Continuing on to my other projects thread

So my oldest wanted a New Beetle since before she was two. Three years ago, we got one that had a good body and the engine and transmission had been replaced. It’s now likely a parts car and does not know it yet. It’s likely that on the next warm day, we will determine if it is fixable or needs put down. I’m not happy VW made a car that they will not let anyone else have access to the computer info to fix and the dealers do not want to touch.

Cut to three years later, the import auto place cannot get the computer to talk, snd we’ve been done a boatload of test procedures. So the Air Bag and ABS lights have been on, we cannot get a key programmed locally. Now the transmission will not shift from first to second or third. Repairing the transmission wires and two sensors that were chewed up did not help. The import place does not want to drop the pan to see if the transmission chewed itself up, or if new solenoids and a clean valve body will get it running. A used transmission is more than an expensive rebuild that might not work with a stubborn ECU and other modules.

For those not familiar with VW, if we replace the computer and it communicates with the obd II port, we still have to get a dealer to program it to work with the secret immobilizer number in the dash. It’s proprietary info and software. Even the bootleg Chinese versions do not go there now. Then We can pay $350 for a programmed key, if I find a NOS one, pay almost as much for programming an eBay one, or get lucky moving a tiny EFI chip to an eBay key fob and freshly cut blank.

The dealer is 200 miles away, and they do not want to tell me they will try to fix it until after they put a scanner on it - even though That’s the root of the problem and they’ve seen others with the problem.

I think the lesson is either we should have bought a vintage Beetle or a boring car. A V-6 SN-95 that had not been through three teenage drivers might have also been better.
 
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So my oldest wanted a New Beetle since before she was two. Three years ago, we got one that had a good body and the engine and transmission had been replaced. It’s now likely a parts car and does not know it yet. It’s likely that on the next warm day, we will determine if it is fixable or needs put down. I’m not happy VW made a car that they will not let anyone else have access to the computer info to fix and the dealers do not want to touch.

Cut to three years later, the import auto place cannot get the computer to talk, snd we’ve been done a boatload of test procedures. So the Air Bag and ABS lights have been on, we cannot get a key programmed locally. Now the transmission will not shift from first to second or third. Repairing the transmission wires and two sensors that were chewed up did not help. The import place does not want to drop the pan to see if the transmission chewed itself up, or if new solenoids and a clean valve body will get it running. A used transmission is more than an expensive rebuild that might not work with a stubborn ECU and other modules.

For those not familiar with VW, if we replace the computer and it communicates with the obd II port, we still have to get a dealer to program it to work with the secret immobilizer number in the dash. It’s proprietary info and software. Even the bootleg Chinese versions do not go there now. Then We can pay $350 for a programmed key, if I find a NOS one, pay almost as much for programming an eBay one, or get lucky moving a tiny EFI chip to an eBay key fob and freshly cut blank.

The dealer is 200 miles away, and they do not want to tell me they will try to fix it until after they put a scanner on it - even though That’s the root of the problem and they’ve seen others with the problem.

I think the lesson is either we should have bought a vintage Beetle or a boring car. A V-6 SN-95 that had not been through three teenage drivers might have also been better.
The first gen New Beetles are pure trash. When the cluster fails in the first two model years (not if, when), the car is totalled. The car won't start with a failed cluster, VW doesn't make replacements, and salvage yard units cannot be reprogrammed to replace it, as they're only able to be flashed once.

I've worked for VW in parts and BMW as a tech, and I've yet to find one vehicle from either brand I could/would recommend to friends/family. German cars are just completely idiotic.
 
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The first gen New Beetles are pure trash. When the cluster fails in the first two model years (not if, when), the car is totalled. The car won't start with a failed cluster, VW doesn't make replacements, and salvage yard units cannot be reprogrammed to replace it, as they're only able to be flashed once.

I've worked for VW in parts and BMW as a tech, and I've yet to find one vehicle from either brand I could/would recommend to friends/family. German cars are just completely idiotic.
I thought I could fix most anything. :-(
 
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Here is part of why I am not modifying my Mustang much at the moment.
1. Crutchfield has been out of the Sony head unit I want for most of the last year. I still have my birthday money and may spend it on the deck elsewhere, and buy the speakers and install kit at Crutchfield at this rate.
2. My first car is getting the big money and most of the attention.
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Here is a detail I have wanted to do for years. My gas pedal will be a Speed-Master bass drum pedal. I will trim the top tab into a better shape and take off the pivot from the back side. This is an extra pedal assy I picked up in case I do not like it. But as a pan that forms a tunnel under most of the length of the car had to come off to switch it, I plan on it staying.
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These are from when it was first sanded. There was not much rust, and I knew about the filler on the back door and quarter, and the light hit and run at the front door edge.
There are three big hail dents from a storm about 30 years ago. Dad got it moved in right as a fast moving storm dropped a lot of baseball size hail. I was across town and my second car did not come out as smooth from that storm.

