The Ghost of GoRo

I have been coming off of an illness, having been sick for almost a month. Yeah, whatever that thing is going around got me good. In the meantime, we have gotten some headway on the shop doors and I got to start thinking about what's next on Oliver to get him on the road for the Summer. Today, though, is a cautionary tale about selling a car, no matter who you sell it to.

 

What's GoRo

GoRo

I'll back up a little bit first. Back in June of 2023, in my "Small Fence, Big Difference" post (link here) I mentioned in passing that we had sold GoRo, our 2009 Audi A4 to a guy down the street. We told him multiple times prior to closing the sale that he really did not want the car, that there were weird issues with the transmission, interior plastic bits were breaking off and that it was a generally crappy car. He would not heed our concerns, saying it was for his daughter, he could get the mechanicals fixed up fine, etc. There was still a couple of months left on the existing registration, and he was going to have to drive it to his mechanic, and then over to Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to get registered. So, Boo with her ever generous heart, let him take the car with the tags on it. We went inside and recorded the sale with the state of Oregon immediately.

 

Sales Daisy Chain

Of course, we were right. He took the car and within a couple of weeks he had sold it. But, he didn't tell us, nor did he remove the tags that we had left on there for him. In Oregon, you have a month after buying a car to change the registration. Since he hadn't had the car for a full month, he was officially in the clear, but whoever he sold it to also sold it within a few days, and we lost the handle on the ownership after that. 

 

Ticket Parade 

Why is all of this important? Within a few days after our

barn door

neighbor sold the car, we got our first of many speeding or other moving violation caught-on-camera ticket, followed by parking tickets and toll-lane charges. We got tickets from Montana, Texas, California and Colorado. In each case, we sent copies of proof that we no longer owned the car. For the tickets which came from legitimate state, county or city governments, the tickets were waived. In the case where the ticket was for not paying a toll on a "private road", the charging entity did not care that were were not the owners and could prove that we were not even in the state at the time of the violation. Instead, they sent the ticket to collections, dinging our credit. To prevent further damage to our credit, we paid that one. Most of these tickets arrived within the first 6 months after the car was sold.

 

Final Straw

This week, we got what we believe to be the final ticket. GoRo had been impounded in the City of Merced and would remain in their custody until we came down to their office and paid the bail on parking tickets. We don't care and after a while they will put the car up for auction, and it will be someone else's problem. I just hope the auction house or the City of Merced removes the license plates before handing it off to another sucker.

 

Buh Bye GoRo

barn door, inside

By the time we sold off GoRo, Boo and I pretty much hated the car. The seats were stiff like bleachers, increasing internal switches were failing, plastic bits were falling off, the transmission shifted funny, etc. It outside looked great, but wow, what a lemon of a car. The lesson here for us and for you: even if you're selling the car to your friend, remove the tags. If you are all down for the sale and want to be generous, drive over to DMV and remove the tags while your friend is getting temporary plates. Once that car leaves your possession, there is no telling what will happen to that car. You could find yourself with a big pile of tickets from uninterested parties who only want money, and are willing to hammer your credit to get it.

 

Car and Shop Stuff

I mentioned at the top that we have made headway on the doors on the shop. Recall, I have 4 openings which need closings. Over the past month, our friend Ray has built barn doors for the large opening facing west using extra siding I had added to the order for the shop so those doors could get made. It is a 10 foot wide opening, so the doors are each just over 5 feet wide. They totally look the part and glide open/shut easily. We also installed a "people door" on the north elevation or facing the farm house. This leaves a 8 foot wide doorway on the backside and the main large garage door next to the people door. I have been saving for the big door. While that doorway is a standard 16' wide, it is 10' high (just in case someone comes along with something really big, I guess). So, it is a semi-standard door.

 

On cars, I have Hapy about as ready to visit Justin as I can make him. Since he hasn't really driven since I put him back together, I really would have liked to have driven him a little more. With Diesel hitting $6/gallon around here, I all the more do not want to be driving with a fuel leak. So, his next drive will be to Justin's place.

