Help in Las Vegas area?

PeteVinBoston

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Location
Boston, MA
TDI
2009 Black on Black JSW TDI; 6sp Manual
Don and Rory - 2 big thumbs up for helping with out Brian. This is why I love this group of people!!

Brian, hope your sun is well.
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
OK, 1-way flight booked for next Wednesday, October 3rd. Long thirsty drive back home, but at least I can take my time and enjoy the views.
Let us know if you would like to do lunch or something.

One thing I dont have but can borrow is a set of ramps. had to sell a lot of my home big tooling when I moved last year. good luck with your trip.....Rory
I have ramps and most tools you might want (Metric sockets, allens, triple squares, etc.). About the only tools I don't have are timing belt locking tools and maybe some other specialized VW tools.

Have Fun!

Don
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Thanks, guys. Yes, I'd love to get some lunch and banter a bit before heading east. I know I'll have a long drive ahead of me, and in the Eurovan I know I won't be making great time like I could in the Golf or Passat (especially through the mountains) so I am hardly going to be in a hurry.

I have to check but I think my flight lands there around 9:30am (plane change in Denver :rolleyes:).

Good news is my son made it through his 3+ hour surgery without issue yesterday. He had to get a "G-tube" installed so he can eat and not get sick, they also did some work on his esophogus, fixed a hernia, and one of his testes that was not positioned properly. Today my wife and I get to learn how to feed him with a tube.

Having two disabled children has taught me many things, and given me a different perspective on life. To those of you that have normal, happy, healthy children, never EVER take it for granted. Because something as trivial as watching your child take his or her first steps, saying their first words, or even using the potty, may not seem like much but when you as a parent never will get to experience that you realize just how incredible those moments can be. Probably why I may seem to have such short tolerance for people whining about their cars on this board... because it just isn't THAT big of a deal.

Anyways, thanks again for the help, hope to see you (and my "new" Volkswagen!) soon! :)
 
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bibendum

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2012
Location
va
TDI
2009 jetta tdi
Glad to hear surgery went well. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery. :beer:
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
Thanks, guys. Yes, I'd love to get some lunch and banter a bit before heading east. I know I'll have a long drive ahead of me, and in the Eurovan I know I won't be making great time like I could in the Golf or Passat (especially through the mountains) so I am hardly going to be in a hurry.

I have to check but I think my flight lands there around 9:30am (plane change in Denver :rolleyes:).
If your flight gets in at about 9:30 AM, You could probably get Omar (or Rory) to pick you up at the airport and you could probably get the whole transaction finished before lunch time. The EuroVan is very near to the airport and I work very near the airport. There is a pretty good barbeque restaurant only a few blocks from the airport where we could meet. There are also many other restaurants not far away.

Have Fun!

Don
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
My flight is scheduled to land in Las Vegas at 9:01am. I won't be checking any luggage so I *should* be able to get out pretty quickly. Hopefully by then any morning rush hour you guys have should be on the downside, but maybe you don't even have that there in a city that goes around the clock? ;)

I am going to ship my plates to Omar since I cannot seem to get a straight answer from anyone as to their allowance in carry on luggage, and don't want to get them taken from me in the middle of my full body cavity search :rolleyes:.
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
Hopefully by then any morning rush hour you guys have should be on the downside, but maybe you don't even have that there in a city that goes around the clock? ;)
.
There is a morning rush hour, but it is pretty much only on the expressways. You will not have to go anywhere near the expressways until it is time for you to pull out of town. By the time we finish lunch (maybe 1:00PM), traffic should not be a problem. I will send you a PM with Rory's and my cell phone numbers.

Have Fun!

Don
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Made it back home safe and sound, late last night about 8pm CST. Eurovan did great, 75 MPH pretty much the whole way, got about 20 MPGs which was a pleasant surprise. It actually did just fine on the hills I encountered, too.



Let me tell ya, 1600 miles of a 5 cylinder thrumming away at about 3800 RPMs... boy I slept good once I got home!

Thanks again, Don and Rory for your help! I owe you both!!! :D
 

jsrmonster

Veteran Member - TDIClub Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 22, 2002
Location
Red Lion, PA
TDI
15 Golf SW DSG, RC3 piped, 99.5 Jetta Rocket PD150 6spd 4motion, 2000 ASV110 RC6 "Silverbullet" 5spd Race Car, 2003.5 Cummins QCLB 4x4 "Blue Monster" Jeep CRD juiced, MB Sprinter van juiced up
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jetlagmech

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2009
Location
Toledo, WA
TDI
2010 jetta
glad everything went well on your drive. the drive was probably really good for it to clean everything out considering age and low miles. would love the gto for a drive but just never cared for the style of the fastbacks myself. I like the sedan style of the mustangs.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Did some stuff to it over the weekend. Changed the oil, the ATF, the brake fluid... will do coolant with water pump when I do timing belt (still waiting on the tools for that job).

All in all, I cannot complain. I wish they'd have just left the paint alone, though, as the $200 job they gave it is going to have to be sanded off and redone properly, and I have a ton of overspray to clean off :rolleyes:. There is also a few minor dings that they just painted over, so I'll get those smoothed out too. That will have to wait until Spring though.

Funny, all 4 brake bleeder screws and the rear adjuster wheels are all like new. All the bits on the engine/trans also look new. I dropped the belly pan down and it was like I was staring up at a 2 year old vehicle. Truly amazing what a dry climate does to preserve things. Even the goldish finish on all the hardware is still present and shiney. I am going to unload some clearcoat on some spots to help preserve it, and touch up some loose undercoating underneath.

