Hard Lessons

I researched auto repair shops that specialized in Volkswagens and made an appointment to drop it off at Wolfsburg Motorwerks in Ballard to be inspected the first available appointment the next week.  I told them I was planning on driving cross country in the van and wanted to be relatively sure the van wouldn't break down along the way.  I wanted them to fix/repair/replace anything they thought might go wrong.

While waiting to take the car to them I decided I could perform a few repairs myself.  Stupid me.
The washer fluid motor didn't work, so I pulled out the washer fluid reservoir from under the van.  I was drenched with washer fluid.  I bought a used replacement motor from a shop in Kent, only to find the motor wasn't compatible with my reservoir.  I gave up on that.

I thought I could spray paint the front grill black, as it had faded badly.  I got the appropriate spray paint for plastic, pulled off the grill and painted it.  After it dried, it looked worse than before.  It ended up looking something like this:

I gave up on that.

I figured I would start with something easy, like replacing the cigarette lighter jack.  The original lighter receptacle was worn and plugs fell out.  I pulled the old one, wired a used one I had bought from the same dealer in Kent, and immediately blew the fuse to the stereo, lighter, refrigerator, everything.   So my new fancy stereo was dead.  I gave up on that.

Lesson number 3:  Leave the repairs to people who know what they are doing.

I got my first call from Wolfsburg Motorwerks the day after dropping off the van.  Their initial estimate of repair to be done was a little over $3,000.   They found the suspension was original and needed lots of work.  But they hadn't checked the compression on the engine yet and they would call me back. They had heard the knocking noise and hadn't figured out what it was.  I figured $3,000 wasn't so bad.

Lesson number 4:  Don't believe the first estimate.


I got another call from Wolfsburg the next day.  The work had climbed to just shy of $7,000.
Here is what they proposed to do:

brake hoses
cv joints
steering rack
wheel bearings
fuel hoses
hatch struts
radiator
cooling hoses
front end repair
new brakes
new shocks.

And they still hadn't inspected the engine.

I texted the seller of the van that everything he had promised me about the van was incorrect.  He texted back the name of the shop in LA where he had had work done.  I called them.  The "rebuilt" suspension?  new shocks in 2003.  The "rebuilt" engine?  new spark plugs 4 years ago.  The "rebuilt" transmission?  a new clutch several years earlier.  I cried.

Several days later I got another call from Wolfsburg.  The good news:  the compression test on all 4 cylinders seemed fine, but 3 were in the 120 range and 1 was 180.  They had no idea why the discrepancy.  The bad news: they weren't sure, but they thought the knocking sound was from a bad push rod.  Translation: engine rebuild.  Bottom line: $6,000 more.   I cried again.

Two days later, I got the final estimate for work needed to bring the van up to shape.  Just a few dollars shy of $15,000.  I was so shocked I couldn't cry.

To cheer myself up, I bought one accessory that no Vanagon should be without.
Here it is:

I named her "Vanna",  and the van is now officially named "Vanna Nicole" because she's an expensive, high maintenance girl.