[Vwdiesel] stranded

Tue May 22 17:14:56 PDT 2012

I jinxed myself last week...I was thinking about how long it had been since
I was stranded at the side of the highway.   Low and behold a few days
later there I was with a blown cylinder head.    The most entertaining part
was pouring 8L of water in and watching it run out the tailpipe!

Jason

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 7:54 PM, Dave Cook <davevw at yahoo.com> wrote:

> This is a fun thread!
>
>
> I haven't been stranded by the side of the road, but I have had a few
> times when the car didn't want to leave it's last place, and others where
> some ingenuity was needed to get or keep going.
>
>
> Off the top of my head, somewhat in order:
>
> Several years ago in my '90 Corrado, on a trip with a friend from LA back
> to Kansas.  We were planning to grab some fast food and camp at the Grand
> Canyon.  In the drive through, I heard all sorts of squealing and smoke was
> coming from the hood.  We instead pushed the car to a nearby hotel and got
> a good rate due to our sob story.  The next day, I discovered that the
> water pump had seized, the impeller was jammed against the block.  Through
> talking with a mechanic in Topeka, I removed the belt, and unjammed the
> impeller.  I then bought a belt that fit loosely around the pulley,
> bypassing power steering.  The bearings in the pump were shot, but it never
> leaked.  The loose pulley was enough to turn the pump enough to get us all
> the way home and me to drive another week before I could change the pump.
>
> In my '78 Bus, attempting to drive to Alaska.  In Montana, the aftermarket
> ignition system failed slowly.  After a couple hours of bucking and such,
> we pulled into  Lucky Lil's Truck Stop and Casino in Three Forks where the
> engine finally died late on a Friday night.  I figured out the initial
> problem, but couldn't get it to run with the points and condenser on
> Saturday.  We decided to find a church to go to Sunday, and on the way
> there, my friend said, "Maybe we'll meet an old lady who will buy us lunch,
> and a mechanic."  (No lie, he said this as we rode our bikes there.)  Well,
> at the end of the service at this little Baptist church, the elder said,
> "looks like we have some visitors, make sure to get acquainted."  Sure
> enough, an old lady took us to lunch, along with her son and his family.
> The son had a mechanic friend in town, so that afternoon he brought him
> over to the truck stop.  The mechanic friend and I figured out that when I
>  reinstalled the distributor I had put the drive gear in 180 degrees out.
> After swapping the spark plug wires around, we were on our way. We ended up
> giving up on Alaska and headed toward Utah, where a starter problem caused
> us to just head straight home.  I kind of regret that decision.
>
>
> Another time in the 90 Corrado.  I used it to pull a trailer full of
> supplies to sell Cinnamon Roasted Nuts at the Denver Bass Pro Shop.  On the
> way out, the trailer lost a wheel bearing.  I found out when I saw the
> wheel flopping side to side in the parking lot.  Amazingly enough, the
> wheel didn't fly off on the interstate!  But that isn't the rear breakdown
> story.
>
> We loaded all the leftover supplies into the Corrado at the end of the
> weekend and headed toward Kansas.  Somewhere in eastern Colorado, I noticed
> the battery light come on, but never heard any noises, and the car wasn't
> overheating or anything.  So I drove to the next town and gas station.  The
> serpentine belt shredded.
>
> I decided I wasn't going to be stranded in a little town in eastern
> Colorado where I had no idea if the town had a parts store or if the store
> would have the right belt.  So we push started the car and hoped to make it
> within 100 miles of Hays, KS (I had AAA and a friend in Hays).  We made it
> to within 70 miles, where I called AAA.  I never did get ahold of my friend
> in Hays, so AAA took me to the Wal-Mart.  There I bought a marine battery
> and attached it to the harness for my power inverter and plugged it into
> the cigarette lighter.  Pulled a headlight fuse, push started the car, and