 

voltage gauge upper right

To keep my hands busy, I have been looking at Oliver, the 1978 MGB. I couldn't get him to start when I went to move him into the shop and I didn't really look into why at the time, I just hauled him. I slid under the rear end and discovered why: I had drained all of his fuel out the last time I parked him. If I remember right, I put that fuel into the lawn tractor and the rest into Astra. Antyway, I test-fired the fuel pump with 12V directly from the battery and the fuel pump works. So, if it does not come on with the ignition key-turn, it's a wiring issue. After messing with that, I removed the voltage gauge from the dash and will be sourcing switched power for that. I had simply used the always-hot 12V for the clock I had replaced, but that runs the battery down eventually. I hope to have some time this weekend to finish the voltage gauge, put some gas in and see if I can get him to run, and idle. Then maybe I'll back him out and give him a long overdue bath and a drive-around.

 

Well, that's it for today. Keep your license plates when you sell your cars, and thanks, as always, for following along- 

Hapy Drives Again

It has been a long 18+ months without having a member of our family kicking around with us. But, Hapy is one injection-pump re-seal away from daily-driver status. Today, I'll go through the last little things. Again, my regrets for not taking many pictures. I have been away from fixing and blogging so I have fallen out of the habit of snapping a picture while I'm doing the doing. Also, I got hit by whatever flu thing that's been going around and was flat-backin bed-ridden for the last 3 weeks.

Clutch Adjustment

post-test drive

I touched on this at the end of my last post. I had to add an extra small spacer at the end of the Bowden tube as well as on the very end adjuster. To be fair, I really didn't need the one on the adjuster, but I would would not have much adjustment thread left if I hadn't. I ordered a replacement clutch cable and when it arrives, I will keep it under the rock-n-roll bed until I get to replacing it. I expect I will replace that cable relatively soon, but I want some fun drives before I take him off the road again, even to do something that I could do (and have done) on the roadside.

 

The standard adjustment advice is to shift the tension on the cable as felt by your foot on the pedal such that there is no engagement until the pedal has moved a good inch down towards the floor. This prevents premature wear on the clutch and/or throwout bearing. You don't want the throwout bearing riding on the clutch spindles all the time. That's noisy and introduces premature wear. What I did not recall from prior clownings on the cable was that the arm protruding from the transaxle would have so much play in it before the throw-out bearing touched the pressure plate at all. I recall it practically resting on the pressure plate, but my memory is not reliable. Anyway, I felt that the arm needed to press against the spring a little bit to get the adjustment correct. As I think on it now, that spring being engaged is what holds the clutch pedal all the way up so it's right. It just felt foreign. Honestly, it has been so long since I worked on Hapy, lots of this work has felt unusual.

 

Tail Light Show

Bowden Tube pic from theSamba

The tail lights were acting really strange prior to my first intended test drive after getting the clutch sorted. I start assessing the lights rather simply: run the hazards first. Since no other systems are involved, the blinkers ought to all light up together and turn off together. The left (driver) side was lighting up opposite from the others. When I added in simple running lights (still no key in ignition), the tail lights were a light show of blinking. I had initially thought that I did something funny with the reverse switch, but that is a simple dumb switch that allows 12V through when the transaxle is in reverse. So, I ruled that out. I concluded that the ground for the light fixture was poor, weak or virtually non-existent, causing the 12V to seek a ground though alternative paths of other not-illuminated lights, causing them to light up.

 

Getting into the Cavity 

The left (driver) side tail light is hidden behind a panel I added to offer colder air to the engine (See VW Bus Cold Air Intake). I had forgotten how much of the ugly TDI wiring was also hidden back there when I removed the panel. Anyway, first, I disconnected the cold air pipe at the last rubber coupling before the turn into the hidden cavity under the spare tire well. Then, I removed the 4 nuts holding the pipe flashing, and removed the air filter "assembly". While this was out of the bus, I thoroughly cleaned the air filter and shop-vac'd the cavity. With the air filter out of the way, I removed most of the screws holding the panel in place with a slotted screwdriver and bent the panel out of the way to access the tail light assembly.

