coil on plug

Apparently the VW 1.8T engine has a bit of a design flaw.

as we have been having problems with rough idles and stalling.  Having checked the engine over with diagnostic equipment and listening to the motor the coils on cylinders 1 and 3 were found to be the culprits. two coils replaced and everything is peachy.

cars are annoying.

a recap of recent happenings

So the last post was about replacing the oil breather hose on our 2001 VW jetta 1.8T.  The very next morning after fixing this hose I had the car in the shop for 1. oil change 2. tires.  My brother had been over seas studyign and having just returned home to the states I was going to take him out to lunch.  So we piled into the Jetta and I took him into the city.  

In the middle lane on Marion on a sunny day at 11:30am, an early 2000s silverado pickup heading the opposite direction cut in front of us to enter I94 East bound.  Thus clipping the corner of the jetta, and continuing onto the Highway.

So the police come by and we fill out a report, and we tried to match the plate I read to the truck that hit us.  Not so much luck.

So we took the car to Superior Collision in Eagan and they did a great job replacing the fender, the hood, bumper, and rehanging the passenger door. The paint is perfect.

And then AAA sent the check to the wrong address. dammit.

Memorial day weekend was a blast, as we went out to Maryland to see the new nephew and my sister's other kids (and obviously my sister and her husband), and some old friends that live outside Charlotte who drove all the way up so we could hang out. 

We went to Annapolis, we went into DC, we drank in a micro brewery.  We had an awesome time. pictures to follow.

Then this past Saturday we went to see Gogol Bordello at the Cabooze.  Which was awesome.  And then we played Settlers of Catan till 1am. And when we got home finally, I hopped onto Craigslist.  And some guy was listing his Surly Instigator for less than the cost of buying the frame. 

So, after sleeping on it, today I bought another bike.

Anyone want to buy a Murray three speed?

Which is why you never fix two things in a weekend

So my super awesome plan for the weekend was to fix the oil breather hose on the car.  Hoses are pretty low key as repairs go.

The car had been have some weird idle issues but no error code, so something was wrong someplace without a sensor.  But that hardly narrows the field.  But Chester found a hole in the oil breather hose last weekend.  

The dealerships wanted 73-88 dollars for the hose, Metric Auto Parts on Smith Ave in St Paul had the best price and with tax the hose ran 71.xx.  

Then this morning I had scheduled an oil change and to get two tires put on the car because the Sam's Club specials that it had were quickly balding (I didn't buy the tires). So the car has a new hose, fresh oil, and brand spankign new tires,

Heading North on Marion have just left Kellog in St Paul, were in the middle lane And this guy heading South on Marion wanting to enter I94 East cuts in front of us.

Busted the headlight, crimped the hood something awful, busted the bumper, and caved in the fender. The Passenger front door doesn't open now because the fender is pressing against it.

pictures to follow.

The sneaky plan part 1

A while back I bought an early ninties Miyata mountain bike and almost immediately put studded tires on it.  I bought it second hand and slightly rusty.  I wanted a single speed bike for the winter becasue I didn't want any messy mechanical snafu on my commutes home.

So now the weather is getting springier, so it is time to give Guy Woodhouse a makeover.

trouble is, getting the rusty bits to budge.

It took 45 minutes just to knock the cranks off and remove one cup from the bottom bracket.

tomorrow morning: drive side cup, and everything else

Schadenfruede

Because I am the angel of death when it comes to cars.

Saturday I biked most of the way home from work.  But I knew the better half was also out biking so I went through Minnehaha Park to see if I could catch up.  I was about t get onto Ford when I saw our Jetta parked at Lock and Damn 1.  And some people staring at it.

Well this actually:

The ass hole who busted out the window didn't have the courtesy to steal anything.  They pulled my messenger bag out of the trunk and rooted through it...

BUT EVERYTHING WAS STILL THERE!

So now we have to replace the window.  GAAAAAH!

Merde

So the Jetta went in for new bearings today.  Dammit.

We decided to take an emergency bike ride.  And that really helped.  We went up Minnehaha to Cedar and picked up a few things from Midwest Mountaineering.  Which was pretty cool, we ran into Kevin.  

Shannon found a nice hat and I found some gloves that will be nice when it gets colder out.  Since the car just needed further repairs, I passed on the gloves for now.

But after perusing the sporting goods store, we went to the Town Hall brewery for lunch.  I had two and a half pints of the house stout, and Shannon had the triple and a stout.  To eat, I had the 7 corners burger since we had just been to 7 corners hardware this morning.  We went there looking for locktite which we found, but I also showed Shannon which drills I liked there.  There are two Mikita and one Milwaukee drills I think would be nice.  One of the Mikita drills is pretty small, and only 2 amps, but it also weighs damn near nothing.  And the other two were much much larger, with the second handle and everything.  The burger though, was awesome.  Shannon had the pumpkin soup and brat special which rivaled the burger.

The stout was smooth without being sweet or heavy.  We'll have to go back.

On our way home, we needed to rest a bit.  Mostly, I was having trouble going in a straight line.  But as we were sitting next to someone's bronzed work boots a couple came pushing their bikes by asking for directions to the Hub.  But what they clearly needed was a patch and a pump.  

I had a pump but sadly couldn't find my patch kit anywhere.  So another rider gave us a glueless patch and we put everything back together.  And I told them where they should be going for their bicycle needs.

Changing the water pump on '91 Prelude

Who designs these things?

The advantage of the Honda over a Ford is the commitment to metric.  With 4 sockets it would be pretty straight forward to get through all of the engine.  On the Taurus especially every other bolt was metric or standard.  

Now I have changed a few water pumps on Gimpy the Wonder Taurus, but this Honda made the Taurus look easy.  The head cover had to come off, and the accessory belts.  And the timing belt. And the crankshaft pulley.  And the left engine mount.

Otherwise it was pretty easy to wiggle the pump up in between stuff and onto the block.

BUT we did it.  In one night. With no injuries past cut knuckles.  And actually, doing work with friends in good spirits is always a pleasure.

The trick is in lowering the engine by about an inch.  The pullies, dust covers and pump all fit past the fender much easier.  also a 1 1/2 inch extension might be nice. I picked one up at 7 corners after the fact because it was so dearly missed.  Tools you want to have also: 10mm socket, 10mm box end wrench, 12mm socket, 17mm deep socket, 19mm socket, razor blade, hydraulic jack, blocks, 12in extension, 1 1/2in extension, universal joint, a stout breaker bar, a torque wrench, oven, and a better or at least less cryptic shop manual than the Chilton's because damn.  The oven is to bake pizza, you'll get hungry.  I would strongly suggest buying belts to replace all the belts and radiator hoses, since almost everything needs to come apart anyway.

In for an oil change

So we dropped the car off for an oil change.  With a turbo charger those are supposed to have that changed fairly regularly... more like clock work.  And it was due.

The Tow truck set it down in the parking lot, and we waited to hear what they had to say.

While they forgot to change the oil, in three days they were able to diagnose and repair the singular whump sound the car had made.

I don't like feeling vulnerable.  I do what I can to prevent the feeling and since we just bought the car, and since we had problems within a month of the van having the head gasket go, I'm feeling a bit vulnerable.  What is frustrating is that I like driving.  It's the rest of the costs and headache I hate.  I like riding my bike, and I like fixing it too.  Which makes me even more frustrated when I lack the wherewithal to fix the car.  

ARUGH.