Sorry for the long delay in updates. I’m going to blame it on changing jobs, accepting too much side work, and a dead car (that is now living again…….kinda).

So like I said I’ve recently switched jobs. I’ll be working from home now most of the time which I hope gives me more time with this site. I’ll have to travel sometimes, but it shouldn’t affect much. I’ve also decided to stop accepting work on the side after I finish this last job because I need more personal time. And finally I went to add a larger turbo to my car and that’s when things started to go wrong.

Like most people that are probably reading this I enjoy cars and especially modifying cars. My diesel Jetta has been no exception to this rule. Previous to this I had put in larger injectors, retuned it, and put in a slightly bigger turbo. The first turbo I got was used but supposedly rebuilt. If it actually was then it was rebuilt pretty crappy because my car never ran ran since the moment I put it on. I had always thought it had to do with the programming, but I was very wrong. I drove that until about a month ago when I bought the 1856SV from kermatdi.com. Right before it went under the knife for the turbo upgrade the infamous VW auto tranny reliability reared it’s ugly head and my car would spin 3000rpms at about 58mph never fully locking up. Then turbo surgery started. Three weeks and 3 turbos later my car is back on the road with a tranny on it’s last leg. Hopefully it will survive anther month and then I’ll swap in a 5 speed standard. I didn’t really like the auto anyway. I thought I was going to because all my other cars were standards, but I really enjoy shifting. In the mean time my tranny switches on and off from kinda working to barely working. When it goes to barely working I do the reset trick and it’s good for a day or two and will go in and out of lock. For anyone that doesn’t know the reset trick for dubs it’s simple. Turn your ignition to the on position. Mash your foot all the way down on the accelerator pedal for about 10 seconds and then let it up. Turn the key back off and you’re good……for a bit. Oh yeah I also got some Audi TT 17″ wheels when it was time to replace the tires. Affectionately known as “Fat Fives” I think they really add to the styling of the Jetta. Eventually I’ll get pictures of my car in it’s current state, but for now back to work.

Thanks for reading and I’ll be back to the news now!

Well I had a long weekend. I worked for almost all of it except Saturday. On Saturday I had Steve Glover, who did my timing belt, install my new larger nozzles and a cleaned intake manifold since I don’t have the proper tools. Everything went fine except the number 1 injector took some coaxing to get out, and when I say coaxing I mean Steve and I taking turns using good ol’ fashion brute strength.

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So this season I guess I have to watch American Idol. One of my best friends for about fifteen years, Brandon Rogers, made the top 24. He’s a good guy that has no problem wrenching on his own car, and obviously he’s one of the best singers out there. He’s also a very smart guy who I have taught the benefits of diesel vehicles. Don’t know what else to say, but good luck to him.

To keep this at least loosely diesel related. I’m also trying to figure out if I should order some PP520 nozzles for my Jetta. It’s an automatic so I don’t want it to smoke too much, but I’ll be getting it tuned shortly after. If you know about this, is tuning enough to get rid of the smoke?

I also ordered the DIY timing belt video finally, cause I’m getting past the suggested mileage interval for changing it and that’s not something I want to mess with. I’ll still probably have someone else do it for the first time and just watch, but after that I want to be doing all the maintenance myself.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

More news will be coming at the start of the new year.  I haven’t been posting much because very little news has happened besides the random diesel spills.

Enjoy tonight and be safe.

So I was fueling up at the local station, and of course all the pumps were gas except for two. As I’m pumping diesel in, two guys in a truck pull up on the other side. A guy gets out and puts his credit card in then I hear him say to the other guy, “Dammit I think it’s broken.” So the other guy gets out and looks at the pump. I guess he figures it’s definitely broken and tells him to look at the side I’m on. So then I hear, “Figures I think this guy is on the oth” and then he turn to me perplexed, “Wait….Are you using diesel?” Me - “I should hope so.” “Huh….What is that? HEY COME CHECK THIS OUT.” And the other guy comes around. Me- “It’s a Diesel Jetta.” Other guy - “Nice, what kind of mileage do you get?” Me- “I usually get around 500-600 miles to the tank.” Now these guys are really looking at the car and seem impressed (I’m glad I just waxed it). “That’s a really nice car.” Me- “Thanks.” I’m starting to feeling pumped up and cool, which is of course the sign for diesel to come pouring out of the tank as it’s overfilled. Me- “SONUVA!” Suitably deflated I go find some paper towels.