 

Grounding

left side panel under spare

Immediately after sticking my head and a small flashlight into the space, I spotted a ground that had fallen off the grounding tab on the rear next to the light assembly. I popped that back onto the ground tab and tested the lights. There was no noticeable impact, but those grounds were probably used by something, so some other issue just got resolved.

I decided to add a ground directly from the metal back-plate of the tail light assembly to the unused grounding tab next to the one I had just resolved. I added what I call a "chair" tab splitter (because it looks kinda like a chair), that turns one tab into 2, to the grounding tab on the rear of the tail light. I re-attached the existing ground to one side of the "chair" and added a short brown wire to the other side, connecting it to the unused tab on the rear body. I then retested, and the crazy light show was over, and the left tail lights were much brighter. So much so, that I decided to add a ground the right side tail light, in hopes of balancing the lights.

 

The right (passenger) side is much easier to access on Hapy, but probably harder for anyone without a cold air intake cavity thing because the battery makes things tight. Unlike the left side, I disconnected the light fixture from the bus and hung it out the rear while I worked. I basically did the same thing as I did on the left/driver side: chair splitter, used an unused nearby grounding tab. Once reassembled, the left side did not see as significant an improvement, but I think the original grounding wire is shared between the lights so the right side was already getting benefit from what I did on the left side before I started messing with it, I just hadn't noticed during the left-side test.

 

Test Drive

At this point, I felt that I was safe enough to travel on a shared street. So, I backed out of the shop, down the lane-way and out to the street. He easily went into 1st gear and away we went. I did not have the little UltraGauge plugged in, choosing instead to use my senses to vibe the test loop. Hapy ran great. Power on demand at my foot, easily shifting from gear to gear, and getting into 4th but only barely before dropping back down. He still popped out of second when I quick-decelerated, but it was not as immediate and on a light decelerate he stayed in gear. So, there's some improvement there; I did not expect any. The exhaust was much quieter; I think some of my "wow this bus is loud" that drove to all the sound containment may have been at least in part from the broken exhaust-to-muffler joint. Facepalm.

 

The drive was not without its issues, tho. While the cooling fan and intercooler fans both came on by the manual switch, the intercooler fan was louder than I remembered. This could in part be because I couldn't hear it over the exhaust. Also, the noise of the turbo through the right cooling "ear" (behind the rear-most right side window) was unexpectedly loud. Again, this could have been masked by the louder exhaust and isn't really a bad thing. In a way, it's kinda cool and I can't hear it from inside the bus. Its only when walking around it did I hear any of these things and none of these are deal-breakers or send-him-to-the-shop things. I did notice that the dual-gauge I installed during the CoViD lockdown was acting funny (See Oil Temperature and Pressure). The pressure rose to the top and never came down and the temperature basically sat just off the bottom. I figured either the wires fell off on one end or the sender went bad.

 

Fixing Oil Gauge

left nut missing

Having the UltraGauge is great, but I really prefer just using the simple dual oil gauge. I can see if the temp is getting too high without a digital readout changing every few seconds. In fact, I have a VDO coolant temp gauge in my stuff somewhere that I have thought about adding into the dashpod and then I really wouldn't need the UltraGauge anymore. Anyway, solving the dual-gauge was fairly straightforward, starting with the engine-end. I figured that I did lots of moving things around, so simply disconnecting and re-connecting those wires to the sender would remove that variable. One quick peek, and clearly that was the problem: one of the M4 knurled nuts had shaken it's way loose and completely fell off. I ordered a set of 5 (the smallest set I could find not on amazon, and it still cost, like $15US). When I installed, I put some blue locktite on there so these don't shake off either. I was very grateful to not have to open the dash.

