[Vwdiesel] stranded

Tue May 22 17:26:42 PDT 2012

I knew I had more breakdown stories...

That reminds me, I also had the aftermarket points-replacement electronic
ignition fail on my 78 Rabbit.  Ended up spending an unscheduled night in a
motel 6 in Eugene, then bought a set of points and set them by ear in the
parking lot of the parts store.

And then there was the time I was driving my 77 Toyota pickup outside of
Olympia WA on my way to BC.  I narrowly avoided a head-on collision with an
82 year-old drunk woman driving the wrong way up the freeway.

By "narrowly avoided" I mean I avoided the head-on, but she still took off
my drivers side mirror and totaled the truck! :)  The damage started with
the mirror, then a scratch became a gouge became completely destroying
everything aft of the rear wheel well.

Nothing makes you think more clearly than seeing the car in front of you
swerve suddenly, and as it moves out of the way you see a headlight appear!
 Fortunately I chose to crank the wheel to the right, because so did she. :)

Less exciting was the time I rolled out of Klamath Falls for a last-minute
weekend trip to Portland at 8PM with a bit under a half-tank of gas.... I
was absolutely convinced there was a 24 hour gas station in Chemult, about
2 hours up the road.  Well guess what, there wasn't. :)

Ended up at the card-lock station for a couple hours waiting for the AAA
guy who never came.  Eventually some guy came along in a pickup to buy gas
and I convinced him to sell me some off his card. :)

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 4:54 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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> > Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
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> >
>
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