VW PARTS VEHICLE ADVENTURE & LIFE WINS!

I started the morning in good spirits. After making coffee, gathering tools, and 5 gallons of distilled water, while my girlfriend prepared herself, we set off for our half day long trip. We were on a mission to pick up a refreshed set of TDI injectors and a recently wrecked, but still running 96 VW Jetta. I thought to myself, "What a bargain at $300 for all the miscellaneous parts my engine swapped 81 Rabbit Truck needs as well as a good set of MK3 Driver Edition seats!" It was a bargain, but it was going to take significant nursing, and a little bit of luck to get the "drivable" Jetta back home.

Luckily, I had my girlfriend in tow, and to my surprise she wasn't annoyed by my car loving shenanigans. Quite the contrary in fact, which stood squarely in opposition to everything I had been trained to expect from years of social and cultural conditioning. I expected that she was going to become impatient after the Jetta overheated slightly, and spewed coolant less than ten miles from where we started our journey back home. However, I was the one who wore the face of frustration after I had let it cool, and filled it up with water again only to see the temperature gauge fly into the danger zone once again less than five miles from where we set off for the second time.

Mack truck approaches!

Mack truck approaches!

I had checked for any big leaks or obvious signs of immediate repairs before leaving the first time, but at the second stop I knew I clearly had to sort something out or we wouldn't be back in time to pick up our little one from daycare. This would be a disaster of epic proportions and would be the only thing that could truly ruin our little adventure on multiple levels. Feeling the pressure to quickly assess the situation I used my newly procured hood release lever that took the form of a very long crowbar to release the hood, and peer inside the engine bay. Nothing was immediately obvious or different from the other times I had looked around. There was still a leak somewhere, which turned out to be the upper radiator hose. The hose had sustained a cut when it was wrecked, and the spinning fan must have taken a chunk out of it. How could I have missed this, and where was the duct tape?

Oh my god I forgot the duct tape! In all my tool gathering glory earlier that morning I had forgotten the one thing you never should be without. It was at this point that I was at my most flustered. We searched our cars for anything slightly sticky. Coming up empty handed I began telling my girlfriend about a gas station I knew of a few miles behind us. At this moment without either of us noticing a purple Suzuki SUV had pulled in front of my Jetta. A gentleman possibly my age or younger with long black curly hair in a ponytail, and a kind of permanent smile hopped out to ask if we needed help. After explaining our situation, he said he lived only a few miles away, and that he would return with some duct tape shortly.

I was very appreciative of the kindness of our newfound roadside friend, however he returned empty handed. He couldn't find his duct tape either! I thanked him for his trouble, and he communicated to me that there was a Dollar General store across from the gas station that I had intended to travel to for supplies. After this setback my girlfriend and I reconvened. I locked up the Jetta and she drove us to the Dollar General. I bought some Gorilla tape, silver duct tape, more water for good measure, and some refreshing beverages. She speedily returned us to the Jetta, and I began to try and mend the radiator hose.

I was hurrying or trying to while still being slightly suspicious of her calm regarding the time it was taking for our adventure to come to completion. Much to my further amazement she was rather happy to sit in her air conditioned car and conduct business, while I toiled away with my messy hose situation. It took two attempts to mend the hose well enough to try and travel. The first attempt was an immediate and demoralizing failure as I watched coolant and water drip out the sides of the tape. On my second attempt I used a bit of folded shop towel that I had brought to place over the hole and tore off long continuous strips of tape to firmly secure it to the hose. I was going for broke, because if this failed, I didn't know if I would have enough tape left to make a third attempt.

Roadside coolant hose repair and destroyed hood latch.

Roadside coolant hose repair and destroyed hood latch.

After wrapping and filling up the coolant system I attempted to drop the hood. The hood had been latching up until this point, but it was now that it decided to quit working entirely. Luckily, I had prepared for this and attached a ratchet strap to the hood and visible core support. This would add precious time to any needed future stops needed to add water or inspect further issues, but I had no other option and crossed my fingers on having a successful departure.

Lucky for at least the third time that day the temperature rose slightly above the middle and for the first time while driving it held steady. I engaged the heater so any coolant in the heater core could flow into the rest of the system and ensured the AC compressor wouldn't engage by turning off the AC switch. I drove this way for several miles until a firm temperature seemed to be reached then I killed the heat.

It was fully alive and driving! I had intended to stop several miles down the road to double check everything, but once the temperature held all my desires to get back under the hood disappeared. If the gauge was steady so was my foot to the pedal traveling along the twenty or so miles back home.

We made it home triumphant, and my girlfriend expressed how much fun she had on our journey before leaving to pick up our little one. I have always wanted to try and include her in my enthusiasm for cars, and this is just the latest success in a string of wins for us to that end. She has even mentioned wanting to learn how to drive a manual once my engine swapped Rabbit Truck is operational. Upon reflection I think she may have had more fun than I did, and I'm very surprised and happy with that result!

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