January 11, 2010
Hello….
Hello.... =)
My right headlamp went out so I decided to replace both with brighter, whiter headlamps than I had before. I also decided to replace the windshield wipers since it’s supposed to rain tomorrow and I believe I still have the original wipers… seriously, the original wipers. Anyway, in order replace the headlamps I had to take off the front grill. Hmm, this seems familiar. =)
Jetta gets AMP’d…
For Christmas my very thoughtful brother gave me something I’ve always wanted but been too wishy-washy to get myself, an AMP and killer speaker box to bump the bass in my car. =)
I was a bit aprehensive about modifying my car at all because I am so happy with it but this turned out awesome. Jeffery started the install the week before and got the power run to the back of the car but ran out of time and had to come back last Friday evening to finish the job.
It's not exactly comfortable but it works. Jeffery figures out where to position the amp.
In order to mount the amp so the screws don't go through the carpeting Jeffery had to remove it before installation.
Jeffery had to remove the back seat and siding in order to snake the speaker wire to the front seat. He got everything back where it belonged though. Great job Lil' Brudda. 
By 11:30pm Jeffery had gotten everything installed and put back together so after jumping the car (leaving the doors open drained the battery) we headed out to get the amp dialed in for just the right amount of bass. At first the system sounded TERRIBLE because it was playing all audio through the speaker, not just the bass. After we pulled over so Jeffery could adjust the levels things started sounding good, really good. So good I couldn’t stop laughing. I couldn’t believe how rockin’ my car sounded. Sweet… =)
Thanks to my little brother for a very thoughtful Christmas gift and for doing a great job installing it in my Jetta. Next up a new deck so I can take full advantage of the new addition to my car.
December 10, 2009
More Jetta work and tortilla soup…
This morning Heather called me at work to tell me that she had made tortilla soup and ask would I be interested in having her over to share the meal. Uh, yeah!
Heather met me at my house and immediately got to preparing the meal. It’s times like this that I wish I could cook.
Heather heats up the tortilla soup she made last night and prepares slices of avacado, sour cream and cilantro to add on top. Mmmm... =)
It tasted even better than it looked (I know, is that even possible?). =)
Heather also invited Jeffery over so the four of us got to enjoy a wonderful home cooked meal while watching episodes of Police Squad (hilarious) and Stacked (always good for a laugh).
Heather, Jeffery and Me
After dinner Jeffery offered to install the lock chassis that just arrived for the Jetta. After breaking yet another piece we at least got the automatic trunk unlock function working. Hurray! Thanks Jeffery.
At this point it was about 7:30 and Heather and Jeffery had headed home. Since I wanted to fix the trunk lock and glove box door at the same time I decided to break out my Jetta manual and get started. It was way more complicated than I had originally thought but that didn’t deter me. First up, removing the front console.
In order to remove the console I had to take out 5 screws, remove the lighter and change drawer, take off the automatic shift knob and then carefully rock the plastic housing until the tabs released. Ok I admit, I did snap a few plastic pieces. The car is almost 10 years old so the plastic is brittle.
I can't believe I actually decided to strip the car down to this level. I hope it all goes back together ok.
The whole reason for removing the console was to get at this one screw that held the glovebox in place. Thank goodness I had the manual otherwise I probably would have just snapped this piece off not knowing it was actually screwed in.
So all that work was just to be able to get access to a screw....one screw.... That's a lot of work for one screw (tewwible!).
Seven more screws to release the glove box and then I was finally able to tackle replacing the front door.
I spent over an hour trying to get the old door off and then new one secured in place. Turns out that the holes on the hinges of the door were too small and off center so the pins wouldn’t go in. After giving up on the brute force approach I grabbed my Makita and drilled out the holes so they’d accommodate the pins. Success!!
Ignore the RAID in the background. Yeah, we have ants again. Boo... =P
After about 3 hours of scratching up my knuckles and letting out more curse words than I care to admit I was finally able to get the Jetta back together and looking pretty good might I add. It was a lot of work but totally worth it. =)
Looks good right? =)
Although I was a bit bummed about not installing the trunk lock bracket myself I completely forgot about that after tackling the glovebox. It was a huge challenge and I did it!! Now I just need to fix the leaky radiator problem (I’ll probably have to take the car in to the shop for that but at least all the other parts are fixed now). Until the next Jetta crisis this is Jettagirl saying Peace Out and VW for life. Goodnight! =)
Yeah you know you're rolling hard when you're driving a Jetta. VW 4 Life baby. What what?! =)
November 10, 2009
Houston, we have a problem…
This last weekend I went to pop the trunk of my Jetta and was saddened to find that nothing happened. I could hear the latch apparatus doing something so at least the electronics part seemed to be working but yeah, no dice. =(
Being that my Jetta is very important to me and I really like being able to use the trunk I decided that I would attempt to identify and fix the problem myself. So tonight, armed with a backpacking headlamp, a screwdriver and a bowl to hold the screws, I shimmied through a folded down seat in the back row of the Jetta and into the trunk to begin removing the carpeted interior.
Although it was a bit cramped in there, it didn't take too long to remove the 13 screws and get a closer look at what was going on.
This is an up close of the broken latch assembly. When working properly the arm to the left of the white locking mechanism pushes the black lever to lift the latch and unlock the trunk.
Unfortunately the black lever is made of plastic (lame!) and finally cracked after 9 years of service. With the latch lever hanging on by a thread it was only a matter of time before it fell off completely. Boo... =(
After getting an up close and personal look at how the locking mechanism works it appears I should be able to unlock the trunk by turning the key clockwise (counter clockwise just engages the electronic lock). I'll have to replace some parts to give that a try.
