[Vwdiesel] stranded

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

In 34 years of driving VW diesels, I have only had one actually leave 
me stranded.  I had just bought an '85TD Jetta that was already very 
high miles and badly butchered.  Shake down for a couple of weeks 
around town, and two buddies and I got in and headed for Monterey CA to 
see classics race at Laguna.  Just outside of Reno, the clutch let go 
and broken bits poked a hole in the gearbox through to oil.  Rented 
space at a repair shop, got local weld shop to patch the hole, replaced 
clutch and PP at HORRENDOUS over-retail (as in "gotcha" price) and were 
on our way.  Had to rent a car to do the Reno/Monterey/Reno part, put 
the Jetta together on way back and drove home.  Same car/gearbox hung 
around for several hundred thousand more kms without incident. 

On Mon, 21 May 2012 15:05:43 -0500, Chris Geiser <cfgeiser at gmail.com> wrote:
With all the talk about what to carry on a trip - got me to thinking that
> despite logging upwards of a million miles in vw diesels thus far, I've
> been stranded very rarely - how about everyone contribute what has left
> them dead stranded on the road and maybe what they learned to deal or
> prevent in the future?  That can help people calculate the cost / benefit
> ratio of carrying extra stuff:  Here's what I've got:
>
> 05 Jetta - last weeks catastrophic turbo failure (nothing to learn that I
> know of)
> 92 Ecodiesel: CV joint failure (now I no longer ignore clicking CV's for
> very long!)
>      Heater core failure (no way that I know of to spot or prevent; maybe
> carry a precut by-pass pipe to stick between, cut and connect heater hoses
> to get you home?)
> 82 diesel vanagon: water pump belt (now carry a spare belt and can change
> it in less than 15 minutes!!)
>
> I guess that seems like a pretty short list given my life in a vw!  I know
> I've driven home (carefully) with broken brake lines and a parking brake,
> duct tape over a leaky hose, or limped home on battery with alternator out
> or without power steering, but very rarely stranded where I sit!
>
> Interested in what other smarter better looking people have experienced!
>
> Chris
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