New Project (sort Of)...

Well, it had to happen. I was kind of forced into getting "gainful employment" due to the benefits. And the only place I could find anything that paid more than McDonalds was at our nation's largest online retailer.

Now, let's make things interesting. Usually, people work at the local Fulfillment Center - they are spread liberally around the big cities - or at the Dispatch Center where the little blue trucks are loaded and sent from. Me? Nah. I'm at their largest US "air sort" facility. It is interesting work, I have to say, but there's a downside. It's 57 miles from home each way. Along a toll highway, too.

My main ride is a 2004 Ram 2500 pickup, with the 5.7 Hemi. We get about 12 MPG lately. So the trip is costly. And there's parts that need to be replaced. And since this is the tow vehicle for our RV, I can't afford to have it age out prematurely. It's already got 242000 miles without major work, and that's because I tend to baby it. Daily commuting is not what I have in mind...

So the family just grew by one. I am the (semi) happy owner of a New (to me) Old (2006) New Beetle. It's my first VW, and it boasts the 1.9L TDI engine. Woo!

Previous owner(s) have clearly driven her hard and put her away wet. Lots of (hopefully) minor work to make it completely reliable. Probably the biggest issue may be me doing a timing belt and replacing the engine mount.

For now, this is taking my time. And with working 4 days a week as well, the DJ progress is slowing down. But it isn't being forgotten.

 

Be careful or you'll end up putting a TDI in the DJ5.

 

If those VW diesels are as good as I hear they are it should run forever.

 

they are

 

<PurpleRainMode>Forever, that's a mighty long time. But I'm here to tell you, there's something else...</PurpleRainMode>

There are known weaknesses in each engine. And for the BEW engine, the weakness has to do with it digesting cam shafts on a semi-regular basis. Even if you religiously purchase and use the magic oil as specified by the good folks in Germany, you're only (barely) slowing down the inevitable. I haven't learned nearly enough about that engine as I now know about the AMC 232, but these warning flags are now no longer flags but carved in granite.

Other weaknesses are the timing belt, which craps out every 5 years or 80K miles, whichever comes first. And this also means you get a new water pump, front oil seal, lots of "Use Only Once Or We Will Find Out And Report You To The Authorities" nuts and bolts. You get to jack the engine up as you need to pull off mounts to do this, plus have it on a lift, since half of the work is done through the wheel well.

And then you get all of the other magic weirdness that comes along with older diesels in general. Having to prime the fuel system when you change the filter/separator. Positive Pressure in the crankcase, so don't open the oil filler neck when she's running. Oh, and the oil turning jet black seconds after the engine starts running. It's enough to give me hives.

But my wife has taken a 100% shine to the car. We're getting the interior fixed up (headliner, broken door panels, etc), bring it in for a paint job (and we're not talking Earl Scheib any longer), and then come the custom license plates. I've drawn the line at the artificial eyelashes.

I've been told that this may seem like my commuter car, but it's going to be her fun car, so I'd better get moving and get the DJ registered already. Such an ultimatum!

 

Congrats!

We picked up a low milage 2006 beetle with the 2.5l for my wife a couple of years ago. It seems to require special tools that are difficult to find. The oil filter is just an element in a reusable plastic housing. I could not find a filter wrench for it at any of the auto parts stores and I visited them all. Had to order one online. Door locks are held in with something the looks like TORX but has an extra point, why? Finding fluids that say they meet the VW specs has been a little difficult also.

Lots of things are computer controlled so getting VCDS or OBDEleven is a big help. I have a problem with it now where the radiator fan runs on high whenever the key is in the on position. I think it is PWM controlled from one of the computers and has a fan motor driver integrated into the fan motor assembly. Lots of sensors tell the cooling fan how fast to run. Generally over complicated and hard to work on.

It is a pretty fun little car to drive though.... And it's something she has wanted for a while.

Does yours smell like crayons inside, seems like the ones we test drove smelled like crayons.

