The Better Part of Valor

Referring to the title: it's "Discretion," in case you've forgotten that saying. Discretion is the better part of valor. Like so many of our idioms, this one came from Shakespeare. Falstaff says it, more or less, after playing dead on the battlefield in Henry IV, Part I. Anyway, after a frustrating day in the shop, I have shown some discretion! Read on...

Faithful readers will remember the story of Ringo, the 1998 Beetle that I bought for short money from my friends Lynn and Lynne. In the initial installment, Bob Zimmerman and I replaced the catalytic converter and the temperature sensor and cleaned the throttle body, successfully correcting a check engine light and a stinky exhaust. At the end of that post (dated August 15), I promised that "soon" I would replace the timing belt and other parts, rendering Ringo ready for winter duty.



Today turned out to be the day to start. I wasn't really looking forward to it, because it's a real pain of a job. Sometimes working on cars is fun, and sometimes it's more like a checkup at the dentist.

I had previously ordered a very complete kit of parts from Blauparts that included everything you need when you're doing the complete service on the timing belt. The idea is since you have to take a bunch of stuff off to get to the belt, you should replace all those other wear items at the same time. Here's what the kit contained:

Let's see: there's the timing belt and its matching tensioner, a water pump, thermostat and housing, serpentine belt and its tensioner, a number of "single use" bolts that need to be replaced, and even antifreeze. The red-handled tool I bought separately, to correctly tension the timing belt. 

I started by draining the antifreeze, with only a modest spill. Then, the shop manual said to remove several high-pressure hoses from the fuel injection to give access to the timing cover. I started with the end circled below:

About 30 minutes later, I admitted to myself that I wasn't going to get either of those hoses to turn loose without destroying them. They've been on there for 17 years and 191,724 miles! And I wasn't ready to cut them off without having the replacement in hand. I turned my attention to an oil change, which was also on the agenda.

I must admit I was pronouncing a pox on the VW engineers by the time I finished that task. The oil filter is only accessible with a special tool, and it's buried above no less than FOUR hoses from the radiator, oil cooler and air conditioner. There's just no way to get it out without making a huge mess, and using my low-rise lift, there was not room under the car for both me and a drain pan. Thus, the excess oil from the filter ran down my arm and pooled on the floor. I now have a blue shop shirt that's soaked in oil all the way to the elbow!

But, fussing with that gave me time to think about what to do with the timing belt. I decided that paying a competent mechanic (discretion) was better than doing it myself (valor). All I needed to do was to put the old antifreeze back in so I could take it to a shop.

In part one of this saga, I also had to drain the antifreeze, so I knew that it's a pretty big pain in this car to replace. Bob and I went through the process of "burping" the system to remove air pockets at least a dozen times, and every time made a mess on the floor. That same night, I hit the web to find out how dealerships do it - I just KNEW they wouldn't put up with the mess and the huge amount of time for burping the system.

Turns out the magic is done by a device that creates a vacuum in the cooling system. There's a semi-pro version too, called the Airlift (Link). I bought one that night - it will work on my BMWs too, so I was glad to have it. 

I set up the Airlift and gave it a try. It worked great! I was so intent on my test that I forgot to take any pictures, but this photo from the manufacturer will help make it clear how the Airlift does its job:

See the little rubber adapters? You choose the one that matches the filler neck on your cooling system, and fit it on the brass thing with the gauge, and then that assembly attaches to the filler. It's not obvious, but the knurled ring can be turned to really tighten the fixture into the filler neck. 

Next, you attach your air compressor to the fixture, which provides the suction to draw a vacuum in the cooling system. The front hose is part of that setup, to give any residual fluid a way to drain. The instructions have you close the valve when the gauge reads 26 pounds of vacuum.

Then you attach the other hose. The end with the filter goes into the container of coolant mixture, and when you open the valve, the coolant is very quickly drawn into the system. You're done when the gauge reads zero again. In my case, it put about a gallon and a half of coolant into the system, and at that point the overflow reservoir was a bit over the full line. I sucked out the excess with a turkey baster I long since have dedicated to the shop, and buttoned everything up. I ran the car for about 15 minutes, and it was perfect. Cool new tool!

When I run out of mechanical talent on my German vehicles, I have a secret garage that's my backup: the service department at Lancaster Mitsubishi. It's not intuitively obvious that a Mitsubishi dealer would work on German cars, but I have insider knowledge. My buddy Bill Durland is owner of that dealership, and he had previously told me that they have two factory-trained German-car mechanics in their shop (one BMW- and VW-trained, and the other Mercedes-trained) to handle service on the used German vehicles they sell. I had used them previously to change the control arm bushings in the suspension of my Z3 coupe, because I don't own the special tools needed. They did a great job on that hard task.

I called and talked to Michael, the service manager, and he said that if I could bring the car today, they could work on it this weekend. I did! It will cost me 4.5 hours of shop time at nearly 100 bucks an hour, but it's worth it. Discretion sometimes means discretionary spending!