Zippy_car
Trouble Maker
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2005
- Location
- Farm country, Sacramento, CA region
- TDI
- Previously:'02 Jetta. Now: '13 Subaru XV Crosstrek!
Moving myself from Coventry, RI to Palo Alto, CA - estmiated 4,500 miles! 
i will update this thread as things progress and when i can add pictures, i will!
I've been on the road for 9 days now, and for the most part things have been going smoothly. I left on Friday, april 5th from Rumford, RI after attending a most amazing first Friday GTG hosted by the new england sector! (thanks again, one and all) After the GTG I drove to New Haven, CT for the night. TDIClub member SSTDI was kind enough to open his house up to me for the evening (thanks again, Matt). That layover gave me a 2 hour head start in the morning. On Saturday, the 6th, i departed Matt's and had breakfast with two other friends in New Haven. They supplied me with a hearty breakfast and tunes to get me thought the first few hours of my trip, at least. The day went well and I was able to make it all the way though to Roanoke, VA (estimated 539 miles)- but not without cursing the conditions of 95S in NY, yikes! Roanoke was a pleasant stop and a jumping off point for a easy 6 hour jaunt to Nashville, TN.
Easter sunday i stayed in a motel in Nashville across from the Grande Ole Opry hotel. I spoiled myself and ate dinner at the most expensive restaurant in the hotel, where they wined and dined me lavishly! I had an amazing filet minion with the best steak fries (covered in fresh grated parmisian cheese and spices), golden mashed potatoes, and a never ending glass of Pelligrino spring water. Dessert was a Gadiva chocolate soufflet - complimentary as they didn't have the dessert i wanted, b/c the chef didn't like the way they came out, so he tossed them all in the trash! All in All it was a beautiful visit to the Grand Ole Opry hotel with georgous gardens, giant waterfalls, and fountain shows in the evening.
The next morning was a long trip through some back roads of Arkansas. When i first entered that state, i feared for my safety, as it was not a very welcoming state to be entering, or so it seemed, even the "welcome center" wasn't welcoming - dirty, smelly, run-down looking.... needless to say i tried to get out of AR as soon as i could. Although i did take AR Rt. 79 from the state border to Shreveport, LA (est. 600 miles). And the rt was a nice drive in the second half. I've discovered that taking the secondary routes really gives you perspective on what a particular state can be like (at least from a superficial perspective) A poor looking state with many run down homes and trailors, and farms as far as the eye could see on the first leg of the rt 79 trip. Rather nerve wracking for a girl who's used to sticking to the primary highways. The second half however was very nice with a tree lined road set at 70mph and cute little towns to stop in - although, not many of them sold diesel at their fuel stations! Once in Shreveport i stayed at an uber-sketchy motel where i didn't sleep much at all, and was awake most of the night wondering what every sound was. But i made it through unscaved to make it the 8 hours to San Antonio, TX to the best B&B money can't buy - also via Rt 79 (est. 450 miles)!
Welcoming arms greeted me at Aunt and Uncle home in San Antonio, TX where i promptly emptied my car of all essential items and tried to take a nap, to no avail. They not only had an amazingly comfy bed, but also Wireless internet!!! i was able to check on the major amounts of email and private messages from people and respond accodrdingly, caught up on my bills, and took care of some things, as well as planned my next method of attack - Rt 10 west to El Paso and beyond. While in San Antonio, I discovered my first mechanical gliche - my Air conditioning no longer works! YIKES! of all times to discover this... oh well. i ate some good home cooked food, slept really well, and was able to take advantage of all the comforts of home! It was a much appreciated break for both me and the car. The car got a bath to clean off all the bugs and road grime, got some new torx screws to hold up a sagging belly pan, and got a full fluid inspection. she was a happy camper for the most part. After her bath, i decided to take her over to downtown San Antonio to get her picture taken at a classic historic monument - the Alamo! (pictures to come later - i promise!)
