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Jim, how interesting I have had the <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; display: inline !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="ContentPasted0">
Amarillo, TX</span> experience as well fortunately it happened in <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; display: inline !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Amarillo</span> with our TDI. It was a clutch failure. We have had a few <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; display: inline !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="ContentPasted1">Amarillo,
TX visits over the years due to it being in the route of our regular tips. I know the dealer you're referring to as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; display: inline !important; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="ContentPasted1">Daniel
Du Vall</span></div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>From:</b> type3-vwtype3.org <type3-vwtype3.org-bounces@lists.vwtype3.org> on behalf of jadney@vwtype3.org <jadney@vwtype3.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 11, 2023 9:57 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Type3@vwtype3.org <Type3@vwtype3.org><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [T3] On the Road Again!</font>
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<div class="PlainText">Well, as many of you already know, Melissa and I drive to Tucson, AZ each fall, to visit our
<br>
daughter. We pick this time of year because the Tucson heat should start to be tolerable, and
<br>
we will still have time to drive home before the roads home get iced over. This year, we made
<br>
it to Liberal, KS [far SW corner of Kansas, almost certainly not actually liberal, so I kept my
<br>
political leanings under wraps] without difficulty, but our luck ran out there.<br>
<br>
Following a perfectly nice dinner in downtown Liberal, our GPS got confused, and I stupidly
<br>
followed it into an alley, where I ran across what I can only describe as a "dry wash". A "dry
<br>
wash is a concrete paved dip in the road that is meant to carry water across on those rare
<br>
occasions when it rains: sort of an official gulley. This one would have been perfectly safe at
<br>
5 mi/hr, but it was dark, I didn't see it, and I hit it at maybe 20 mi/hr. The car hit its chin HARD
<br>
on the far side of the gulley.<br>
<br>
Shortly thereafter I got a red dash warming light. The car continued to drive normally, so I
<br>
drove back to our motel parking lot, where Melissa found a slowly spreading puddle coming
<br>
out from under the front of our car. It was red and seemed oily, So I guessed it was ATF, but
<br>
our Golf Sportwagon does not have an AT; it has a DSG (Dual Shift Gearbox.) I don't know
<br>
what color the DSG fluid is. There's no body damage that I can see, and the plastic
<br>
underbody sheathing is intact, and I can see some areas where it's been in contact with
<br>
something, but I can't tell what's new from what's old.<br>
<br>
Nevertheless, I'm thinking this is SERIOUS meaning $$$. And there's no VW dealership
<br>
nearby and almost no one that works on imports. This is Chevy/Ford country, with a few
<br>
Toyotas. <br>
<br>
It took over an hour to find the place in the owner's manual that mentions that warning light. It
<br>
doesn't come up under warning lights in the index. What I finally found was that this was a
<br>
general warning and that I'm also supposed to read the text that appears on the display.
<br>
Seems reasonable, but when I went back to look for the text, I found that the warning light
<br>
stays on, but the text disappears after about 2-3 seconds. <br>
<br>
Finally, I got the text to reappear: "Check Cooling System." Okay, that sounds bad, but a little
<br>
less bad than before. I can see puddles on the bracket under the radiator. I find that I can
<br>
snake one arm down thru the tangle of hoses just far enough to get a finger on the lower
<br>
radiator hose nipple. It wiggles rather freely. We're gonna need a radiator.<br>
<br>
I start to look for VW dealers. Nothing close. I called the VW Roadside Assistance number
<br>
that's in our owner's manual stuff. They can get us a tow to the nearest dealer, which is in
<br>
Amarillo, TX, 182 miles away. The catch is that I'll still be paying for it, all $1300+ of it.<br>
<br>
I look around Liberal for towing services. There's one across the street from us. It's night, but
<br>
I walk over there to look it over and they have nice flatbeds. I also walk to a nearby auto
<br>
workshop. It appears to be surrounded by cars in bad shape that haven't moved in awhile.<br>
<br>
The towing place opens the next morning at 8; I'm there at 7:45 but the owner is there before
<br>
me. Nice old guy, family business: him, his wife, two sons. One son can haul us toAmaril<span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;"> </span><span style="">lo,</span></div>
</span></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:11pt">
<div class="PlainText">182 miles for just over $1000. He's giving me a bit of a break; otherwise it would be closer to
<br>
the VW Roadside Assistance price. My innate cheapness is bugging me, but I fear that I
<br>
could spend a few days and nights in Liberal and STILL have to be hauled to Amarillo. I give
<br>
in. We get to the Amarillo VW dealership at 1 that afternoon. I called them earlier in the hope
<br>
that they could be ready for us and have parts waiting.<br>
<br>
Well, they were ready, but no parts. They finally admitted that they don't keep radiators in
<br>
stock. Nowit's the next morning and we're holed up in a local motel waiting for some/any
<br>
reassuring news. I just called this morning, and they finally have our car up on the rack where
<br>
someone can start looking at it, and figuring out what the repair is going to take.
<br>
<br>
My main worry is that we'll stay here 2 nights and then they will tell us that it will be a week or
<br>
so. At some point we might wish we had rented a car to finish the trip and come back here in
<br>
a week or so. I called the friends we had planned to spend the next two nights with and
<br>
realized that if we had been in one of our Squarebacks, I'd have us back on the road the next
<br>
day at the latest. Old cars DO have their advantages!<br>
<br>
Sorry for the long post.<br>
<br>
Wish us luck!<br>
<br>
-- <br>
*******************************<br>
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org<br>
Madison, Wisconsin, USA<br>
*******************************<br>
<br>
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