The 4hr 50$ oil change

MYBAD79

MYBAD79

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sunny Florida
"rant on"

got wife's Beetle on ramps to change the oil (1PM), noticed there's a huge cover plate that has to be removed to access oil filter and drain plug.... Bubba has been here before: all six torx bolts are rounded so I had to weld a nut on each bolt to get them out.... drained oil at approximately 2PM.... proceeded to oil filter: plastic housing with removeable and replaceable filter element.... I was wondering why the oil filter was $12.99 but didn't open the box in the store.... needed oil filter wrench to open the oil filter housing, since it's stuck on the engine I can't just take it to the store and see what wrench fits... tried the strap wrench, it slipped three times because and then finally the rubber band broke :evil: back to the store to buy a oil filter wrench....tried 74-76mm, 15 flutes... didn't fit.... back to the store to buy 73mm as well as 74-76mm 14 flutes, one of them must fit.... yup, it was the 74mm 14 flutes .... installed oil filter with new element at about 3:30PM, realized I don't have enough 8mm bolts to replace the ones I welded a nut on..... got new bolts, installed cover plate and re-filled oil... this is a small 2.5L engine and it takes 6qts oil and not 4 1/2 qts as I expected..... back to the store to buy an additional qt of Castrol synthetic.... got it done at 5PM .... wtf.... takes me only 30 minutes to change the oil on the Vette or the Z28.....

"rant off":banghead:
 
:D

I hear ya'....... we're the bodyshop for a local VW dealer..........

Nobody....and I mean nobody, likes working on one. :sick:
 
Far cry from the old bug. Pull the plug,insert plug,add 4 qts. No filter. DONE LOL
 
I know TT is going to get pissed at me for saying this, but I think European cars in general have the MOST FUCKED UP ENGINEERING of any group of cars going...period....Fiat, Renault, VW, Mercedes, BMW (slightly less guilty), Lotus,Jaguar, Volvo (slightly less guilty), Saab, PEWGEOT (most guilty of any).....

for one thing European electronics is about a decade behind USA and JAPAN, easy.....the parts are horrendous for the amount of cars they make/sell here, hell they even make lots of them here, no need charge 500 bux for a fucking widget that costs 50 bux for any other car....

TT and I have touched on this before....a Mercedes that had wheel BOLTS with tapered tops just like a ordinary lug nut....no studs...stick that wheel on the back axel and it falls off, while you try to hold the wheel in place accurately enough to actually get a bolt in there.....what kind of reverse engineering asswhole thinks UP that crap?? so what AVAIL?? WHY?? just to be perverse, reinvent the fucking WHEEL allready?? seriously too many manufacturers these daze, and too many kids with CAD CAM systems employed as engineers, who have NO automotive experience....

and lets not EVEN go into the FACT that removing the badges from cars would lead to total confusion as to WTF you were looking at these daze...
they all look alike, as in why bother?? all that CRAP about mass production we learned in HSchool, bunch of damn lies, there aint no two alike anymore....

makes me scared to fly....
 
What about this oil filter for $13.... you're only getting the filter element and re-use the housing... why is the filter 4 times the price of a normal filter that includes filter element AND a casing ???
So now I'm "green" and only replace the filter instead of the whole thing but pay 4X more ???
 
MYBAD79 said:
What about this oil filter for $13.... you're only getting the filter element and re-use the housing... why is the filter 4 times the price of a normal filter that includes filter element AND a casing ???
So now I'm "green" and only replace the filter instead of the whole thing but pay 4X more ???
Click to expand...

Because the dumb mother fuckers WANT it that way.....

There is a good reason my 'NEW" car is an '85, my work van.....:lol::lol::lol:

the 'new' fuel pump been on there some 2 years now...Dodge 318, mounts like the chebby pump...been knocking do a school bus proud....decided I better get it off there, allready did a chain since it's install.....and no improvement...so I added in a electric pump....in back thing has some push 250-300k miles on it....10 mpg, but to pay for a 'new' truck to get only 13 mpg makes NO sense....even at ten bux/gallon....

:(:stirpot::stirpot:

I think it's SO comical, these people spending cubic bux on a grand scale to get 4-5 more supposed MPG, or another CD player or 'better' interior.....

I don't have tunes in any car for year/decades now....if you can hear the tunes, your car is too quiet....
 
The whole intent behind building new models of automobiles is to "Sell Parts".

As Henry Ford once said....He could give his cars away and still turn a profit selling the parts.
 
In the US, when a car part does not work, US engineers modify it untill it does work.
In Britain, if a car part does not work, British engineers add 6 or 7 adapters untill it does work.
In Japan, if a car part does not work, Japanese engineers toss it out, and design a new one.
In Germany, if a car part does not work, German engineers toss out the whole car, and redesign a new car.
In Italy, if a car part does not work, the Italian engineers say "What do you mean it doesn't work?"
 
TimAT said:
British aircraft are bad- you ought to take a close look at Scarebus (Airbus):pprrtt:
Click to expand...

What scares me ever further is that same company Airbus Ind....is doing something with a new 5 sided NUT project....aircraft obviously...but forget....tanker???

Boeing lost the bid....

:rolleyes::clobbered:
 
my jaguar xj8 is easy to change the oil on.......
ok so 8 qts of Mobil one ........ $$$$$$$$ yikes i may have to use dino oil to be able to afford
 
bobs77vet said:
my jaguar xj8 is easy to change the oil on.......
ok so 8 qts of Mobil one ........ $$$$$$$$ yikes i may have to use dino oil to be able to afford
Click to expand...

:lol:First time I changed oil on a Jag, I set my 6 qt drain pan underneath and walked away. :nuts:What a mess that was on a sloped driveway.:eek:
 
big2bird said:
:lol:First time I changed oil on a Jag, I set my 6 qt drain pan underneath and walked away. :nuts:What a mess that was on a sloped driveway.:eek:
Click to expand...

sound very familiar: I placed a 6qt drain pan under the Beetle and couldn't believe it was filled to the top... had to slide it out very carefully .... that tiny 5cyl 2.5L engine holds 6qts.... :eek:
 
They put that much oil in the crnkcase so they can use a smaller radiator. I bet the bottom of the pan has fins on it.
 
TimAT said:
They put that much oil in the crnkcase so they can use a smaller radiator. I bet the bottom of the pan has fins on it.
Click to expand...

nope... they placed a f'ing huge plate right under the oil pan so you can't get anywhere unless you have a T45 or T50 torx bit..... (see first post: Bubba rounded the bolts)....

They used finned oil pans on the old air cooled engines, some were after-market like EMPI....

But you're right: the radiator is small.....

Basically this Beetle is a Golf IV or Audi A4 - pretty much rocksolid and proven stuff.... I'm a little worried about the 6 speed auto trans with tiptronic.... that's gonna cost big bux when it fails....:sweat:
 
I've driven some rental cars with that Tiptronic trans- Benz,(in Germany) and some Chrysler's. Little weird at first but really nice after I figured out what was going on. I was moving the shift lever around without realizing it and it was changing gears- just like it's supposed to.
 
If you think changing the oil is a PITA, just wait until you change the transmission fluid. Don't even try to use non-VW transmission fluid...
 
Curby said:
If you think changing the oil is a PITA, just wait until you change the transmission fluid. Don't even try to use non-VW transmission fluid...
Click to expand...

now that you mention it... I have not yet found the tranny dipstick and there's no drain plug......
 
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