So, uh, yeah. Been pretty depressed today and yesterday since I knew my beloved Oliver* (formerly known as a beautiful green 2000 VW Jetta) needed some work. I knew it was going to be borderline bad but not quite this bad. I picked it up used a long way back. Actually, my parents did. I was looking at a similar model at the time, thanks to my handles-like-a-dream (but with a barely functioning engine) Mazda MX3 reaching the point beyond being not worth repairing, but the salesman sold it out from under me just when I had to take off for a hockey tournament in New York. I got on the team bus pretty damn annoyed and winning did not improve my mood upon my return… until I got to my parents’ place and saw a green Jetta on the driveway!
It was not the same one I had been looking at, but they found another seller that had the same-ish car, but automatic and VR6, in the same colour with less mileage. This person had never ever used the trunk. Seriously. He had the car all those years and I’d be stunned if he opened it once. There were some faults that I discovered later down the line, but they are livable. The sunroof is touchy and sometimes needs help closing. The glovebox is fully removable without any tools or assistance; just open it. The driver’s side seat warmer does not even pretend to work. The centre cup holder mostly worked. No big deal. Now I’ve had this car for at least 4 years and it’s got 150,000 kilometers on it and needs some love. Lots of love. Love hurts.
150k Maintenance = $300 (w/ oil change, rotation, alignment, etc)
Replacing Mirror Housing = $342 (UGH)
Engine De-Carbonization = $200 (the engine has never ever been cleaned)
Front Suspension Struts = $500 (worn to nothing, I pushed that as far and long as I could)
Maintenance was very necessary with winter approaching, of course, though the mirror is going to bug me for a while. It’s not even heated and they are keeping the mirror! It’s just the part that keeps it on the car that’s broken thanks to a Petro station’s malfunctioning car wash. I reported it right away but, of course, zero compensation. Amazingly, that very afternoon they fixed the car wash. Now I used the touchless car washes but it’s not the same. I had the mirror glued back on in the meantime but that’s not going to last through the winter. It was already bouncing around all over the place at highway speeds. Had to be done. The struts had been a problem for a while and you’d occasionally hear a hilarious noise when turning over the engine, much to the chagrin of my family and neighbours. “Uh, that sounds expensive.” Yes, yes it was. But I figured I’d fix it only when I had to and that time has come. I truly hope that the de-carbonization is worth it. Supposedly the car will drive much better since it’s going to restore a ton of performance. Supposedly. I’ve got no experience with this. I love Oliver and want to keep him going as long as possible, even if it means spending more money on him than would generally be considered wise. I’m even tossing in a few more $$ to get some interior fixes done. Alas, not the seat warmer since that’s $100 to even get it looked at and upwards from there. The glove box is also surprisingly expensive. It’s just the centre console and drink holder springs, little things.
SO OLIVER BETTER DRIVE LIKE NEW THIS WEEKEND.
On the plus side, my dad asked me to accompany him to check out some motorcycles. I love motorcycles, specifically anything Ducati, so this will cheer me up a little. I just can’t look at the price tags :)
*Don’t you watch Top Gear? Of course you do, so you know what I am talking about. Yes, I christened my car Oliver after the Botswana special — thanks to Darren for showing it to me — since it was just so perfect. My car has been remarkably similar to Hammond’s just, well, without the sinking.
{ 6 comments }
Aren’t cars awesome?! I did my own timing belt on the pt cruiser recently (had reached 90k miles, roughly the same as yours, about 150k km) which while saving me nearly $2000, I totally now understand why the mechanics charge that much. I had brought the car to my dads house, who promised to help with his air tools. It still took 3x 12 hour days to do.
Nearly immediately after my wifes PT cruiser (not matching, hers is bright silver and a 2001 N/A, mine is a charcoal grey 2004 turbo) complained of “all-over-the-road-itis-osis”. Found bad tie rod ends, both inners and outers. It cost a weekend, $75 in attempted tools, and $30 for the real tool to get the inners done. In the meantime I totally now understand alignment, (camber/toe/caster, etc) thus should make me a more effective tuner in GT5 yay! That one saved me roughly $650.
Sucks about the mirror – I’d have cobbled something together from old junkyard parts and duct tape. I must have put 9 differing driver side mirrors on my old firebird back in the day.
“Engine de-carbonization” is sometimes known as seafoaming, and your car is certainly due for it. Don’t expect anything other than cleaner intake and exhaust valves, which won’t really do much for you besides know that you have less gunk clogging up your motor. It’s a “feel good” repair, like cleaning the fishtank.
One of these days I’ll get around to my wifes front suspension – she needs bushings very badly. The parts are only $150 but the work, wow its hard.
Good luck with Oliver!
Thanks for the luck; it all worked out well :)
You definitely have to message me when GT5 comes out to talk tuning. My friends are less impressed with how crazy I am for it and ready to shove me out a window.
With the mirror I did, uh, glue it back on for a few months and was going to bust out the duct tape before I decided to get it done for real before winter. Salt is a bitch on Canadian roads. Also, I get to be slightly vain about Oliver and the poor guy suffered enough these past months. I still need to get him painted before first snow, but I’ll get quotes for that next week.
And, just cause: hehehehe PT Cruiser. I know they can be good cars but I can’t help but think of it as anything but a mini hearse!!
Engine De-Carbonization, LOL. As P. T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute”. Seriously, how do people fall for this shit.
Me, 1990 Chevrolet Lumina with 3.1 V6 and never had Engine De-Carbonization and still starts up perfectly every time and purrs like a kitten.
And did you really need an alignment. Were you noticing a drift. Did it want to drift to a certain side. Remember that you can only check drift on truly level roads because as roads get traveled on they begin to cause vehicles to drift do to road wear. Also were you noticing weird tire wear. Like extreme wear on one side but not the other. Or wear inside a tire or on the outside.
Replacing Mirror Housing = $342, um, maybe you should have checked the local junk yards. You can find perfect cars parts that are mint even if the rest of the car is crap.
Find a different auto shop Jenn because these people took you to the cleaners. Next time check Consumer Reports and use AAA certified places. True AAA is no absolute guarantee but you have a better chance at honesty.
Um, about the P. T. Barnum thing, I just mean people in general. I have been a sucker plenty of times. I just don’t want to seem unsympathetic because I am. It just annoys me to no end that so many auto shops screws their customers over. If you truly do have engine build up, next time just go to an auto parts store and buy cheap engine cleaners. The auto shop uses the same stuff, just in bulk containers.
Don’t worry, I was absolutely not taking that personally :)
Actually, my mirror IS that stupid expensive. Ridiculous indeed. Junk shops were not saving me that much money and did not match. You gotta trust me, I spent the months the glue was working calling around tons of places. You’d think I was asking for the moon depending on who answered the phone.
The alignment was minor, 30min, but necessary. I have relatively new tires and didn’t want them to deteriorate any faster than they need to! You know how it is. Tires are way more expensive than the alignment. Next time I may do the engine cleaning myself but, good god, does the engine sound and run incredible now. I drove away a very happy (and very poor) girl. It didn’t run this well the way I got it, amazingly. God, it flies. Not that it was ever slow before, but the sound is truly fantastic. zomg. ^_^
Awesome about your car running real good. You’ll need to give me a ride then sometime, well go vroom, vroom. :)
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