I agree with John. How-tos are extremely helpful. I have been on the list since the fall of '98. I don't post often but that is because often by the time I read a question I know the answer to someone has already posted. I have accumulated some 1200 messages with information I rely on as reference material in conjunction with my Bentley.
On a side note my gf uses my Jetta as a daily driver and has so for the last two years. It is bone stock other than a disabled car alarm and an aftermarket stereo both installed by the PO. It has(d) some 165+K miles on it and generally speaking was a reliable machine. Tuesday of this week she was traveling on the 408 expressway (a local toll road) on her way from work to school. About a mile before a toll booth smoke begin to blow out of the air vents in the dash, followed by a burning smell. As she pulled up to the toll booth she immediately let the attendant know that she suspected a fire and needed to know where to pull over and if they had a fire extinguisher. Getting little reaction from the attendant she drove through the toll booth, parked the car on the side of the road, and ran back to get a fire extinguisher. After some heated (no pun intended) discussion (apparently the toll booth attendants don't have to handle fires very often) a fire extinguisher was obtained and the fire department was called. She tried to put out the fire but by this point it was larger than she had anticipated. By the time the fire department showed up, the fire had spread through the entire interior of the car. The firemen proceed to break the front and rear windows, saw the hood and trunk open, and put out the fire. My gf called me and was audibly shaken. I immediately left work and upon arrival was just glad she was unharmed. The car is pretty much a complete loss. The fire apparently started somewhere behind the dash. The firewall kept the majority of the fire in the interior. Most of the plastic parts in the bay are melted. Though the car has had some mechanical problems since its purchase, it has *never* had any electrical gremlins. There were no signs this was coming. I drive the car almost nightly. I suspect the aftermarket stereo that was installed by a previous owner was the culprit but I doubt we will ever know. I will be salvaging some parts off of it this weekend. Regards, Phillip T. 91GTI8V 88GLI16V - charcoal edition > -----Original Message----- > From: John Caldwell [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 11:15 AM > To: R Blake > Cc: volkswagen > Subject: Re: big bumpers (long how-to) > > > On Thu, 20 Sep 2001, R Blake wrote: > > > Sorry guys, I was bored. > > > > Rich > > > > > > These howto's are _always_ helpful... I know alex has some of > them up on > his page, and any others that people have posted end up in > the archive. > I'll probably post one on how to fix a broken pedal cluster within the > next few days... that was a fun job. Let's just say it > involved a hole > saw, some washers, and almost removing the dash. :) Stuff > like what was > in your how-to is the sort of thing that the bentley doesn't > cover... I'm > sure that the bentley says "1) remove old bumper. 2) Installation is > reverse of removal." I say bring it on... the more howto's > the better! > > > > _____________ > List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com > To remove yourself from this list, send mail to > [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body > of your message > See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com > Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org > _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