It also (of course) has the wrong tires on it, so a new proper set has been ordered. I am going to replace the shock absorbers too as the one is starting to seep a bit after my drive home.
 

TomJD

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2010
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2000 Jetta TDI GLS, 2015 Golf TDI
Glad you made it home. It looks to be in great shape from the pictures. Hope you enjoy that strange 5 cylinder under the hood.

Most importantly I am glad you were able to get what you and your boys need. I hope it serves you well and makes life a little bit easier. Now they can cruise in style!
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
Did some stuff to it over the weekend. Changed the oil, the ATF, the brake fluid... will do coolant with water pump when I do timing belt (still waiting on the tools for that job).

All in all, I cannot complain......
I think this old van is going to love you. All of the maintenance that has been neglected will get done. You are correct about cars in the desert. There are a lot of old cars here that probably would have rusted apart long ago in other parts of the country. With no moisture (or any kind) for most of the year, almost nothing rusts here. The biggest problem here is dry rot. For example, I replaced my wiper blades a few weeks ago. They had almost no wear (they were turned on maybe 6 times in three years), but they were literally falling apart from dry rot. The seals in the shocks have probably rotted away. I hope this old van serves you well.

Have Fun!

Don
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Finally got the new timing belt on. The old one actually didn't look too bad, better than I thought it would. Can still read the writing on it, but the tooth side was starting to separate a bit. Replaced the air filter, the spark plugs, and removed the Brand X cap & rotor that were on there. New G11 coolant, new Billy shocks, touched up some of the undercoating, fixed a minor coolant leak on a flange with a new o-ring.

All in all, it is doing great. 52,xxx miles so far. :D
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
This Eurovan will be for sale soon. My new Sprinter arrives this week. :)

It has been a faithful, trusty workhorse these last few years. Hate to see it go, but just need something bigger.
 

JSWTDI09

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2009 JSW TDI (gone but not forgotten)
This Eurovan will be for sale soon. My new Sprinter arrives this week. :)

It has been a faithful, trusty workhorse these last few years. Hate to see it go, but just need something bigger.
Good news! Your long awaited Sprinter is actually going to show up. Now all you need to do is to find someone else who could use a Eurovan with a chair lift, or are you planning to move the chair lift to the Sprinter?

Have Fun!

Don
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Sprinter will be getting a new rear-entry lift. The Ricon chain lift in the Eurovan is long since obsoleted. It works OK as it is, but wouldn't really be something you could or want to go through the effort to move to a new vehicle.

Unfortunately it may take a couple months to source funding for the Sprinter's outfitting. The lift and dual chair anchor points will be around $10k :eek: . Variety Club is supposed to be helping with that, but there is a waiting list.

That'll give me time to get the rear seats out save for the most forward, install a trailer hitch and wiring, and do a couple other minor things to it. As it turns out, I am NOT getting the one I ordered, since MB cannot seem to get any hard timeline on the build. The most recent estimate was March for allocation, and that means it could still take a month or more beyond that. So who knows when I will get it, and I originally placed the order LAST March. So I am buying a new-but-unsold 2016 that is slightly fancier than what I wanted. But, since it took so long I missed any chance to get my custom built 2016, and some of the stuff I did NOT want (and this 2016 I am buying has) was made standard on the 2017... so I'd have been stuck with it anyway. They are giving me a pretty good deal on it though, only costing about $1k more and it has about $5k more equipment.

They are coming from Argentina, starting in 2016. However the plant there has been building current model Sprinters since 2012. 2016 was the first model year they were brought to North America from that plant however. Apparently the high demand worldwide coupled with the fallout from Dieselgate has really put some stress on the Sprinter builds. Of note: these 2016s Sprinters are officially the very first Argentine assembled vehicle sold in the USA. VIN starts with an '8'. MB has had the plant there since 1951, so I am hoping they have good QC. :eek:

The Eurovan's best bet would be to go to someone who is interested in doing a minor camper conversion of some sort. Take the lift out, reconfigure and build a nice camper interior aft of the front seats, etc. It is a solid platform, and the T3 (Vanagon) scene is INCREDIBLY strong right now, with the T4s slowly starting to pick up. I don't think I'll have any problem selling it. Other than the sub par repaint, it is in pretty good overall shape. Runs and drives excellent.
 
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oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Eurovan is officially for sale. $4500 but am open to offers. Runs great, can be driven anywhere. We just put over 500 miles on it in the last week. Sprinter's lift will be installed Monday-Wednesday of next week.

I can remove the lift from the Eurovan for any buyer.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I recall you mentioned you got the dual AC blowing nice and cold last year, right?

-J

It works, yes, BUT... something in the HVAC case makes it difficult to move the lever all the way to cold, like maybe an ink pen or something fell down in there? Been that way since I got it. It is starting to lose some dash foam, so I think that would be something that needs to be addressed soon. The reason the A/C did not work well before was the left fan series resistor was bad, so that fan never came on. They both work now.

This van needs some TLC, which is why I want to find it an enthusiast, it is not something that someone could just jump in and carry on. If anyone is interested I can give a more detailed description of all the good and bad.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Yeah, I saw that. Those are good tough workhorses. Not as refined as the newer ones, but they get the job done, and less emissions controls to boot.
 

LV03Golf

New member
Joined
Jan 18, 2016
Location
Las Vegas
TDI
03 Golf
Sorry for the hijack but I'd like to meet with some LV tdi locals to go over my car. Right now I'm battling an over boost issue and my speedometer just died. I've done some research on both but before I start turning wrenches I'd like to meet up with you guys.
 
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