My Jetta MK6 TDI: Lucky dog or tragic victim?

[TouaregTaxi]

12 HEADLIGHTS!!??!!??!!??
Why so many?

What kind of carwash? The really good kind with water repellant & underbody, or just a quick wash & rinse on easily visible body panels?

You may have won the prize for the quickest accumulation of miles on a TDI over an extended period of time.

I think I have him beat. I purchased a new Treg and put it on the road as a taxi on 9/5/12. Today it has 67,996 miles. Close to 100,000 miles per year.

 

[Dozenspeed]

I think I have him beat. I purchased a new Treg and put it on the road as a taxi on 9/5/12. Today it has 67,996 miles. Close to 100,000 miles per year.

That is impressive. You either work a whole, whole lot or have very different operational dynamics than around here. Do you live "in the zone"? I live at the edge of "the zone", so my miles are a little above normal, but some guys have a 20-30 mile commute to "the zone" Of course, others work 110 hours a week too!

I'm running the engine about 2000-2100 hours per year at about 28 mph average. My 60,200 mile fuel bill for 2012 was about $5,320. My average fare is 7.1 miles and about 17 minutes long. Do you have any ridiculous stats like that? Maybe we can compare!

 

[Lightflyer1]

Rates went up! $2.00 to $3.00. Congrats on your car!

 

[TouaregTaxi]

That is impressive. You either work a whole, whole lot or have very different operational dynamics than around here. Do you live "in the zone"? I live at the edge of "the zone", so my miles are a little above normal, but some guys have a 20-30 mile commute to "the zone" Of course, others work 110 hours a week too!

I'm running the engine about 2000-2100 hours per year at about 28 mph average. My 60,200 mile fuel bill for 2012 was about $5,320. My average fare is 7.1 miles and about 17 minutes long. Do you have any ridiculous stats like that? Maybe we can compare!

I have a 23 mile trip to "the zone", so that accounts for some of the extra miles. I drive nights when demand usually exceeds supply. Because of the demand, my typical night totals about 325 miles in a 10-12 hour shift. I work 5 or 6 shifts per week. My engine hour display includes engine off but ignition on time, so I can't use it for statistics. My best guess is 9-10 hours of running per shift at an average of 30-32 mph.

 

[Dozenspeed]

Cool. Would love to see a Fuelly profile for your vehicle. (It's not too late to start, and add in all your past fuelings, especially if you have the data in a csv spreadsheet. )

 

[specsalot]

First thought - Why don't we see more of these? - Killer Color Scheme
Do you get enough longer fares to handle regens?

 

[Dozenspeed]

I probably get a 3-min regen almost everyday. A 10-min version maybe once every 1000 miles? I just hot-rod the car a little harder during them, other wise I make sure the system is cool and not regening at shut-down. I hope to get some real numbers of ash load and stuff from VCDS next oil change, but at 90k it looked virtually clear




I agree the scheme is cool, especially on this car!

But here's a couple other models painted the same to compare.

 

[Dozenspeed]

I feel the need to post some fresh pictures and report how she's doing. In a nutshell: Fantastic.

Here's how she looks today, after spring de-winterizing and 3 complete years of service and MTC inspection. Yes, I worked very hard to make this car look as good as possible, but nevertheless, this is how she cleans up with 193,115 miles on the clock and some 14,000+ passengers transported.

 

[Locnar]

It is great to see someone so passionate about keeping up on their car's appearance. The interior looks great...it is very encouraging to see that after so many driving hours (and butts!)

Thanks for the update.

 

[Dozenspeed]

Now the wear spots: Note a cut in the right rear armrest a couple pics up.

But here are the front bumper chips:



Here is scuffing on the rear bumper (loading/unloading all that luggage) I haven't quite managed to buff out yet:



Below is the scratching from passengers, the most trafficked spot right rear. Note the scuffing on the door seal. That's already a replacement, looks like I'll need one every two years.....




Finally here's some damage I'm doing to the car....I don't know what to do about this yet...........



this too:




Not really pictured is damage from my heel breaking through the driver floor mat. Wish I could buy just that one.


So this thing's been fantastic. Lifetime mpg over 40 and faithful operation everyday for 3 straight years. If she starts to fall apart now that fact cannot be erased.

Here's a fresh run down of ALL the functional issues to date:

Defective right front window regulator, repaired under warranty

Defective horn. Replaced under warranty, burned out again. Had oilhammer's first officer install a two-tone aftermarket. No problem since.

Defective wiper motor. Started groaning badly. Replaced under warranty. Replacement motor started graoning not long after and still does. I'll get to it.

I'm on the second battery, but that's likely due to the huge parsitic electrical load from the taxi equipment.

A small wire going to the n75 boost controller broke at about 183k mi, and required just solding a bit of wire in.

On the 9th set of headlights. She eats 'em. But this has slowed down considerably as of late. A few other random bulbs here and there. Also, I've lost 2 VW logo wheel center caps. She also likes to toss clips and rivets that hold various plastic undersheilds on. Note the two missing on the firewall.

It gets serviced regularly by oilhammer and the timing belt was done on time and completely.

Other than the tires and that door seal, everything else is original and everything works. I haven't needed a hpfp, dpf (load is 180ml btw) an exhaust flap, or egr anythings, turbos, brakes (pic is of the rear) dmf, clutch disk..........not really anything at all....

That concludes this report....here's to the continuation......

 

[Dozenspeed]

It is great to see someone so passionate about keeping up on their car's appearance. The interior looks great...it is very encouraging to see that after so many driving hours (and butts!)

Thanks for the update.

