Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The New VW Passat
Just an update on a previous post, the Passat was taken for a 30 mile test drive last night. It drove very smoothly and without issues. Tomorrow comes a better test, a drive to Raleigh and back. I do not expect any issues.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Car Situation - C has wheels
While all of the previous post was happening, I was cruising the Internet on Sunday May 20, seeing what was out there for vehicles for C. I was looking on Craigslist, Cars.com and eBay.
On eBay, I found a 1999 VW Jetta Wolfsburg Edition, green in color, used by a college student that just graduated from Villanova near Philadelphia. He was selling it because he did not want the hassle of moving it to Las Vegas where he was moving to take a job. It had a couple of minor issues, but in general seemed OK. Needless to say, I won the auction. This is Sunday at about 2PM. I left my phone number and he called me at about 2:30PM.
He indicated that he was leaving Philly on Monday at 5PM. I told him that I would check into a few things and get back with him, but could he make arrangements to have a friend complete the transaction in a couple of days.
With gasoline prices as they are, it would take about $150 worth of gas to drive to Philly and back for the van, plus 16 hours of K and my time. I looked into flying, but thought on short notice, they were going to get me. I was wrong. Southwest had flights from Raleigh to Philly for $58 ($49 plus taxes), so I booked my flight. I also ordered the parts needed to fix the known issues. I called the seller, making arrangements to be met at the airport at 1:30PM the next day (Monday).
While my plane was a few minutes late, he met me at baggage claim and we drove off to the National Car Rental car return. His parents were in town for his graduation, and were returning their rental car. He, his parents and I completed the transaction in the parking lot of the National Car Rental. I left for home by 2:30PM and they took the shuttle to catch their planes.
I got home around 11PM, going down the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay on 301 to avoid the DC evening drive time. As I had not been down that way, it was a very scenic drive. My computer GPS guided me the whole way, more for knowing that I was going the right direction than actual directing.
As a potential interesting footnote, I found out that the guy I bought the car from was going to try to make it in the world of professional poker. When I Googled his name, he already has a reputation and has won a significant amount of money in only a few tournaments. He is going to do the WSOP for a year, then off to grad school for an MBA in Finance. I had no clue, nor really cared.
So we are now a 3 VW family. A and C drive Jettas and I drive a Passat. All with manual transmissions. We will NOT be trading in the van for a Microbus or Bug, thank you very much. Happy motoring.
On eBay, I found a 1999 VW Jetta Wolfsburg Edition, green in color, used by a college student that just graduated from Villanova near Philadelphia. He was selling it because he did not want the hassle of moving it to Las Vegas where he was moving to take a job. It had a couple of minor issues, but in general seemed OK. Needless to say, I won the auction. This is Sunday at about 2PM. I left my phone number and he called me at about 2:30PM.
He indicated that he was leaving Philly on Monday at 5PM. I told him that I would check into a few things and get back with him, but could he make arrangements to have a friend complete the transaction in a couple of days.
With gasoline prices as they are, it would take about $150 worth of gas to drive to Philly and back for the van, plus 16 hours of K and my time. I looked into flying, but thought on short notice, they were going to get me. I was wrong. Southwest had flights from Raleigh to Philly for $58 ($49 plus taxes), so I booked my flight. I also ordered the parts needed to fix the known issues. I called the seller, making arrangements to be met at the airport at 1:30PM the next day (Monday).
While my plane was a few minutes late, he met me at baggage claim and we drove off to the National Car Rental car return. His parents were in town for his graduation, and were returning their rental car. He, his parents and I completed the transaction in the parking lot of the National Car Rental. I left for home by 2:30PM and they took the shuttle to catch their planes.
I got home around 11PM, going down the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay on 301 to avoid the DC evening drive time. As I had not been down that way, it was a very scenic drive. My computer GPS guided me the whole way, more for knowing that I was going the right direction than actual directing.
As a potential interesting footnote, I found out that the guy I bought the car from was going to try to make it in the world of professional poker. When I Googled his name, he already has a reputation and has won a significant amount of money in only a few tournaments. He is going to do the WSOP for a year, then off to grad school for an MBA in Finance. I had no clue, nor really cared.
So we are now a 3 VW family. A and C drive Jettas and I drive a Passat. All with manual transmissions. We will NOT be trading in the van for a Microbus or Bug, thank you very much. Happy motoring.
Update on the car situation 2
This will be a rather boring post about our car travails. As many of you know, my Intrepid died at 329k miles. It had only one new transmission put into it, which was amazing for the Dodge product. Now, the rest of the story.
We were down to two cars with spring break a coming. Then the transmission went thump in the van and we were down to one. $1500 and a week later, we were back with two.
For many years, I have wanted to rebuild/replace an engine in a car. I thought it would be fun and stress relieving. Well, I was cruising eBay in mid-April and saw this car. It needed an engine and could be had for a decent price, so I purchased it.