 

thank you...love the beetle but not that much

 

This thread makes me smile. Around 2005 or so... One of the guys on my sister's hockey team (county organized) had a diesel beetle. It made it to every practice and game but I never figured out how the gear and sticks fit in it.

 

I was hoping that it was more like the original Beetle, but nothing is the same. Not the mechanics, not the mentality, not even the bud vase.

The previous snot-waffle who owned this Bug stopped going to the VW dealership and let the local corner mechanic wrench on it. Which meant that Mr. Mechanic put the oil filter element into the steel housing upside down. This was no big issue, until he had to close the screw cap. And it won't close. So he busted out the breaker bar in place of the torque wrench. Managed to drive the filter element so far up the stem the wrong way that it would not come apart and needed to be replaced. A $100 oil filter cap and stem. I cheaped out and bought the wrench 6-pack from Hardly Freight. One of them fit, and it only has to withstand 25Nm of torque. Good enough.

The doors are held on with something called "Triple Square" bolts. Basically, it's a 12-point hex. And then, it's a tight place, so you need a special socket wrench to drive the special bits... Urgh.

No comment. Motor oil at $17 per quart, and even then it still doesn't prevent the camshaft lobes from being pulverized into itsy bitsy pieces of metal. But if you use "cheap" diesel truck oil, it'll fail faster than you can imagine. Coolant is another one of those oddities. I am convinced that technology has not made the VW line any more reliable or safer. It's just more complex and costly. And maybe this is just the TDI talking, but it seems like this cute car that might have been a "Daddy Buy Me" for a new female driver is super expensive to maintain. I can't say for sure, but it might neutralize out the MPG benefits of the small diesel.

My wife started out grumpy. I have a truck, a Jeep, a motorcycle, and I was now getting a commuter car. She's got a car of her own. But she wanted a "fun" car to have parity with the DJ5. Somehow, she fell in love with the curves of this Bug and it's transmogrified into her new fun ride. I get to take it for commuting, but once I get a desk job again, it's all hers.

When I bought it, it smelled like somebody hauled a skillet of primo grade diesel in the back. The smell was, well, obnoxious. Had to drive with the windows down. After 2 detailings and getting the carpets shampooed and the mats scrubbed, it now smells of something faintly resembling a used box of Crayolas. I think I'm gonna buy me a bottle of that $5 cologne knockoff and use that as an air freshener for now.

 

Do yourself a favour and just get a set of triple-square sockets, if you're going to own a VW or Audi, they use them in a number of places.

Where the hell are you paying $17 a quart for VW approved oil? I don't know about Dallas, but having worked for NAPA up here, we were selling the VW spec Liqui-Moly Diesel Oil for something like $35-40 for a 5L jug.

This is just the online price for guy off the street, but it's a heck of alot lower than $17 a quart... Liqui Moly Motor Oil 5W40 5 l AIC LM2022 | Buy Online - NAPA Auto Parts (napaonline.com)

I don't know that your VW calls for the 5w40, I just grabbed that for a pricing comparision, but you might want to check it out.

 

my dad had a vw rabbit that siezed up while he was driving it, let it cool down then drove home.

 

Secondarily to the looks, I am slowly regretting the VW engineering design process. I just changed out the cabin air filter. It took just about 2 hours of dismantling half of the dash board, then getting into the air chamber. And this is what I found waiting for me:


Knowing what I went through, this is the original filter. And, yes, those are leaves (and a feather). And, yes, it is all on the INSIDE of the passenger cabin. What in the name of Good Googly is all of this crap? Why would you make something that's supposed to be changed semi-regularly and then bury it where it is pretty damn near inaccessible? And not even put in a screen/mesh pre-filter to keep the big chunks out?

Technology has not gotten smarter over time...

 

Lots of manufacturers do this, unfortunately it's not just a VW thing. And I have *yet* to see a Cabin Air Filter with any sort of pre-screen on it.