On the plus side I just ordered a filter pack kit from tdiparts.com. Everything went great with the order and I got email confirmation it was put in the mail the same day. I received the parts today which is just two days later. I’ll be ordering a new tie rod from them soon.

A recent survey says consumers want the Big 3 to focus on fuel efficiency. Even though fuel prices have recently been lower most consumers don’t expect it to stay that way.

The survey wants them to look more into hybrid and diesel vehicles.

The interesting thing is sales on hybrids is down from last year even on the almighty Prius. Sales of the Honda Accord hybrid were very low, and the Civic isn’t doing well either. At a recent Hollywood charity auction, where Lexus donated a new GS450h, the car sold for $54K which is about $4K less than sticker. That’s Hollywood too, the biggest hybrid proponent out there.

This should help my posts as it has a built in spell checker. I’m sure everyone has noticed I’m not the best typer. Well things should be getting better now. I haven’t noticed to many other changes of consequence, but that was enough to sell me.

From the diesel side of things of course it’s supposed to rain this weekend so there’s no point in washing my car. I can wash my car and take away all doubt it’ll rain though. I’ll probably end up just vacuuming it really well.

I was driving and pulled up to a red light. Right next to me happened to be my uncle in his Volvo S80 and he revved his engine. It was time to see what this diesel was made of. The light turned green and all he could smell was the faint scent of kerosene. My reaction time was much better, and my Jetta won the battle of the slow cars. Of course we only raced to the speed limit of 40mph, but I was still surprised and happy. I’ll be even happier when I can afford some larger injectors, larger turbo, and a good reprogram, but for now I’m sated. I dare not race much else though unless I’m in my Camaro.

Anyway, happy dieseling everyone.

It’s been awhile since I’ve said anything about my own personal dieseling experiences so here goes.

As some of you know I have a 2002 diesel Jetta. I’ve now owned it for almost three months (and put about 6000 miles on it), and I’m still loving it. I get 40mpg consistently, and it’s pretty comfortable. The last week or so has been pretty cold so I’ve gotten to use my seat warmers which is one of the best inventions of all time. The heater also works very nicely and it doesn’t take long before I’m turning the knob in between hot and cold.

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I’m finally able to start putting up the other pages I talked about in the beginning of this endeavor. I’m working on a brief history of diesel now and I just put up a little bit about Rudolf Diesel the inventor. My knowledge comes from a cumulative of sites so if anyone wants to read and double check it I would certainly appreciate it. I hate giving out bad information. Also let me know if I should add more too it or important things I may have forgot. Once again, I really appreciate all the emails and encouragement I’ve gotten so far and hope everyone continues to read and enjoy the site.  I’m going to try to start posting more of my persoanl experiences with my car, but so far all I have to talk about is great mileage.
Don’t be afraid to put comments, good or bad, I’ll always leave them up as long as they are suitable for all ages. It’s also the only way I’ll get better.

Thanks
Erik.

About to have to do the 70K miles maintenance on my car. As any of the TDIers out there know this means timing belt time. Also since this is a used car, and though records show maintenance was done on time, I don’t know how well it was done so it’s time to thoroughly go through the car. I’ll probably be taking off the intake manifold and egr valve and doing a good cleaning. Maybe I’ll try to tackle the turbo cleaning too.

As of now I plan on doing this all myself to really get to know my car. This means buying all the special tools VW uses, a timing belt kit with water pump, and some new gaskets. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know of dieselgeek.com and tdiparts.com. I’ll also be supporting one of the sites I’ve learned the most from tdiclub.com and buying the timing belt video. Anything else I’m missing or not thinking of? Thanks everyone.