The next major leg in the trip was to head towards Pagosa Springs, CO so I could meet up with some TDIClub members having a GTG in that area - I got there via El Paso, TX, which i drove through very quickly and made excellent time getting to. I carried on to stop in Socorro, NM (est. 741 miles). cute town, kinda pops up on ya as your driving through the most amazing scenery that I had seen up until that point. The Rocky mountains from the begning/ending point of eruption from the earths surface. Beautiful. Red rock, scrub bush, open land as far as the eye could see. wow. pictures don't do it justice. The day after stopping in Socorro - i had to make a decision to try to get up to CO after the Denver area and southeast CO had gotten slammed with blizzard-like conditions. It turned out that the snow storm had barely clipped the area that i was going to visit, so i started up. However, this leg of the trip was destined to not be easy. On my way up to Pagosa springs (about 6 hours from Socorro) my car had developed a loud, deep humming and fine vibration. i tried a couple of different things along the way (tightening lugs, checking various compnents, etc) and nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. I made it all the way up to Chama, NM (est. 243 miles)- the last little mountain town in NM before you hit the CO border and decided that my cars noises were too much and i had to check a few other things. I pull into a gas station and have them put my car on their lift to take a look underneath, and much to my dismay found CV axle lubricant oozing from the CV boot. Well I called MrChill back east and descirbed it to him, he said he thought it might be the axle was busted and the bearing might be ready to overheat and sieze, so i shouldn't drive it if i could avoid it. Very sound advice! Well, I called bikeprof (john) up in Pagosa Springs and asked for help. the Co contingent tried to come up with many options for getting both myself and the car there safely (as there wasn't a mechanic in Chama that could help me out). Needless to say i spent the night in Chama and called a tow truck via AAA in the morning. They towed my car up to the GTG in Pagosa (est 47 miles), and $351.25 later, my car was in the garage getting checked out. I had my front axle checked out, and all seemed well - minus the spewing lubricant. CV boot is not perferated and is still intact. Lube seems to be spewing forth from the braket that hold it, possibly from overfilling when it was rebuilt. but not damaged. *whew* the secondary diagnosis from Jeff - rocketchip, was that the wheel bearings were shot, as the noise went away depending on the direction the wheel was turned. Well, i had my two front wheel bearings replaced, and that didn't solve the problem. matter of fact they were in perfectly good shape! And because the garage we were the GTG was held didn't have insurance to cover anyone else doing the work to their car, they ended up doing the work costing me another $533.15! (total so far: $884.40). We ended up staying at the GTG and closing out the shop around 5pm - still with no solution to the humming noise. So I drove my car to John's house (6.5 miles) and parked it in his garage to be looked at at on sunday.
Now this brings me to today's events... today Jeff was kind enough to look at my car once more and try a few new things - like moving the motor back to center, as it had wiggled it's way to the far right and was slightly off center. That didn't work, so he then lifted the back end and inspected the rear wheel bearings, and... as to be expected one of them was in pretty bad shape! The driver side rear bearing was fine, but the passenger side rear bearing was griding and not moving as fluidly and freely as it should have been. so he took it apart to inspect it, and low and behold the bearing and hub assmbly have suffered some damage. the race is chipped and discolored from loose ball bearings knocking into it and chipping away at the hard metal, and the ball bearings sitting inside the hub had a broken spacer with plastic chips imbedded in the bearing lube and causing the bearings to grind and knock together in their seats. some damage was also done to the hub from the bearing casing and debris and there was a missing dust cover which allowed all the dirt and debris from the outside, to get into the bearing. how i'm missing that part is still unknown! not a happy bearing or hub assembly. so it's now sunday, and nothing is open and no one in Pagosa Springs, CO has VW parts - they all have to be special ordered and can't get here until at least Wednesday, and will only be shipped to the next closest city of Durango (50 miles west of Pagosa). so i made a few calls to some people back east and am waiting to see what the news is on some parts and delivery times.
However, while i'm here in Pagosa i've met some awesome people, seen Pagosa, sat in a hot spring - that was... interesting..., took a drive to Durango (cute little tourist town - i like it!), and learned a lot about my car.
so, My trip has been delayed at this point, but i am ok and have a place to stay with bikeprof for now (thanks, dude!). I don't know how much longer i'll be here - i'm hoping not much longer, as i'd like to get back on the road to complete the trip. I'll keep everyone posted on what's going on and will update on the rest of my trip as things progress. I'm almost to CA - about 1,000+ miles to go - 2/3. it could have been worse. I'm in a better position here than i was in Chama!
so far, estimated milage total: ~3,100 miles (with side trip and such calcutlated in - estimates are from google and are not completely accurate. i'll try to get more accurate caluclations later, and factor in the fuel costs. With my car as loaded down as it is and factoring in wheel bearing issues - I'm getting an estimated 38mpgs, or around 550 miles/tank. well see if fixing the issue helps the mpgs later on!
thanks to everyone for their support and concern. I'll keep this post updated as i carry on and, again, will add pics when i can (can't get net to work on my laptop, at the moment, at johns house).
***Edit/update***
Well, after 13 days of being on the road I finally arrived in Palo Alto, CA on Thursday april 19th at 9pm. I promptly colapsed in bed, after several trips up 4 flights of stairs unpacking my car. But.. here's the rest of the story...