 

Diesel Leak Persists

catching the leak

Two years ago, when Hapy first started having hard-start issues, it was a fuel leak coming from his injection pump. Back then, there was literally fuel flying all over the engine bay. I spent time getting the top-end of the pump sealed, and that resolved the flying fuel and most of the hard-to-start issues, but it was during those months that I ground down the ring gear, putting us on the last 18 month trajectory. Also, I continued to lose prime in the pump, but without visible leaks. Now, I can see the pump dripping on the ground. So, the seal between the body and the head appears to be the problem, and its getting worse. I ordered a replacement deluxe kit from DieselGeek. Rather than do that seal myself, I have asked our old friend Justin (OldPoopie) to do it for a couple of reasons. First, he does these all the time, but more importantly, he has the computer bits to really get the timing spot-on. I expect that once the pump has been re-sealed and the timing set, Hapy will be a monster.

 

Well, that's it for today. Justin is super busy, so it will be a month or so before he can get hands on Hapy. In the meantime, I will be shifting focus onto doors for the shop, we have some house projects to chase and maybe I will be getting my hands on Oliver, the 1978 MGB. It feels like nice weather is not too far away, and taking the MG on a picnic run with Boo would be awfully sweet. Thanks, as always, for following along- 

Hapy Runs Again

Picking up where I left off last time, we had Hapy mostly in one piece, needing coolant. His exhaust was still in pieces, rear bumper on the ground and he had not started since June of 2024.

 

Coolant

full moon down the street

There is really no adventure here, but in the interest of being thorough, I topped off Hapy's coolant with some G40. I worked air bubbles out of his system by squeezing hoses, but they won't really fully work themselves free until the engine is running. So, after a couple more top-offs, I called it good and capped the overflow and coolant bottles.

 

Exhaust

The not-my-favorite, too-small-diameter, cheap exhaust installed on this engine all those years ago went back on. This was not my first choice, but I want Hapy running, so I'll circle-back on a new exhaust later. The old one came apart where the piping enters the muffler. I think the cheap muffler failed allowing the section of pipe to which the exhaust "downpipe" (we'll call it that: it's the pipe that leads from the turbo, but it does make it sound awfully grand) was welded to fall out of the muffler body. The weld is a good 4 inches from the end of the pipe which clearly fits inside the muffler body and sets inside an inner pipe within. I regret not taking a picture here; apologies.

 

ShadeTree mechanic'ing

So, I hung the muffler body by the support hook and then set to attaching the downpipe. There is one stud attached to the turbo that the 3-holed flange hangs on. Then, you swing the rest of it into place, square the gasket and send the other bolts (with washers) through. A 13mm spanner is needed for the lower bolt, but the other 2 can be approached with a socket. With the muffler swinging on its mount and the downpipe firmly a-fixed, I set the pipe into the muffler and literally hammered the muffler into the pipe with a rubber mallet. These parts will easily work themselves apart again, if I didn't do something. So, I went full shade-tree, and added a 1" angle bracket, screwed into the muffler and the pipe to hold it together. The picture on the right, here, tells the tale. Not a proud moment but that will all go to the landfill / recycler eventually.

 

Bumper

Feeling confident that Hapy would be a runner again very soon, I installed the rear bumper / tow hitch component. I detailed the original install of the tow hitch in Bus Tow Hitch. Re-install is not nearly as involved. 15mm socket needed. I set the hitch onto the TravisJack and lifted it close to where it would eventually sit and then balanced on the TravisJack while I set bolts. I fingered-on the left (driver) side and then the right (passenger) side, taking care not to drop the unit off the jack and onto me. I discovered that the exhaust pipe leaving the muffler hung in the way, but a solid kick with my boot resolved it without causing any damage to anything. Just needed some sudden blunt force. Once all 6 bolts were finger tight, I set the bumper where I wanted it depth and parallel-to-the rear-wise and torqued them down.

