Jezebel Turns 300,000

[vanbcguy]

Jezebel had her 300,000th birthday on my way down to Kent, WA this weekend! Since she's a Mk III her odometer goes back to zero, so I have a brand new car!

Kinda fitting... Before the trip she got a new water pump, power steering pump and front engine mount. Now I will always know how long it's been since I did that work! Gotta say, having the engine attached to the car properly makes a huge difference in how nice she is to drive...

[Op-Ivy]

Nice! That's funny how mk3 odometers reset like that at 300,000 considering mk2 ones don't.

I'm at 496,300 right now! Getting close for me too

[hagar]

vanbcguy and Op-Ivy keep your eyes peeled on crappy tires "Flyers" "Mastercraft" I R thermo-meter total cost to me $ 32. good buy for us DIY types..

Crappy Tires do have specials from time to time , like La Crosse radio remote temperature abot $ 10. and EQUUS # 4320 $ 10.

hagar.

[vanbcguy]

I have a wired remote temperature probe I use for tracking the temperature in my kegerator. Actually never thought about using it for anything automotive - it seems to have a bit too much dampening (too slow) to use for a lot of "fun" stuff...

I'd love to set a probe up for post-turbo intake air temperature; I don't think I'm ever at max boost long enough for a lot of probes to catch up with the jump though.

[surfcam]

I have two indoor outdoor thermometers in two vehicles. Got them for a dollar each at a garage sale. A friend of mine just got rid of this MarkIII TD for a Grand Prix. He figured the VW couldn't take hard driving at 130km/hr. I told him he's going to need two AMA memberships with that car. You can lead a dinosaur to water but you can't make him drink.

[vanbcguy]

Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Driving home yesterday after a long haul, turn a corner and notice the spoolup of the turbo sounds just SLIGHTLY different... Hmm... wonder what's up with that. One more spool-up, drive 30 seconds further and the no oil pressure alarm goes off.

Cut off the engine right away and coasted to the side of the road, leaving an oily trail behind me. Open the hood and there's oil EVERYWHERE on the passenger side of the engine. From what I can see I think my IM shaft seal is no longer with me.

Naturally the car is full of all my wife's photo equipment, and it's raining... Cab home, but Jezzie is still sitting there about 10 blocks from home. At least she's not too far away!!

Also as is luck, today is a statutory holiday. Yay! I'm going to have to have a shop deal with this as I don't have anywhere covered to work on her, and it's supposed to dump rain for the next several days. Even better I'm supposed to be driving to Penticton on Thursday morning.

Last repair bill came to $1300... That was all of a week ago. Not particularly happy with my car at the moment!!

[bscutt]

Repair costs still beat 25K for a new one! Of course they almost always come as a surprise and that can hurt the budget.

[vanbcguy]

The other repair bill was all stuff that I knew was coming... The PS pump has been dead for a looooooong time, I just hadn't gotten a Round Touit yet. Water pump I did because it had a little bit of shaft play and there was pretty much always a drop of antifreeze in the weep hole, plus you have to pull the PS pump to deal with the water pump anyhow. Engine mount I was driving around with dead for a while, but I didn't want to end up snapping my exhaust and things. Bah.

If I actually look at what the monthly cost I've paid for this car including purchase price over the couple of years that I've owned it I'm up to about $300/mo. Lease payments on a baseline brand new TDI Jetta are about $380/mo.

Once I factor in this repair, wanna bet I'm almost at the same cost? I actually wish I HADN'T calculated that all out...

[Fatmobile]

I hope it's just the intermediate shaft seal carrier bolts worked their way out.
Blue lock-tite those,
people,..

and the pully bolt.

[82vdub]

If I actually look at what the monthly cost I've paid for this car including purchase price over the couple of years that I've owned it I'm up to about $300/mo. Lease payments on a baseline brand new TDI Jetta are about $380/mo.

I'm with you on this one. But the big unknown is with a new car, the likelyhood that you'll work on it yourself is much lower, especially given today's technology on cars. So, any repairs over the 36k miles and that's your responsibility. But, it's a really tough choice to make, especially when you get a fairly expensive/newer car and still have to pay for repairs.