So I ended up staying in Pagosa Springs, CO for 4 days and recieved my parts (rear bearing/hub assembly, bently manual, spindle, and dose of sanity overnighted from the East Coast - THANK YOU TDIPARTS!). After a quick assembly and test drive, to make sure that all was well, I promptly repacked my car to distribute the weight a little more evenly and packed my things to continue the journey. The following morning, I headed west on the most direct route to CA - took 160w to 40w, to 58w, to 101!
On the continued trip west I was able to stop at the 4 corners monument on rt. 160W - litlerally a random monument on the top of a plateau in the middle of nowhere! I took many pictures to add to the list when i get my laptop back online). Then I carried on through the state of AZ. I don't have much to say about this state, other than my car really did not appreciate the 50 mph sand blasting it took while going through the Navajo Reservation. It' just not a state for me - both times i've been there. My shiny headlights have been horribly clouded as a result and there's all sorts of sand where it doesn't belong. Not a fan of sand storms. But... I digress. After trying to get through the resrvation with my clear coat intact, i managed to make it to the Grand Canyon's Southern Rim in time for sunset at 7pm. amazing. Granted, the canyon looks just like a hugely sureal big hole in the ground, but the colors on the rock from the sunset were beautiful. that night i was able to make it withing 60 miles of the CA border!
The next morning I awoke early to pack up and eagrly get on the road. I made it to the CA border inside of an hour and Celebrated in the cabin of my car by doing a little car dancing and sending a mass Text message. My trip through CA was relatively uneventful. Straight, Flat, and rather boring... until i got to the farside of Bakersfield.... and then I had to go through the mountains that I had been staring at for so long....
74 miles of nonstop twisties on route 58, on a rear bearing that I was completely paranoid about, and a car that was fully loaded. i did it, white knuckled, but the car handled it very well, thankfully. i was exhausted when i hit 101 - where i went south for a quick 2 hour stop in San Louis Obispo to visit a good friend. the home stretch - 101N from SLO to Palo Alto!
All in all an amazing trip where i got to see more of this country than I ever have. I regret nothing! And I am currently settling into a new life and enjoying CA living.
thanks again to all TDIClubbers that helped out when i was temperarily delayed. I look foward to meeting up with more TDI'ers out here! Pic's will be posted as soon as I get my own laptop online for more than 2 minutes (still working from roommate's computer).
i will update this thread as things progress and when i can add pictures, i will! I've been on the road for 9 days now, and for the most part things have been going smoothly. I left on Friday, april 5th from Rumford, RI after attending a most amazing first Friday GTG hosted by the new england sector! (thanks again, one and all) After the GTG I drove to New Haven, CT for the night. TDIClub member SSTDI was kind enough to open his house up to me for the evening (thanks again, Matt). That layover gave me a 2 hour head start in the morning. On Saturday, the 6th, i departed Matt's and had breakfast with two other friends in New Haven. They supplied me with a hearty breakfast and tunes to get me thought the first few hours of my trip, at least. The day went well and I was able to make it all the way though to Roanoke, VA (estimated 539 miles)- but not without cursing the conditions of 95S in NY, yikes! Roanoke was a pleasant stop and a jumping off point for a easy 6 hour jaunt to Nashville, TN.
Easter sunday i stayed in a motel in Nashville across from the Grande Ole Opry hotel. I spoiled myself and ate dinner at the most expensive restaurant in the hotel, where they wined and dined me lavishly! I had an amazing filet minion with the best steak fries (covered in fresh grated parmisian cheese and spices), golden mashed potatoes, and a never ending glass of Pelligrino spring water. Dessert was a Gadiva chocolate soufflet - complimentary as they didn't have the dessert i wanted, b/c the chef didn't like the way they came out, so he tossed them all in the trash! All in All it was a beautiful visit to the Grand Ole Opry hotel with georgous gardens, giant waterfalls, and fountain shows in the evening.
The next morning was a long trip through some back roads of Arkansas. When i first entered that state, i feared for my safety, as it was not a very welcoming state to be entering, or so it seemed, even the "welcome center" wasn't welcoming - dirty, smelly, run-down looking.... needless to say i tried to get out of AR as soon as i could. Although i did take AR Rt. 79 from the state border to Shreveport, LA (est. 600 miles). And the rt was a nice drive in the second half. I've discovered that taking the secondary routes really gives you perspective on what a particular state can be like (at least from a superficial perspective) A poor looking state with many run down homes and trailors, and farms as far as the eye could see on the first leg of the rt 79 trip. Rather nerve wracking for a girl who's used to sticking to the primary highways. The second half however was very nice with a tree lined road set at 70mph and cute little towns to stop in - although, not many of them sold diesel at their fuel stations!