The antenna was not factory, and the cable was run through where the washer fluid nozzles are supposed to go. So now the mounting hole is plug welded, I will be using an under dash amplified antenna with a Custom Autosound radio in a factory radio pod. A car cover will not interfere with the antenna now. And I found a NOS two speed wiper motor and washer fluid kit.
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Trimming (cutting in) the edges and sills.
That is a huge piece of rear glass for the size of the car.
 

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The trunk shrank with the AC kit. I hope to be able to modify a mount to still keeps a donut spare in the back, but the AC compressor is probably in the way.
The new engine is still in the crate. Instead of the factory 80hp, it will have 130-140 Hp, and make the power where a powerglide needs it, instead of where the later 140 4 carb engines made it up high for a 4 speed. I will mothball and
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seal the 31k mile factory engine, (unless I build an adult Big Wheel and use it.)
 
Gotta be the tail lights, they just look, ahhh, odd?
It is the rare Impala COPO option, or is it Kustom? :rlaugh:

I want no excuse for the crossover to not see that I have stopped. I also forms the rare two tone Monza (900 level trim, not the 60’s hatch) back up light lenses that will go in before it is done. I was going to put LED’s in a pair of the fake vents that mount on Monza’s between the rear window and engine cover. But up close, they would have not looked right. So a third brake light of some type will replace the JC Whitney special that rattled.
 
Back to another project, the Beetle. It was finally nice on a not a school day. So my wife kicked my oldest out to work on the Beetle with my supervision. :)
She (my oldest) removed the top of the dash and pulled the computer. (Thank you YouTube poster!)
To refresh, it has issues we cannot fix when the OBD2 port is not talking to the computer, and the import place gave up on it a long time ago.
With a known good computer from a salvaged 2000, 2.0 auto Bug (also blue), the Wal-Mart scanner and code reader was very chatty. It told us what is wrong with the transmission etc. It starts, then the immobilizer kills it.

@MustangIIMatt
BUT! I think I found a place that will eliminate the immobilizer function, and we just have to send the computer, not the whole car. If they do it as well as ECU exchange fixes EECIV computers, I will post the heck out of their company’s info.
 
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The ECU, oddly enough, can be reflashed more than once. The cluster is a whole different critter unless something has changed in the five years since I left VW.
It sounds like reflashing the ECU to disable the immobilizer has the risk on some years of having a flashing immobilizer light on the dash. As if another light on the dash is going to be a problem? :) Black tape will cover that one if it happens and the following idea does not work.
The spare fob is worn out and the key is held on with JB weld. If that chip (that matches the dash) in the bad fob ended up in or on the column, it might allow regular keys to work without irritating the immobilizer. I am going to try this with a regular key blank.
I am not worried about a 2000, well used Beetle getting stolen. The stereo is nice, but not expensive, so I do not see it even being broken in to.
 
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I've worked for VW in parts and BMW as a tech, and I've yet to find one vehicle from either brand I could/would recommend to friends/family. German cars are just completely idiotic.
But if I got the keys and title to a nice 911/930/whatever it is called now, I’d be outa there before the pen hit the desk, and on the way to the Sandhills Open Road Challenge. My Corvair will be at least as fast as a 1961 Porsche, even with more doors. But after 60 years of development, I’ll have a blast in the new Porsche until it breaks.
 
This weekend’s project was on my daughter’s Vibe, the Beetle replacement. She got a bee in her bonnet to put the Sony stereo we saved from the dead Bug in her new(er) car, and I mostly supervised.
The Crutchfield Vibe & Matrix harness adaptor was missing two pins (accessory and dash light dim). Hacking the car’s harness for two direct crimp connections was unconscious-able, and the factory wires are too thin for Scotchlocks. I wanted to leave it so the stock radio could be plugged back in. So…:scratch: We soldered in splices, used butyl electrical tape, and used fully shielded spade connectors on the spliced in wires. The stereo might not come out until after she drives the wheels off of it, but it could, and
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we will not have electrical issues like on the Bug.
Here is proof it works. :) The black adaptor goes with the dash, and the thing in the phone holder slot is the hands free mic. I have another like it for my son to upgrade the 18 year old, similar Sony model in the Merc G. Marquis (the iPod/phone controls are starting not to work) and one for my Mustang.
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I now have evidence of my suspicions of how my son drives. I keep a fuel, mileage and maintenance log in my cars. It’s a holdover from keeping track of business use that’s helpful in making sure the cars are running their best.
So after two tanks of just him driving with a school permit and continuing to drive us for errands, he is getting at least two mpg better (14.5-14.7 vs. 16.7 mpg) than I get in the car on the same routes and type of driving.

I do not need to install a GPS spy like Progressive Snapshot to know he’s driving like an old man. I now see no reason to take the Shriner emblems off the tail lights now. :)

(I usually get 27 mpg on the interstate in it.)