Corvette C6 Column Lock Eliminator

With my vette getting older it was just a matter of time before the dreaded steering column lock issue would would become a serious problem. The truth is it has happened to me a few times. Always in hot weather, always at the most inconvenient time. So I finally decommisioned the stupid thing by installing the Column Lock Eliminator offered by Corvettes of Houston. A small electronic component that tells the column module to leave things alone in the column lock. A pretty simple installation that went without a glitch. Hope this small component lasts the life of the car.

Time to burn some rubber!

The plastic bezel came out easily by pulling it gently toward the steering wheel. The brackets that hold it together are clearly visible in this image.

My Garage - Passat W8 Passenger Side Output Shaft Seal Replacement

With 160,000 miles on my Passat W8, it was just a matter of time. A few hundred miles ago the front differential started leaking. It started slowly but continued to increase as the miles piled up so it was time to park it and consider the options. At first glance I thought it would be a big job but thanks to the many Passat/Audi owners out there on the forums it became clear it was something we could tackle in our garage. So, away we went online and got a couple of tools and a seal from my favorite VW parts supplier.

Ford Ranger Spark Plugs At 178K Miles

As crazy as it sounds, this set of spark plugs I just replaced on my Ford Ranger has 178,000 miles. The plugs were so rusty on  the outside that I was worried I may have problems removing them. Nah, it was a piece of cake. Looks like I got some oil fouling and major electrode erosion going on on #5 but otherwise things look OK.

Corvette C6 Radiator Cleaning

The C6 Corvette is a bottom breather. Drive it long enough along our beautiful roads in the Northwest and soon enough you will be hauling around your own collection of road debris. What a mess!

My Garage - Passat W8 Rear Suspension Detailing

Finally completed the detailing of the last remaining wheel well on the W8. A cleaning job I started in my off-time a few months ago when I serviced the rear brakes. The underside is looking decent again. It better stay clean for a while because it will be a long time before I do this again (if ever) :-)

Photos of the front suspension detailing are on a separate post...

Click on the images to enlarge.

Removing the wheel well liner revealed a good view of the fuel filler area.

My Garage - Passat W8 AFE Pro-Dry S Filter

Got my AFE Pro-Dry S today. I went with a dry drop-in filter as it seems like a good compromise between the stock paper filter simplicity and something that promises improved airflow with reduced risk for the MAF within the stock housing configuration. We will see how it goes...

My Garage - Passat W8 Chrome Trimmed Door Switches

Next in the agenda after replacing the main light switch with the Euro version was to replace the original switches on the driver side door with the more contemporary version with chrome accent. I learned to remove the door panel with guidance from the detailed instructions at the VWvortex forums.

My Garage - Passat W8 Euro Switch Installation

Yesterday I added the LED City Lights, today I complemented that with the addition of the chrome-trimmed European headlight switch from ECS Tuning. A real easy modification that brings more versatility. All it takes to remove the old switch is to push the knob in, turn clockwise until it "clicks" (which means the tabs have retracted) and pull out. Then it is a matter of disconnecting from the wiring harness and replacing with the new one.

New switch - A bit more sparkle and more versatility.

My Garage - Passat W8 LED City Lights Installation

Got my Ziza LED city lights from ECS Tuning today. The installation was very straight forward and the LEDs are brighter than the original incandescent bulbs. I just wish the manufacturer had been more careful when matching pairs to make sure both would cast the same color as the two in the package I received are noticeably different from side to side.

My Garage - Passat W8 Cabin Air Filter Replacement

The rejuvenation of my W8 continues... Today I got a new cabin air filter (part no.: 1H0-819-644-B) something that was way overdue!

My Garage - Passat W8 Rear Subframe and Exhaust Detailing

The detailing fest continued today... I removed the rear bumper to remove nine years of leaves and gunk that accumulated between the bumper cover and it's upper plastic support.

The rear of the uni-body was a bit dusty but it still looks like new!