Once in Shreveport i stayed at an uber-sketchy motel where i didn't sleep much at all, and was awake most of the night wondering what every sound was. But i made it through unscaved to make it the 8 hours to San Antonio, TX to the best B&B money can't buy - also via Rt 79 (est. 450 miles)!Welcoming arms greeted me at Aunt and Uncle home in San Antonio, TX where i promptly emptied my car of all essential items and tried to take a nap, to no avail. They not only had an amazingly comfy bed, but also Wireless internet!!! i was able to check on the major amounts of email and private messages from people and respond accodrdingly, caught up on my bills, and took care of some things, as well as planned my next method of attack - Rt 10 west to El Paso and beyond. While in San Antonio, I discovered my first mechanical gliche - my Air conditioning no longer works! YIKES!
of all times to discover this... oh well. i ate some good home cooked food, slept really well, and was able to take advantage of all the comforts of home! It was a much appreciated break for both me and the car. The car got a bath to clean off all the bugs and road grime, got some new torx screws to hold up a sagging belly pan, and got a full fluid inspection. she was a happy camper for the most part. After her bath, i decided to take her over to downtown San Antonio to get her picture taken at a classic historic monument - the Alamo! (pictures to come later - i promise!) The next major leg in the trip was to head towards Pagosa Springs, CO so I could meet up with some TDIClub members having a GTG in that area - I got there via El Paso, TX, which i drove through very quickly and made excellent time getting to. I carried on to stop in Socorro, NM (est. 741 miles). cute town, kinda pops up on ya as your driving through the most amazing scenery that I had seen up until that point. The Rocky mountains from the begning/ending point of eruption from the earths surface. Beautiful. Red rock, scrub bush, open land as far as the eye could see. wow. pictures don't do it justice.
The day after stopping in Socorro - i had to make a decision to try to get up to CO after the Denver area and southeast CO had gotten slammed with blizzard-like conditions. It turned out that the snow storm had barely clipped the area that i was going to visit, so i started up. However, this leg of the trip was destined to not be easy. On my way up to Pagosa springs (about 6 hours from Socorro) my car had developed a loud, deep humming and fine vibration. i tried a couple of different things along the way (tightening lugs, checking various compnents, etc) and nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. I made it all the way up to Chama, NM (est. 243 miles)- the last little mountain town in NM before you hit the CO border and decided that my cars noises were too much and i had to check a few other things. I pull into a gas station and have them put my car on their lift to take a look underneath, and much to my dismay found CV axle lubricant oozing from the CV boot. Well I called MrChill back east and descirbed it to him, he said he thought it might be the axle was busted and the bearing might be ready to overheat and sieze, so i shouldn't drive it if i could avoid it. Very sound advice! Well, I called bikeprof (john) up in Pagosa Springs and asked for help. the Co contingent tried to come up with many options for getting both myself and the car there safely (as there wasn't a mechanic in Chama that could help me out). Needless to say i spent the night in Chama and called a tow truck via AAA in the morning. They towed my car up to the GTG in Pagosa (est 47 miles), and $351.25 later, my car was in the garage getting checked out. I had my front axle checked out, and all seemed well - minus the spewing lubricant. CV boot is not perferated and is still intact. Lube seems to be spewing forth from the braket that hold it, possibly from overfilling when it was rebuilt. but not damaged. *whew* the secondary diagnosis from Jeff - rocketchip, was that the wheel bearings were shot, as the noise went away depending on the direction the wheel was turned. Well, i had my two front wheel bearings replaced, and that didn't solve the problem. matter of fact they were in perfectly good shape! And because the garage we were the GTG was held didn't have insurance to cover anyone else doing the work to their car, they ended up doing the work costing me another $533.15! (total so far: $884.40). We ended up staying at the GTG and closing out the shop around 5pm - still with no solution to the humming noise. So I drove my car to John's house (6.5 miles) and parked it in his garage to be looked at at on sunday.Now this brings me to today's events... today Jeff was kind enough to look at my car once more and try a few new things - like moving the motor back to center, as it had wiggled it's way to the far right and was slightly off center. That didn't work, so he then lifted the back end and inspected the rear wheel bearings, and... as to be expected one of them was in pretty bad shape! The driver side rear bearing was fine, but the passenger side rear bearing was griding and not moving as fluidly and freely as it should have been. so he took it apart to inspect it, and low and behold the bearing and hub assmbly have suffered some damage.
