The Cruise Control is quite fickle.

The day after my last post, I tried the cruise while riding down the highway and it worked. Surprisingly, it worked correctly the entire ride and kept me at a constant speed easily. However, the next day, it didn't work. So I don't know if I want to try and bypass the cruise control or just leave it be and use it when it will work.

My highest priority right now is getting the A/C working correctly. It has apparently been converted to R134a judging by the fittings on the hoses, however, there are no stickers denoting this conversion. The problem with it right now is that it will not stay charged. I have successfully charged the system with one or two cans of refrigerant, but it won't hold a charge for more than a few days. Not very eco-friendly, but more importantly not very wallet friendly. Especially at $6 per can of R-134a.

I am debating whether I should I try and repair the system myself, or just take to someone and let them do the work. Honestly, I trust my work the most, but I don't know if I have all the tools necessary to do the work. First, I think I will price out the parts and see what it would cost me to do it, then shop around for the work.

Nearly a Year

Well, its been almost a year since I wrecked my Jetta. I know this because it was a week before my son was born. So that's an easy way to remember it (I won't say which is easier to remember).

Just thought I would post some of my thoughts on how my car is holding up right now and what I'm thinking about doing to it next. Generally, nothing is wrong with it. Meaning, I can drive it everyday and I don't worry about it breaking down. However, there are a few things I still need to take care of soon.

First, is the leak in the rear passenger floor board area. It pools water (as in sloshing around) whenever it rains any significant amount. This wasn't a problem during the drought last year, but now its quite annoying. I pretty much have to leave the rear floor mat out so that it doesn't hold water in it. The problem most likely stems from a clogged sun-roof drain. I just have to figure out where the clog is first. Anybody got any suggestions on where to start?

Second, the A/C is still not working correctly. Anything other than "Min" temperature gives me hot (really HOT) air out of the vents. The "Min" setting will turn off the hot air, but since my compressor is leaking refrigerant, I can't keep it cold with out putting a can of R-134a into it every two weeks (or less).

I guess I need to do a cost analysis and see how much I can pay to have it fixed so that its cheaper than buying a can or two of freon every month this summer.

PS--I'm writing this post using Windows Live Writer. First time using it, but I heard Paul and Leo talking about on Windows Weekly a couple of times now and thought I would actually use considering I installed it months ago.

Hopefully, I can post more than once or twice a month now.

Random Thoughts

Well, I was thinking the other day while driving (in my Benz) about the general condition of the car, and also about what I want to do on it in the future. While I was thinking I realized something. The car is mechanically very sound. Nothing major wrong with it, no safety issues, no reliability issues, really a great car.
The biggest mechanical issues with the car are pretty minor. One is the oil leak. The other is the waning climate control system.
The Oil Leak
Yeah, its a diesel; it leaks oil. That's what everyone tells me. I don't really mind the oil leak (its very minor), and it is in a non-critical part (the turbo drain tube), so why do I keep worrying about it? I guess its the black piece of cardboard in the garage that is protecting my concrete floor. It looks as if it is getting saturated, so I need to check underneath the cardboard soon to avoid a stained garage floor.
As far as fixing this, I tried last weekend. It didn't go so well. I got to the part, and saw the leak, but couldn't get much further. I think I need to take the turbo off to get the drain tube off, so the annoyance of the leak has not motivated me enough to go to all this trouble. I'm gonna change the oil soon anyway.
The A/C
The second mechanical issue is the A/C (or climate control). It blows cold air, sort of, except on really hot days, or if you try to adjust the temperature from anything other than "MIN". Now, this isn't a big deal, but I do enjoy a cold A/C on a hot day. I think that the issue with it stems from multiple problems with the entire climate control system.
One problem is a non-standard high pressure port. It's bigger than normal R134 high pressure ports and thus, will not take a standard cap to cover the port. I think it is leaking out of there. Result is I have to add a can of freon every two weeks or so.
Another problem is it just never gets really cold. I think my evaporator may be a little inefficient considering its age. I'll have to just live with this, cause I really don't want to take the dash out of the car right now.
Lastly, there is the lack of temperature adjustment. This is the smallest problem since I don't want it to get any warmer, just colder. Of course, at night when its 65F, it does get a little cool. I thinks its either the monovalve, or the control unit itself. Neither of these is particularly cheap, so I'll think about fixing this next year.
Conclusion
Yeah, its a good car. Am I complaining about small insignificant things? Yeah.
Are there other things wrong with it? Kinda, mostly cosmetic.
Am I gonna fix those? Probably not.

Do I still enjoy my new diesel? Definitely.

Fixing what ails me.

So, I have a 23 year old car. Somethings going to be wrong with it. Right now, that's not much. However, I do want to perform a little maintenance on a couple of things, and do a little house cleaning on some other issues. The following are some issues I have already addressed. I just want to write them down so I don't forget.

Issue #1: Wipers don't work.

Solution: They actually do work, just not right when I got home with the car. Checked the fuse, looked good, didn't touch it. A day later, changed the fuse anyway (and cleaned the contacts) and wipers started working. Washer works too thankfully.
So, after this, I changed and cleaned every fuse connection. Except the ones for the headlights, because I ran out of 8A fuses.

Issue #2: A/C blows out hot air. (and I mean HOT)

Solution: Changed a fuse made it not as hot. Charged up the freon made it blow (semi) cold. My father-in-law (who will no doubt get a lot of mention in this blog) noticed that the cap for the high-side service port. I bought one and realized why its missing.
Even though it was converted to R134a freon, this service port is not correct, I think someone cheaped out on the changeover. I may have a local guy fix this for me since I don't have the right equipment to do this change.
Do I need to fix it? Maybe not, but I do apparently have a leak, since I have already added another can of freon (after only a month). So I think I will fix it.

Issue #3: Cigarette lighter is poorly designed. It blocks most of the radio functions when I plug in a car charger for my phone.

Solution: Ok, this one wasn't as easy to solve. So I made this my first project for my car. I will detail my solution and the design decisions I made in my next post. For now, I will just state my goals for this project and what I want to achieve.

Project 1: New cigarette lighter for console.
Goals: 1)Provide a socket that is "always on" for when I want to charge something when the ignition is not on.
2)Provide at least one extra socket that is switched to the ignition.
3)Make it look as good as the original.

General: The current ashtray rotates out from below the radio and is covered by a wood face to blend in with the rest of the dash. The factory outlet is tied to the ignition but only in position two, not one. It also comes with an ashtray (useless to me), so that can go. It should also be safe and not put too much of a load on any other in car system.

Stay tuned for the results of my first project. Here's a picture of how it looked when I started.