The Caffeinated Penguin

musings of a crackpot hacker

Fixed mah car…

matt | July 22, 2010

The ABS light came on a couple weeks ago. It’s summer, so no rush. Hit it with the computer last night, got an “electrical fault in the right rear ABS sensor”. Pulled the wheel, checked the wire, looked fine. Figure it is a defective component. German Auto Parts is awesome and about 5 minutes from [...]

Wheels

matt | April 20, 2010

Finally got warm enough to put the new wheels on Arnie.

The overall diameter is the same, but the wheel is taller with a shorter tire. They’re also a full inch wider, so they fill out the wells a lot better. The cornering is “vastly” improved – very difficult to even squeal them in the [...]

Car is done

matt | May 31, 2009

Went out in the morning, hit Tractor supply, got the stuff we needed. Came home, compressed the springs in the struts, changed out the shock, kind of messed it up and bent the retaining ring, so I had to press it back into shape. Hit it again, got it right, did the second one, no [...]

Cars

matt | May 30, 2009

First, I love my wife. She’s awesome, and probably knows more about cars than I do. It’s fun to wrench on stuff together.
Anyway, I HATE the right side McPherson strut assembly on Jettas and Golfs. Anyone who has had to change one out knows what I mean.
The Bentley book says “unbolt the drive shaft from [...]

Diesel prices

matt | March 18, 2009

Diesel fuel has come down enough that, at current prices, I only need to put 1.6 million miles on the car to cover the premium I paid for the engine. Woohoo!