to bring in a straight gl4 gear oil. Change it with what I have, or leave it, or order the redline or similar overpriced seeming gear oils? If leave it, how long? If change it, should I start checking it more often or is it good for another 20k miles?
Last and possibly most important, should I be doing the fuel filter (this one does not look at all easy in that tight beetle layout), and brake/power steering fluid changes or flushes? Part of me feels like "why mess with something that has worked just fine for so long?" and the rest of me thinks that part of me is an idiot.
So yeah, I suck at owning a car. I want to be better at it, but am kind of wondering if there is any point in trying to fix what fluids I use at this point.
I have a 2005 beetle TDI manual transmission model, and I'm the only owner of it. I recently hit 112k miles. Those miles are probably 70% freeway, and most of that freeway mileage done at 80-90mph.
My beetle has, I suspect, been a much better car than I deserve. I bought it new, tried to take good care of it, but as money got to be a tight and problematic issue, I had to start doing more of the maintenance myself.
Somewhere along the way I got the idea that all it really needed was semi regular oil changes.
Long story short, for a long time, (36k miles-now) I thought all I really needed to do was change my oil. I took it in for each service interval while under warranty, and requested the service attached to the milage. They didn't notate anything in the manual, and I didn't know/think to ask.
Things I have done for repairs and service.
Changed the oil* (we'll come back to this) and filter every 3-5k miles.
Changed engine air filter every 30k miles.
Changed cabin air filter at ~85K miles (and realized based on the specific
plant/tree debris in it, that it had probably not been changed ever.)
I changed my serpentine belt at around 90k (which is apparently 40k late), when I noticed some cracks on it.
I built a replacement wiring harness when the original glow plug harness failed.
Replaced those glow plugs then as well.
I built a little hose brace doohickey to hold the turbo high pressure hose in place when its aluminum nubs stopped holding it in place and paying $300+ for a hose was simply not on the table for me.
Replaced headlight and other bulbs bulbs when they (well one) died.
Replaced the battery when it died.
Replaced the starter after trying the re & re and finding it still unreliable and sluggish to start the car.
Replaced trunk and hood pistons. Hood because I ordered a set of all three, trunk because they stopped holding up the door. The self re-latching problem listed below existed long before that, and has continued unchanged since then.
I run various fuel injector and system cleaners in it periodically, as well as engine oil cleaners (seafoam) right before every few oil changes.
To my knowledge, it has never had, at least since I started maintaining it:
(AKA things that have not been done, that probably should have been)
The right oil.
I used random 10w-30 oils at first (for 20-40k miles), then read about the 505.01, never found any of that local, found an SAE 30w that was 505.00, thought that was right, and used that in the summers, and a 0w-40 that is also a 505.00 the rest of the time.
These were literally the only two oils I could find locally that even listed a VW spec. That had me swapping from pure synthetic back to petro every summer and back again, which I guess is probably also not good. I thought I was doing ok with that, it was only later when I looked at the manual that I realized that 505.00 was not what it said, and presumably 505.01 has more magic than the .00 standard.
brake pad or rotor replacements (I had the front wheels off last week and they look like they have a fair bit of life left still).
a fuel filter change
gearbox oil change (I did not even know this was a thing before this week, I thought the manual transmission used engine oil)
anything done with its water separator (not even sure what or where that is, but I saw it listed in the service intervals.)
brake bleed/fluid flush manual says I should have done this 5-6 times by now.
sunroof frame clean/lubrication. Sunroof works fine, but I didn't even know they needed that.
power steering fluid change/flush (I don't even know which is applicable)
anything done with its coolant
I am about to (but not set on it if there is a good reason I shouldn't) change the gearbox oil, and now I discover that no one around here can get the "right" 75w-90 gear oil, as they are all gl5 or gl4 and gl5, and apparently that isn't correct.
Current observable problems it has.
passenger side power lock very unreliable, mostly only works during the hottest weather, and stops working again when it gets below 90F. Acts like its a bit stuck or encountering some resistance that is lessened by heat.
driver side window can barely get up the last 6 inches without someone gripping both sides of the glass and lifting in conjunction with the window regulator trying to lift it. It also seems to work better in the heat, and also seems to be working against some resistance. In the cold ( since we have fairly cold winters) I don't even dare put it down for fear of not being able to get it back closed at all.
The bottom engine cover was ripped off when I had to take evasive action to avoid a head on with a semi. Ended up going over a curb fast enough to tear it mostly away. Never did get it fixed.
The power trunk re latches itself if you don't open it within about 1 second. As in, if you use the door control you'd better be FAST to jump back there and start lifting it.
The questions.
First, any thoughts on fixing the observable problems would be cool. They are for the most part not "cant drive" problems, so I have never given them enough attention.
Second, given that the car has about 72K miles with the wrong oil, in all seriousness, should I be concerned about finding a way to order the perfect correct oil? I would like the car to keep on kicking as long as it can, but at this point its hard to believe it makes as much of a difference as the manual implies.
Third, regarding what is probably the original gearbox oil. It shifts fine (I think), I have some 75w-90 gearbox oil that is listed as gl4/gl5. I have been unsuccessful at getting anyone locally to bring in a straight gl4 gear oil. Change it with what I have, or leave it, or order the redline or similar overpriced seeming gear oils? If leave it, how long? If change it, should I start checking it more often or is it good for another 20k miles?
Last and possibly most important, should I be doing the fuel filter (this one does not look at all easy in that tight beetle layout), and brake/power steering fluid changes or flushes? Part of me feels like "why mess with something that has worked just fine for so long?" and the rest of me thinks that part of me is an idiot.
So yeah, I suck at owning a car. I want to be better at it, but am kind of wondering if there is any point in trying to fix what fluids I use at this point.