> away we went.  We made the 165 miles back to Manhattan, just as the battery
> was dying.  I put a new belt on the car, and drove with the battery plugged
> in again to recharge it.
>
> Recently, my old Exploder's starter died in the parking lot of my
> grandma's nursing home in Topeka.  I had AAA tow me back to Manhattan.
> This would be lame except I had Caesar, my great dane with me and he had to
> climb onto my lap in the truck cab to get back.
>
> The Exploder finally died a few weeks later in a ball of steam, as a head
> gasket burst on the interstate halfway between Manhattan and Topeka.  As
> the plume of steam came out, I said, "Huh, that's interesting" and drove on
> to Topeka.  By that time, the rest of the truck was so worn out I elected
> to not fix it and made plans to build a hitch for the newly-purchased Golf.
>
> :)
>
>
> Dave Cook
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Val Christian <val at mongo.mongobird.com>
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 6:21 AM
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] stranded
>
> I have had 8 cars with over 300K, two over 500K, which were VW diesels.
>
> Things start to happen after 300K, for me.  Like the upholstry starts
> wearing out on the driver's side.  Crud collects in doors, fenders and
> rust accelerates.  Periodic (every couple of years) cleaning helps
> that, but it's a pain to pull doors and wheel well liners.
>
> Current fleet has:
> 284K  (Caravan)
> 181K  (Caravan)
> 254K  (99TDI)
> 248K  (91 IDI)
> 179K  (03 TDI)
> 171K  (02 TDI)
>
> Given today's economy, and my needs, it is not likely that a new VW will
> grace my fleet in the next couple of years.  I'll let kids move out and
> retire cars to the shreader next town over.
>
> Off topic: My kids are driving the Caravans, and one had brake noise so
> daughter and I pulled the offending wheel.  I cheaped out on the front
> brakes,
> and since the rotors were in good shape just kept putting pads on it.
> Well it's the 4th set of pads, and she pointed out stress cracks in the
> rotor.  So Wednesday morning, her day off, we put new rotors, new pads,
> etc.
> on the Caravan.  The brake noise appears to be a clip for the pad rubbing
> on some rust at the inner portion of the rotor area.
>
>
> >
> > Wow, I thought my cars had a lot of miles on them, but not 300K.
> > nice job.
> > =A0
> >
> > Bryan Belman, Pt. Pleasant, NJ
> > 04 Jetta Wagon TDI PD, 100hp, 5sp -- running :<)
> > 92 Jetta 1.6 Eco-Turbo Diesel, 5sp -- running :<)
> > 82 Diesel Westy 1.9NA -- running :<)
> > 70 Type 1 stock Elm Green Beetle -- Under Restoration :-)
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Shalyn Shourds <sshourds at flash.net>
> > To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com =
> >
> > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2012 4:47 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] stranded
> >
> > I can only think of two times I've actually been stranded and unable to
> fix=
> >  the car on the road.=A0 Twice, same car ('00 TDI), same problem, 30
> miles =
> > apart.=A0 Unless you want to carry a spare head and gasket set, though,
> I d=
> > on't think there's much to be done about it :(
> >
> > I've been driving these cars since '93 and, knock on wood, no major
> problem=
> > s far from home.=A0 I have, however, gotten to the point to where if the
> ca=
> > r's at all iffy and the trip's long, I rent a car.=A0 I drive from Texas
> to=
> >  Kansas in December, usually, so the cost and genuine danger of having a
> br=
> > eakdown in the middle of that desolate landscape in serious cold makes
> the =
> > expense of a rent car and the ability to call a 1 800 number for a new
> car =
> > seem like a good deal.=A0 All of my cars are 300,000+miles.=A0 I did
> feel g=
> > ood enough to drive it to Kansas this past year.=A0 With a trunk full of
> to=
> > ols, fluids, and a spare alternator.=A0 =
> >
> >
> > Of course, Kansas in December will fail to impress the Saskatchewan
> members=
> > ......
> >
> >
> > -Shalyn
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
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