The car, a 1999 VW Passat with a V6 engine, had the timing belt break, doing valve damage. I thought it would be a great learning experience to rebuild this engine. So I bought the how to repair book, and set about tearing into the engine. When viewing the engine heads, all of the exhaust valves were bent from contact with the pistons. One intake valve was visibly bent, but the others seemed fine.
I attempted to purchase used heads from an automotive recycler unsuccessfully, so the heads were taken to the local machine shop. $600 later, the heads were as good as new. The reassembly could begin.
Keep in mind that during this time, work had me travel to NY for a trade show for a full week and then give a tour of industrial and biopharm facilities for my Brazilian counterparts, again for another full week.
The reassembly went rather well once the heads were in my possession. Everything went back together extremely well. Along with the rebuilt heads, I put a new timing belt, water pump, thermostat, tensioner pulley, idler pulley, and upper control arm on the car. When the time came to fire up the car, it idled well. No check engine lights.
As K and I went for a test drive down our street, as the RPM got to 1400, the engine would buck, hesitate and in general raise havoc, the check engine light came on as well. The engine reached operating temperature fine and immediate turn back for home occurred.
I purchased a $22 cable and $100 software for my computer for doing diagnosis taking a couple of days while the materials arrived. Doing some analysis of the the trouble code using the Internet VW forums, it was determined that the throttle body electronic positioner was not communicating with the main engine computer.
I took out the offending part, cleaned it and re-installed it. Same problem. Did it again, slightly better, but same problem. After several posts on the VW forum (both VWVortex and PassatWorld) someone suggested a different cleaning method, but that I was definitely on the correct part.
So I tried their method and... no improvement. I ordered a new Throttle Body with sensor (that is the only way they come) and began the wait for it to arrive. While waiting, the old throttle body and sensor were disassembled by me as I had nothing left to loose. If I broke it or was unable to fix it, the new one would be there in a day or two. If I fixed it, then I could return the new part for a small restocking fee. I completely disassembled the position sensor, cleaned it with electrical contact cleaner, throttle body cleaner and used a can of computer compressed air to blow out any residue. The part was left to dry completely overnight.
The next day, as the old part was being installed, the new part arrived. I finished installing the completely cleaned old part and checked through my computer that the part was "visible" to the engine computer. It was, so the existing "Check Engine Light" codes were cleared and the engine was tested. It met with initial success in the carport, but would it stand up to being driven.
So K and I went on a short, 3-mile, test drive and the car drove wonderfully. No problems. Later today we will get license plates and insurance for the car so it can be street legal. The next step will be to do a 15-20 mile test drive just to make sure before I go gallivanting around the countryside using this as my daily driver.
We were down to two cars with spring break a coming. Then the transmission went thump in the van and we were down to one. $1500 and a week later, we were back with two.
For many years, I have wanted to rebuild/replace an engine in a car. I thought it would be fun and stress relieving. Well, I was cruising eBay in mid-April and saw this car. It needed an engine and could be had for a decent price, so I purchased it.
The car, a 1999 VW Passat with a V6 engine, had the timing belt break, doing valve damage. I thought it would be a great learning experience to rebuild this engine. So I bought the how to repair book, and set about tearing into the engine. When viewing the engine heads, all of the exhaust valves were bent from contact with the pistons. One intake valve was visibly bent, but the others seemed fine.
I attempted to purchase used heads from an automotive recycler unsuccessfully, so the heads were taken to the local machine shop. $600 later, the heads were as good as new. The reassembly could begin.
Keep in mind that during this time, work had me travel to NY for a trade show for a full week and then give a tour of industrial and biopharm facilities for my Brazilian counterparts, again for another full week.
The reassembly went rather well once the heads were in my possession. Everything went back together extremely well. Along with the rebuilt heads, I put a new timing belt, water pump, thermostat, tensioner pulley, idler pulley, and upper control arm on the car. When the time came to fire up the car, it idled well. No check engine lights.
As K and I went for a test drive down our street, as the RPM got to 1400, the engine would buck, hesitate and in general raise havoc, the check engine light came on as well. The engine reached operating temperature fine and immediate turn back for home occurred.
I purchased a $22 cable and $100 software for my computer for doing diagnosis taking a couple of days while the materials arrived. Doing some analysis of the the trouble code using the Internet VW forums, it was determined that the throttle body electronic positioner was not communicating with the main engine computer.
I took out the offending part, cleaned it and re-installed it. Same problem. Did it again, slightly better, but same problem. After several posts on the VW forum (both VWVortex and PassatWorld) someone suggested a different cleaning method, but that I was definitely on the correct part.
So I tried their method and... no improvement. I ordered a new Throttle Body with sensor (that is the only way they come) and began the wait for it to arrive. While waiting, the old throttle body and sensor were disassembled by me as I had nothing left to loose. If I broke it or was unable to fix it, the new one would be there in a day or two. If I fixed it, then I could return the new part for a small restocking fee. I completely disassembled the position sensor, cleaned it with electrical contact cleaner, throttle body cleaner and used a can of computer compressed air to blow out any residue. The part was left to dry completely overnight.
