[Vwdiesel] Offical Rant: Stupid German Engineers! and more

[Roger Brown]

David Cook wrote:
> Awhile back, I mentioned the "floating" A/C
> compressor.  Well, the car was at my parent's house
> while I worked on dad's car, so I couldn't work on it.
>  I finally got to today.
> 
> Turns out that there were at least three bolts
> missing!  First, the two at the back of the A/C
> compressor by the engine were gone.  Also, the bolt
> that holds the back of the bracket to the power
> steering pump was gone as well.  The compressor was
> securely held to that bracket, but the bracket was
> loose.
> 
> I replaced all those bolts and all is well as far as
> all that goes.  I cannot believe how much everything
> was in the way of all the bolts and everything else! 
> What a pain in the ass!
> 
> I also replaced the tach and radio wires that a mouse
> chewed while it was at my folk's.  The tach wire was
> broken in two places, and the insulation was gone for
> the radio wire.  The insulation was gone very near
> where it went through the firewall, and it was clear
> that the tach wire had gotten hot, so I think the
> mouse was trying to burn the car down!
> 
> Finally, I figured out why the car didn't want to
> start when cold.  All four glow plugs are burnt out! 
> I removed one and it looks very normal, so I don't
> think the injectors are to blame.  I am more than sure
> it is the relay that would turn on and off very
> quickly.  I thought it was the relay until I swapped
> one from another car.  I am now guessing that it is a
> loose connection from the ignition switch making the
> relay think that I am turning on the switch over and
> over very quickly.  I'll check that tomorrow when I
> put the new glow plugs in.

I replaced the bolts holding my old '81 A/C compressor in place:
	http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/index.shtml#ACbracket
Seemed to be a case of the holes in the A/C compressor being too large for the bolts in the 
bracket.  Put in larger bolts and the A/C compressor and belts stayed nice and snug.

-- 
    Roger