[Vwdiesel] mileage woes

[Johann Koenig]

On Tuesday December 28 at 04:01am
LBaird119 at aol.com wrote:

> > So now I'm looking at a total trip of between 320 and 350
> > miles, using about 10 gallons. 32-35 mpg?!?! Man, was I bummed at
> > that. But then I got to thinking, I was driving pretty fast there
> > and
> > back, averaging probably 70-80mph. Of course, no speedometer, so I
> > really can't be sure. But I was passing a lot of people. Now I'm
> > wondering, could my fast driving really have affected the mileage
> > that much? I'm really hoping so!
> 
>   As Jake put it, " A Rabbit has all the aerodynamics of a flying
>   brick"
> Kinda sums it up.  The faster you go, the more mileage it eats.  A 
> 5 speed would help.  I usually got 40mpg highway and 45 doodling 
> around semi highway and town.  It's also winter:  snow tires, denser 
> air, longer warm-up times, more idling, drag from snow, rain, slush
> and so on.  Even more drag on the alt from heater fan, rear def. and
> headlights.

All right, so maybe that mileage wasn't too unreasonable, given that I
was driving so fast ...

> > Also, about what speed does the rabbit start shaking? At times, the
> > car would start vibrating, but only when I was going really fast,
> > and the engine sounded like it was about ready to rip itself to
> > pieces (4spd manual). It's got almost new tires, that were just
> > mounted/balanced, and a front end alignment just last week.
> 
>   Depends, when does the spin cycle start on yours?  ;-)  If it's
>   shaking, 
> it's not a "normal" thing.  Figure out what tire's shaking it.  Could
> be a bad tie rod end, lower control arm bushing, bad strut or shock,
> still out of balance tire, out of balance drum, bad CV joint, bent
> axle and so on. Just stat eliminating things until you find a bad one,
> see if it fixes it and keep looking if necessary.
>   A friend of mine commented that at 60mph (with a diesel and 4 speed)
> it sounds just about ready for take-off!  It's gotta really be buzzing
> at 80!!

Yeah, it's definitely not a speed I would hold for too long. But I
thought just about all cars (especially old ones like mine) started
shaking at some speed. My mom's old Ford Escort wagon would start at
about 70. My brother's '87 Corrola vibrate about 80, 85. I mean, if
there's a way to fix it, I'm all for that. But I expected it to start
shaking at some point. I also just found out that the car is still
bottomed out in the back, despite having removed everything... It'd be
nice to drop a nice sporty suspension in it now, but I can't afford that
so I'm going to a junk yard today to see what I can scrounge up.

> > Which brings me to yet another quick question, my brother mentioned
> > that it looked like my car was driving sideways, or at least angled,
> > when he was following me. Can the rear end be out of a alignment?
> > Can it be fixed?
> > 
> 
>   Since a Rabbit kind of tapers at the rear they can look like they're
>   
> "crabbing" down the road when they aren't. Not to say yours isn't.  
> I've seen bent rear axles and rear wheels can be out of alignment.  
> My Jetta is currently over 2 degrees of negative camber, a bit much.
> Toe is also off.  He's ordered the shims for it, I just haven't had a
> chance to get it back in yet.  My Rabbit was also way off on one rear.
>  It quit 
> "plowing" on corners after he fixed it.  Just takes shims and someone 
> that knows what they're doing with a 4 wheel alignment.
>      Loren

There are a couple of shops that I trust to do that kind of work. One
just down the road, and one farther away that only does alignments.
Guess I'll have to look around.

Thanks
-- 
-Johann Koenig