I enjoy how nearly everyday I hear "nicest cab ever been in" and a couple times a week "congrats on the new car" I like to then make them guess the odometer and blow their mind with the answer.


BTW, in reference to what I titled this thread almost 2 years ago, I've decided she is: A Lucky Dog. I can't imagine many Jettas get enjoyed and complimented by so many people on a routine basis.

 

[RDC98tdi]

Damn your interrior looks nicer than mine at ~31k! Im at my exactly 11 month anniversary with it today. Looking at 32-33k the first year, but my commute has DRASTICALLY dropped to where I am only doing about 50-100 miles a week, mostly city miles too.

 

[agxster]

Looks amazing, keep it up, looking forward to the next update.

For the credit card machine, how do you enter the amount to pay if it's attached to the passenger side front headrest like that?

 

[LeonVFB]

<3 all of this.

 

[Graham Line]

According to the pundits, your HPFP should have blown up twice by now.

 

[waltzconmigo]

dozen---i would be interested in hearing a lifetime comparison of the numbers between your Jetta and that Dodge pictured above, it looks to +/- the same age.

 

[JSWTDI09]

According to the pundits, your HPFP should have blown up twice by now.

Pundits are often wrong. The more you listen to the "pundits", the more you will realize that they don't know nearly as much as they think they know. Life is unpredictable.

Have Fun!

Don

 

[TomJD]

Can you help me learn how to do this?

 

[kjclow]

Makes me think I need to go out and spend the day cleaning my cars. Great job on keeping that thing looking so nice. Not sure if they would fit, but I have the original carpet mats for my JSW, if you want them.

 

[Dozenspeed]

Thanks everyone.

Right after I got it all pimped the taxi electronics decided to throw a fit.... so time for a little sort-out and upgrade. Here's a pic from a few hours ago. Heating up the soldering iron now.

dozen---i would be interested in hearing a lifetime comparison of the numbers between your Jetta and that Dodge pictured above, it looks to +/- the same age.

Ok.....the Dodge is an '08, had about 106k at commission in 12/2012. Former cop car. It blew a head gasket or something a few months after install and was repaired, but since then the owner has left the company.

Shame, too, I wired it up for him with a custom-built system control box complete with multiple switched power sources.

 

[JaredC01]

Dozen, you know I'm an electronics wizard... If you need help send me a text.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

[PacketHauler]

Just stumbled on this thread and read it from the beginning. Impressive!

I can't believe how clean your engine compartment is at almost 200k.

I've been debating if I want to turn my car back in after the lease is up in 2 years, but then I see threads like this that make me want to keep my car.

 

[LeonVFB]

Pundits are often wrong. The more you listen to the "pundits", the more you will realize that they don't know nearly as much as they think they know. Life is unpredictable.

Have Fun!

Don

You rarely see people starting threads about how much they love their car but as soon as an issue arises it gets blown up out of proportion.

 

[fowvey]

I see you still have the baton flashlight..

 

[Dozenspeed]

For the credit card machine, how do you enter the amount to pay if it's attached to the passenger side front headrest like that?

The amount between my terminal and theirs is connected via usb, so the data flows back and forth through it. Here I'll brag about how I painstakingly threaded the cable through the seat. (Thanks for that )

Makes me think I need to go out and spend the day cleaning my cars. Great job on keeping that thing looking so nice. Not sure if they would fit, but I have the original carpet mats for my JSW, if you want them.

Kind of you to offer.

Dozen, you know I'm an electronics wizard... If you need help send me a text.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Thanks for your expertise the other night.

sent from my massive outdated pc using an antique wireless keyboard

I can't believe how clean your engine compartment is at almost 200k.

I was hoping someone would mention that.

I see you still have the baton flashlight..

Sure. Never run a trip without it.

 

[Dozenspeed]

So I went through my non-VW electrics, did a little upgrading and adding. I've never really showed off my cubby mods before but incarnation 3 from last year had 3 switches plus the top light plus the MDT system. (5) I've had the standard 12v unplugged since incarnation 2. The 3 switches controlled nav unit power, the white rear seat lighting and one for the blue lighting in the back seat. (What's life without whimsy?)

I've been using my VW usb comm cable in place of the i-Proprietary cable that came with the car ($37) to charge phones up until now, which I don't like doing. Therefore I added a dual usb charge port and also put the oe 12v socket on another switch. Not that I really even need it, but it now functions on my switch and not the car's. (7)

Here I'm modding the tray for the usb fixture:








Here's the crazy wiring in the back:



As you can see I've resorted to soldering wires to trailer harnesses, getting more and more away from crimp-style stuff when possible. I like that chunky, over-engineered Mercedes feel. All this to make it more plug-n-play. To pull the tray I now only have to unhook 4 things.








Here's the final 835 gram result (with vintage 3.5" nav unit!):



The ugly screw is important I drew the yellow symbols in this pic to attempt to illustrate what switch does what....


And here it is online:

 

[Livefreeordie89]

Sell me your blanks you removed <3, looks awesome.

 

[PacketHauler]

I gotta ask, what's the key for in that switch panel? Arming missiles?

 

[sinnettc]

I gotta ask, what's the key for in that switch panel? Arming missiles?

I think it arms the DPES - Drunk Passenger Ejection Seat. How else would the interior still look so good?

 

[Dozenspeed]

I gotta ask, what's the key for in that switch panel? Arming missiles?

Well duh...

Sell me your blanks you removed <3, looks awesome.

Thanks but sorry! I want them and they have holes in them. I need to look into getting some spares myself.

I think it arms the DPES - Drunk Passenger Ejection Seat. How else would the interior still look so good?

On my list after a couple other projects.