The next day, as the old part was being installed, the new part arrived. I finished installing the completely cleaned old part and checked through my computer that the part was "visible" to the engine computer. It was, so the existing "Check Engine Light" codes were cleared and the engine was tested. It met with initial success in the carport, but would it stand up to being driven.
So K and I went on a short, 3-mile, test drive and the car drove wonderfully. No problems. Later today we will get license plates and insurance for the car so it can be street legal. The next step will be to do a 15-20 mile test drive just to make sure before I go gallivanting around the countryside using this as my daily driver.
The Tradewinds, they are a blowin'
As we were puttering around the house on Sunday evening, we got a call from some relatives that were in a neighboring city. AW and UJ were in Raleigh for a wedding of a grand-niece or nephew and wanted to come by to visit on Monday. We were happy to see them, come on by!
As always, it is good to see them as we enjoy lively conversation regarding all topics, past, future and current. We relived many of my childhood escapades for my daughters, and shared some escapades by siblings that were least embarrassing. We had a great time.
They are off to see the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC before winding their way back home to PA.
Thanks for stopping by, travel safe.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Cuz, It was great to see ya
I popped in to see my DC burb cousin MEH yesterday. Although she was not feeling well, it was great to see her, her husband and their children. I was going to take a picture or two, but because ME was not feeling well, the camera was not used.
K and Sh had to go to to a school ensemble concert, so I did not see much of them early, but I stayed long enough to get some conversation afterward.
We discussed much, solved many of the world's problems and in general enjoyed the company. Thanks ME and K for the delightful evening.
K and Sh had to go to to a school ensemble concert, so I did not see much of them early, but I stayed long enough to get some conversation afterward.
We discussed much, solved many of the world's problems and in general enjoyed the company. Thanks ME and K for the delightful evening.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Wow, It is May the 8th
Much has occurred over the past 2 weeks. I will try to cover it in as few words as possible.
1) Interphex was Interphex. As all trade shows are being attended less, so it was with Interphex. There were abour 30% fewer people there this year than last. Tuesday and Wednesday were ok from a people walking by standpoint, but Thursday was very slow. Fortunately for me, my company had a couple of new people with us at the show and asked me to take them around to some of the show to explain how our equipment works in systems. That part was fun.
2) I want to thank my boss for the cold he shared with everyone at Interphex. I have the left over sinus congestion but am otherwise back.
3) Last week, it was my responsibility to help show some of my Brazilian counterparts equipment in operation. This took the entire week and was a drain on my productive time. It did however help the Brazilian guys, even though there was a slight communication barrier. We went to paper mills, textile plants, chemical plants and Biopharm facilities. I think I gave them my cold.
4) A is home for the summer, so the drama has increased. She has been here only one day, yet there are conflicts between A and C. Nothing earth shattering, but C was the primary focus and now has to share the spotlight.
5) Item 4 above has created another issue. Since my Intrepid died, we have been making due with 2 cars. Now with 4 drivers, there will be more challenges. I am seeking a new vehicle. It does not, however, make sense to have 4 vehicles with 4 drivers when one of them will be away at school and cannot take a car with them (does it C?). We will only be inconvenienced during the summer months.
6) C's room is now 90% complete. There are some details that need to be completed (like widow coverings), but the paint is done and the closet shelving has been installed. Pictures will come later this week. Think Robbins Egg Blue with white trim.
More soon...
1) Interphex was Interphex. As all trade shows are being attended less, so it was with Interphex. There were abour 30% fewer people there this year than last. Tuesday and Wednesday were ok from a people walking by standpoint, but Thursday was very slow. Fortunately for me, my company had a couple of new people with us at the show and asked me to take them around to some of the show to explain how our equipment works in systems. That part was fun.
2) I want to thank my boss for the cold he shared with everyone at Interphex. I have the left over sinus congestion but am otherwise back.
3) Last week, it was my responsibility to help show some of my Brazilian counterparts equipment in operation. This took the entire week and was a drain on my productive time. It did however help the Brazilian guys, even though there was a slight communication barrier. We went to paper mills, textile plants, chemical plants and Biopharm facilities. I think I gave them my cold.
4) A is home for the summer, so the drama has increased. She has been here only one day, yet there are conflicts between A and C. Nothing earth shattering, but C was the primary focus and now has to share the spotlight.
5) Item 4 above has created another issue. Since my Intrepid died, we have been making due with 2 cars. Now with 4 drivers, there will be more challenges. I am seeking a new vehicle. It does not, however, make sense to have 4 vehicles with 4 drivers when one of them will be away at school and cannot take a car with them (does it C?). We will only be inconvenienced during the summer months.
6) C's room is now 90% complete. There are some details that need to be completed (like widow coverings), but the paint is done and the closet shelving has been installed. Pictures will come later this week. Think Robbins Egg Blue with white trim.
More soon...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)