the race is chipped and discolored from loose ball bearings knocking into it and chipping away at the hard metal, and the ball bearings sitting inside the hub had a broken spacer with plastic chips imbedded in the bearing lube and causing the bearings to grind and knock together in their seats. some damage was also done to the hub from the bearing casing and debris and there was a missing dust cover which allowed all the dirt and debris from the outside, to get into the bearing. how i'm missing that part is still unknown! not a happy bearing or hub assembly. so it's now sunday, and nothing is open and no one in Pagosa Springs, CO has VW parts - they all have to be special ordered and can't get here until at least Wednesday, and will only be shipped to the next closest city of Durango (50 miles west of Pagosa). so i made a few calls to some people back east and am waiting to see what the news is on some parts and delivery times.However, while i'm here in Pagosa i've met some awesome people, seen Pagosa, sat in a hot spring - that was... interesting..., took a drive to Durango (cute little tourist town - i like it!), and learned a lot about my car.
so, My trip has been delayed at this point, but i am ok and have a place to stay with bikeprof for now (thanks, dude!). I don't know how much longer i'll be here - i'm hoping not much longer, as i'd like to get back on the road to complete the trip. I'll keep everyone posted on what's going on and will update on the rest of my trip as things progress. I'm almost to CA - about 1,000+ miles to go - 2/3. it could have been worse. I'm in a better position here than i was in Chama!
so far, estimated milage total: ~3,100 miles (with side trip and such calcutlated in - estimates are from google and are not completely accurate. i'll try to get more accurate caluclations later, and factor in the fuel costs. With my car as loaded down as it is and factoring in wheel bearing issues - I'm getting an estimated 38mpgs, or around 550 miles/tank. well see if fixing the issue helps the mpgs later on!
thanks to everyone for their support and concern. I'll keep this post updated as i carry on and, again, will add pics when i can (can't get net to work on my laptop, at the moment, at johns house).
***Edit/update***
Well, after 13 days of being on the road I finally arrived in Palo Alto, CA on Thursday april 19th at 9pm. I promptly colapsed in bed, after several trips up 4 flights of stairs unpacking my car. But.. here's the rest of the story...
So I ended up staying in Pagosa Springs, CO for 4 days and recieved my parts (rear bearing/hub assembly, bently manual, spindle, and dose of sanity overnighted from the East Coast - THANK YOU TDIPARTS!). After a quick assembly and test drive, to make sure that all was well, I promptly repacked my car to distribute the weight a little more evenly and packed my things to continue the journey. The following morning, I headed west on the most direct route to CA - took 160w to 40w, to 58w, to 101!
On the continued trip west I was able to stop at the 4 corners monument on rt. 160W - litlerally a random monument on the top of a plateau in the middle of nowhere! I took many pictures to add to the list when i get my laptop back online). Then I carried on through the state of AZ. I don't have much to say about this state, other than my car really did not appreciate the 50 mph sand blasting it took while going through the Navajo Reservation. It' just not a state for me - both times i've been there. My shiny headlights have been horribly clouded as a result and there's all sorts of sand where it doesn't belong. Not a fan of sand storms. But... I digress. After trying to get through the resrvation with my clear coat intact, i managed to make it to the Grand Canyon's Southern Rim in time for sunset at 7pm. amazing. Granted, the canyon looks just like a hugely sureal big hole in the ground, but the colors on the rock from the sunset were beautiful. that night i was able to make it withing 60 miles of the CA border!
The next morning I awoke early to pack up and eagrly get on the road. I made it to the CA border inside of an hour and Celebrated in the cabin of my car by doing a little car dancing and sending a mass Text message. My trip through CA was relatively uneventful. Straight, Flat, and rather boring... until i got to the farside of Bakersfield.... and then I had to go through the mountains that I had been staring at for so long....
74 miles of nonstop twisties on route 58, on a rear bearing that I was completely paranoid about, and a car that was fully loaded. i did it, white knuckled, but the car handled it very well, thankfully. i was exhausted when i hit 101 - where i went south for a quick 2 hour stop in San Louis Obispo to visit a good friend. the home stretch - 101N from SLO to Palo Alto!
All in all an amazing trip where i got to see more of this country than I ever have. I regret nothing! And I am currently settling into a new life and enjoying CA living.
thanks again to all TDIClubbers that helped out when i was temperarily delayed. I look foward to meeting up with more TDI'ers out here! Pic's will be posted as soon as I get my own laptop online for more than 2 minutes (still working from roommate's computer).
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