I have always been blessed (or cursed) with the ability to find a couple hundred $ cars that I can put a couple hundred more into and drive them pretty much repair free for 3-5 years before dumping. I cringe at spending any real money on any kind of newer car, but I'd love to have a new car. But, it's the initial cost and the fact that it depreciates that just tears me up inside and I can never pull the trigger. I have spent a lot of money on cars before, but they've all been old and probably worth what I spent on them. I'm an old car guy through and through. Just need to get out of the rust belt

[bscutt]

Yeah I've bought lots of used cars and only 3 new ones in 40 years of driving. I usually keep them 15-20 years and still have the last 2 new ones in my corral. I love my 06 TDI but the service costs typically run $200-$700 (40k SERVICE). At least the new ones cover service to 36K but the 40K is still at least $700. It's nice to have a turnkey car you can depend on but I would not trade my Rabbit for anything and it's still my daily driver to keep the miles down on the TDI and because it's just fun to drive.

Sounds like you have had a few expensive repairs and I do keep my costs down by doing just about everything on my old cars myself. If I had paid someone else to do everything I have done I probably would have just bitten the bullet and made those monthly payments on a new one. But then what would I do with my spare time? :~)

I'm a gearhead for life, at least as long as the arthritis lets me. It's cheap therapy.

[vanbcguy]

Yeah, for the most part I'm usually the DIY type. It's the upcoming trip to Penticton that's got me opening my wallet for "professional" labour. That and not really having anywhere I can work on her other than the front street.

My "stable" over the years:

1980 Dodge Sportsman
1983 Olds Cutlass (2-door T-top)
1967 Dodge Monaco
1968 Dodge Monaco
1976 Plymouth Valiant
1977 Dodge D200
1995 VW Jetta
1994 VW Jezebel

My first Jetta cost as much as all the previous cars lumped together!!

[bscutt]

A Mopar fan? My first car was a 63 Valiant, followed by the 65 Chrysler Newport (family car bought new, inherited by me, sold in 93), a few other cars along the way including a 75 Dart, 77 Cadillac Seville, 77 Ford Van (1st new car) and a 67 GTO (4 year resto) and a 74 Firebird (wife bought new, sold in 2004). Then the 51 Chevy pickup and still have the 41 Chevy Special Deluxe coupe. Some day I'll have to write them all down. There's 5 Rabbits in there too, an 81 Dasher diesel and an 82 Rabbit pickup - all diesels except the 75 Gasser Rabbit. Phew, I'll be writing all night, you get the idea. Probably at least 10 others in the mix between cars I flipped and other daily drivers.

[vanbcguy]

Definitely a Mopar fan - I used to run a C-body site back in the day that your Newport would have been right at home at. If I had to pick my all-time favorite car though that'd probably be a '65 Coronet... YUM!!!

Still, try driving 450 km on $20 in fuel in that!!

[Ira B]

If I actually look at what the monthly cost I've paid for this car including purchase price over the couple of years that I've owned it I'm up to about $300/mo. Lease payments on a baseline brand new TDI Jetta are about $380/mo.

I'm with you on this one. But the big unknown is with a new car, the likelyhood that you'll work on it yourself is much lower, especially given today's technology on cars. So, any repairs over the 36k miles and that's your responsibility. But, it's a really tough choice to make, especially when you get a fairly expensive/newer car and still have to pay for repairs.

I have always been blessed (or cursed) with the ability to find a couple hundred $ cars that I can put a couple hundred more into and drive them pretty much repair free for 3-5 years before dumping. I cringe at spending any real money on any kind of newer car, but I'd love to have a new car. But, it's the initial cost and the fact that it depreciates that just tears me up inside and I can never pull the trigger. I have spent a lot of money on cars before, but they've all been old and probably worth what I spent on them. I'm an old car guy through and through. Just need to get out of the rust belt

I wonder if we are related.

Only difference is that I tend to keep my hundred buck ride for at least 10 years and it gets nicer the longer I own it.
I also own a new Toyota. It is nice on a long road trip but nowhere near as much fun to drive as my Caddy. If I need to run to town for something I walk right past the Toyota like it's not even there.