 

Injection Pump Prime

electrical connection cleaner

Any time I let Hapy sit undriven for a while, the injection pump loses prime. I believe this is because of a failing seal, but it's the one that's much harder to get to (and I don't have on-hand). So, I have let that sit to be solved another day. Enter the mighty MityVac. Since I disconnected the large fuel filter for the flywheel replacement, I was unsure if that filter was completely full, so I started with the line which enters the injection pump, moving to the return side of the pump next. This is relatively straightforward: disconnect the fuel line, apply vacuum with the MityVac (using the collection bottle between the pump and the fuel line, of course) until the collection bottle consistently gets fuel. Then, remove the vacuum contraption and reconnect the line. For the return line, I also clamped the return line from the injectors to the pump so I did not lose vacuum through them. Once the pump was full, I cracked the hard lines at the injectors with a 17mm spanner. This last bit of priming needs to be done by turning the ignition and counting to 5. Well, that's how I did it. When I returned to the engine compartment, each of the 4 injectors had some fuel sitting on top where the hard line connected. I snugged them back tight.

 

DeOx-it D5

Before I ran to the cab to give the engine a try, I wanted to make sure all of the plug-in bits were set. So, I went around the top of the engine, disconnecting, shooting-DeOxit D5 into the connectors and clicking them back together. This served 2 functions. First, a simple survey of the top of the engine allowed me to see if I had missed anything. Second, every electrical connection was confirmed a good-click connection and it was cleaned/deoxidized for a better connection. Having done this, and it only taking literally a minute, I intend to include a similar final survey when doing top-side maintenance going forward. Its so easy, and removes many possible variables to failures.

 

And Then It Happened

At this point, I felt that I had done everything I could to set up for a successful first start since June of 2024. I put the trans-axle into neutral turned the key to run and saw the familiar lights. With an inhale, I turned the key to start and after about 3 seconds he fired up. I didn't expect immediate, since fuel still needed to get pushed down into the injectors, but he started well and ran strong, arriving at a comfortable idle almost immediately. I left him run for a while, sitting in my shop in neutral while I checked for leaks and drips. There were none, which was little short of a miracle.

 

I thought about giving him a little test drive, but I have not solved for the electrical cord for the FrostHeater yet. Curious, though, I tried to ease him into gear, but he wouldn't. Knowing that he easily moved in and out of gear when the engine was not running, I concluded that the clutch cable needs adjusting.

Clutch Adjustment

This adjustment took a little bit of effort, but with a thicker spacer where the Bowden tube meets the mount on the transaxle, and another spacer on the adjuster, I was able to get the clutch to engage and disengage properly. The Bowden tube needs a curve in it to reduce clutch chatter, so this was needed regardless. The fact that I needed a spacer on the adjuster tells me that the cable that I replaced.. jeez.. almost 20 years ago... may be stretching. This is often a warning that the cable will fail soon. So, time to order a replacement.

I used a Velcro ties to hold the FrostHeater cable up and out of the way. But, before I wrapped it up, I tried the FrostHeater, and I think it might be broken. I'll have to do some research, but I expected the unit or at least the top hose to warm up to the touch a little bit. I did not notice any warming, so that effort may have been for nothing after all. Again, I will look into it and I may get a replacement unit, but I'll be pretty bummed if it was really only used a couple of times before it got damaged.

Here's a video of him running, probably 3 minutes after his first start in like 18 months.

 

 

 

I noticed that the rear lights were acting all weird, but a different kind of weird than usual after messing with the battery. So, I did not want to risk a drive-about. It seems like every time I touch the battery, the tail lights short-out such that stepping on the brakes completes an unexpected circuit. That's the usual. This time, the reverse lights were lit up and the blinkers were acting all strange, but only the rear. I think I may have done something with the reverse lights, like reversing the plugs when I wired up the switch, but I ran out of daylight before I could get after it. I'll diagnose and attempt to fix it next time. 

Thanks, as always for following along, and I'll post with any test-drive observations, and other improvements as they happen. At this point, I am thrilled that Hapy self-starts and can move around again--