My Garage - Passat W8 Front Subframe and Suspension Detailing

With almost a decade of driving around the wet roads of the Pacific Northwest, the underside of my W8 was looking pretty nasty. Now that it is no longer in commuter duty I thought it was time to take it off-line for a while and give it a good cleaning to see if we could bring it closer to a "factory fresh" look. I also wanted to take the opportunity to check for leaks, rust, etc. I was glad to discover that even after all these years there is really no rust to speak off. A testimony to the rustproofing techniques used on contemporary vehicles.

UPDATE @ 07/31/11: Photos of the detailing of the rear of the car a on a separate post...

My Garage - Passat W8 at 150,000 Miles

Well, the W8 finally made it to 150K miles and we celebrated with an oil/filter change.Why is it such a special milestone? Because with all the scary (read expensive) valve timing system failures reported in the user forums, there were times I thought it possibly could not make it this far! It hasn't been totally painless nor inexpensive but it certainly has been a lot of fun so far. However at the rate we pile up the miles, it is just a matter of time before something "important" breaks so I am officially demoting it from daily commuter to weekend plaything. Let's see how that goes...

UPDATE @ 07/27/11: I am detailing the car from the bottom up starting with the front suspension and sub-frame. Photos here...

That is a lot of zeros!

Day one at the dealership. Seems like yesterday. Those ContiTouring Contacts tires are long gone!

My Garage - Passat W8 on Jack Stands

This is something that has been discussed at length on many forums and a source of pain, bent metal, pipes, supports etc. for many a VW owner including myself. Hard to beleive is hard to come by good guidance about how to set this cars on jack stands.

Here is my take on setting the front end of my Passat on jack stands using the standard jack location to set both the jack and the jack stand side-by-side.

• On the passenger side, I first remove the plastic cover that protects the purge tube coming from the gas tank to make a bit more room.
• I use a small wood block (or two in this case) that are the same thickness as the height of the pinch weld to spread the load.
• In my case I had to remove the side handles on my small aluminum jack to make enough room for the jack stand.

This way my small aluminum jack and jack stands can sit side-by-side.

My Garage - Rear Brake Pads Replacement on the Passat W8

I took advantage of the truly awful weekend weather to change the rear brake pads on my W8. There are a few good write-ups on the Web dealing with this topic. I especially like this one in Google Docs. An extract from a ClubB5.com thread. I am not going to document the process again, however I do want to share how incredibly useful was to have a caliper piston retraction tool at hand to speed up the job. Mine came from Harbor Freight. It is a bit expensive but I can use it in my other vehicles. Notice also the handy "caliper suspension system", namely a short bungee cord attached to a fastener in the body. Even with the tool, it does take quite a bit of force to turn it. I used a short piece of pipe placed over the handle to get some leverage. I also opened the bleeding valve to drain some of the fluid to prevent back pressure in the system as I read it is not healthy for the ABS system. If you are wondering about the rust on the disk surface, it is the by-product of spending the time to clean the rear suspension as well.

My Garage - Changing the Oil and Filter on the Passat W8

With my 2002 Passat W8 quickly approaching the 140,000 mile mark, it is once again time for an oil change. As crazy as it may sound to a gear head, I have always taken this car to the stealership to do what is a pretty simple maintenance operation. This because it is usually combined with some other service and my work schedule has made it pretty challenging to keep up with the maintenance requirements of all my cars especially my daily driver.

This time however I find myself with plenty of time in my hands and so I want to do the work myself. The owner's manual specifies that the beast wants SAE 5W-40 synthetic that follows VW 503.01 specification. The service records show that this car has always been given a diet of Castol Syntec 5W-40 so we are good there. But are we? Really? I keep finding all sorts of discussions in the forums concerning what oil to use in these cars. It is painful. I looked around and found a reference concerning VW specifications @ Opie Oils. With a 140Kmiles running on Castrol Syntec without any issues, I think it will be OK. The question really is... Is all this technological complexity really worth it? For a daily driver? A bit ridiculous... This is definitively NOT like my old Dasher (Passat B1). ;-)

My Garage - Replacing the Secondary Fan on the Passat W8

Well, the secondary fan on my W8 finally gave up the ghost the other day so I decided to bite the bullet and replace it myself. The challenge, there is really NO SPACE between the serpentine belt and the radiator to perform any kind of work.