I was hoping I could jury rig something to get the locking mechanism working again but it was not to be, well at least not without additional resources (like crazy glue perhaps). I also tried to remove the metal mounting from the trunk so I could see about replacing the whole thing however I would have needed deeper sockets to get around the screws. My brother has the right tools so I’m going to see if he can let me borrow them tomorrow to finish this up.
With no other options for fixing the trunk I guess it’s over and out from Jettagirl for now. I’ll write more when I have an update on the status of my car. =)
October 5, 2008
Well we tried….
So my Jetta is apparently having an issue with keeping its cool. That is to say it’s overheated twice in two weeks. =P
I let my dad know what was going on and being the awesome dad he is, he offered to come and check it out with me. Because I have the manual we thought that even though it would probably be challenging, we’d at least have the information we needed to do the troubleshooting/repair. Yeah, that wasn’t even close to being the case.
The first step was to remove the thermostat and see if it operated properly at temperature. Ok, that sounds reasonable. To get any access to the area in question we removed the bumper and jacked up the car. Then we checked out what the manual had to say.
Dad and me consulting the manual
Hmm, it says to drain the coolant and then remove the thermostat (figure 25). Well let’s see, we found the plug to drain the coolant but before doing that, we wanted to know where this cap to the thermostat housing was. First my dad gave it a try.
Dad checking out underside of Jetta
Then we both gave it a try…
Trying to trace the cap that holds the thermostat in place
Hmm, this isn’t working, ah, I’ve got an idea!
Who would have thought a knitting needle would come in handy for working on a car?
Yes, it’s the lighted knitting needles Mandy gave me for Christmas. I haven’t had a chance to use them yet but they are the perfect tools for providing light into the nooks and crannies (Mmm, makes me hungry for an English muffin) of my tightly packed Jetta hood. Ok, now properly armed with the right tools my dad and I once again tried to trace the tubing to the thermostat cap.
Teamwork
Finally with me using one lighted knitting needle from the top and my dad using the other from the underside we were able to pinpoint the most likely location of the thermostat cap and…. it’s totally inaccessible without completely taking apart a bunch of other components. My dad still gave it a shot by disconnecting what I think was the air filter housing and removing the top plastic covering of the engine but still no luck. =(
Well even though checking the thermostat was a no go we were still able to make some improvements to the Jetta. Since we had the car on stands we decided to take off the front tires and replace the plastic wheel wells that were destroyed a couple years ago when the front bumper got ripped off after driving over a concrete parking block. I’ve had the replacement parts for about a year but didn’t have a jack low enough to get under the car so it’s had to wait. Thanks to my dad bringing out his floor jack we were finally able to install the new wheel wells. Sweet! =)
After we got that taken care of we put everything back together and first thing Monday morning I’ll be making an appt. w/ the Dublin Volkswagen service department. Even though we weren’t able to fix the problem, I had a lot of fun working on the car with my dad and we only lost one screw so I call that a success. Hey, at least we tried.
January 16, 2008
Quality time with my Jetta….
So normally quality time with my Jetta would include a Saturday morning drive with the windows down, heater (and heated seats) turned up, my 80′s music blasting and Sierra in the passenger seat smiling and sticking her muppet head out the window as we head down the backroads of Livermore…. sweet… =)
Unfortunately, that was not the manner of quality time to be had this evening. =( Instead, I had to figure out how to replace a blown headlamp bulb which was not nearly as easy to replace as the tail light that had to be replaced about two weeks ago. Fortunately, I bought the $90 manual way back in 2000 when my parents bought me the Jetta so at least I had pictures to walk me through the process minimizing the chances of me breaking something or throwing a screwdriver through the windshield in frustration.
Ok, so let’s get to it. First of all, the manual. Here are the steps (more than I would have imagined) in all their black and white glory.
Ok, not too bad. I did run into a couple of problems including the fact that in order to take off the bumper, I had to unscrew two screws located under the wheel well and with the car lowered, there is very little clearance to work a hex head. The other problem was that in order to remove the hood latch assembly, I needed to try and pry this forky thing apart with two screwdrivers since for some reason, the pull tab that would have made that a lot easier was already missing.
So here are the steps. First of all I had to detach the hood latch assembly (challenging but did it). Then I removed the radiator grill. This was also pretty easy. No screws, just a couple of attachment clips that were easily removed with a small flathead screwdriver. After removing a bunch of screws that held the bumper in place I was able to gently lower it to the ground (ok so really it popped off after I pulled on it and kind of slumped to the floor).
Now the Jetta is looking pretty broken down. Actually it still looks hot. There must be something wrong with me.
So now there was just one thing left to do and that was to remove the 4 screws securing the headlamp in place and then replace the bulb. Finally, something easy! =)
Half-way done so it’s time for a “half-way done” celebratory drink.
Ok back to work. Let’s see, where was I? Oh yeah, back to replacing the bulb. So replacing the bulb was pretty easy. Well it was easy after I got past the hard stuff. Once I replaced the bulb and verified that it worked (learned the hard way), it took me considerably less time to put things back together. Before I knew it I was replacing the radiator grill and then it was time for a buddy picture with me and my newly repaired Jetta. =)
Oh and to prove I actually performed all the dirty work, here’s me greasy paws.
Ok, that was fun but let’s hope I don’t have to do that again any time soon. =) Ok, it’s nearly 10pm, I took Sierra for a long walk/run tonight so I’m going to head to bed now. Goodnight all….
