[Vwdiesel] Oil dip dtick degrade.

[The President]

Well it hadn't dawned on me that the car was so old! But all the same; if it 
were mild steel I wouldn't be moaning ;o)  Most noticeable deteriation is 
the door window rubbers (external wind down wipe thingy Nearly all my cars 
have shrunken ones. I wonder if soaking in parafin would swell them up 
again? My  father's '89 Citroen has rubbers that are almost as new; so 
technology was around... French won that battle :o)

Subframe bushes are 'funny'  Two of my Quantae used them every few years; 
but all the others were original.
Glove compartments suffered from falling open and snapping side clips [some 
cars]...
Mark

>From: "William J Toensing" <toensing at wildblue.net>
>To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
>Subject: [Vwdiesel] Oil dip dtick degrade.
>Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 21:28:06 -0700
>
>Thank you for calling this to our attention. While I can't speak to VW 
>plastic life in particular, I have noted many plastic items degrade with 
>age & become more brittle. This can happen to metal as well. In general, 
>manufacturers don't design their cars to last more than 10 or 15 years. 
>Back in the early '50s I recall Tom McCahl writing that axel shafts can 
>grow brittle with age & 20 year axels can snap & advised taking it more 
>easy on old cars. Axel shafts on early Ford V-8 flatheads & Model As are 
>more brittle & have been known to break. I'm sure the same thing is true 
>for VWs since most of our cars are 20 to 30 years old. In Europe, a 10 year 
>old car is an old car & in general, does not have much value. In the USA & 
>particularly in the Sun Belt states where road salt is not an issue, cars 
>with reasonable maintenance tend to last much longer.  I collect old radios 
>& have collected some Soviet era Russian radios. There radio knobs tend to 
>be brittle & break easily. I think
>  when these plastics were new, they often had no way of knowing how long 
>they would last as I don't think the Soviet economy believed in planned 
>obsolesce. I have a low 30,000 mile '41 Ford. Fifteen or 20 years ago, the 
>window regulator cranks started falling off. They were made of pot metal. 
>Replacement window regulator shafts are now made of steel. However, they 
>did last for 30 years. One area where many manufacturers skimp is using 
>steel  rather than bronze for freeze hole covers. They can rust out in 10 
>years. One did on my wife's Ford Taurus, behind the bell housing which will 
>require removal of the engine from the car to replace it, unless someone 
>knows a better solution. I don't know if VW diesels have frost plugs, but 
>if they do I would think it would be wise to replace them with bronze 
>plugs, if possible.
>With the forgoing in mind, what other plastic parts in our VWs do we have 
>to watch out for?
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