My youngest son Kyle bought a VW Rabbit Diesel the other day. He is a musician and knows nothing about cars. His older brother Aric and I spent the last several days and nights working on the car to make it safe and road worthy for him. He is wondering across the country and has several stops planned along the way. He left last night for his eventual destination, Brattleboro, VT where he enrolled in a course to learn to be a luthier. He called at 12:30 am to ask me how to fix his headlights.

Seems he was pulled over for a tail light and when he started off again the head lights wouldn't turn on. He held the dimmer switch and continued to drive to get to Remus MI. where he is attending a wedding.

Anyone know of a shop he can stop at that could fix the head lights for him. He is not mechanical at all. Ya, my kid can't fix his own car.

I'm in South Bend Indiana, I would help if he's passing thru here. I could also upgrade his gauge lighting to multicolor!

Rick,

Where is he heading to in VA? If he's driving all the way to this area (Wms'burg, Yorktown, Hampton, Newport News) I'd be glad to take a look. I figure it's the least I can do as I just moved my son to MN last weekend.

Steve A-

My bad. Wife just corrected me. He's heading for Brattleboro, VT. Whetstone School of Lutherie. I don't think he needs to be there right away so he in wondering around on the way.

I can help in Brattleboro.....two hours away...lovely drive.


If he is holding the dimmer on, it's probably the high beam low beam relay.

Rich

If he is going to be a luthier, he might want to start learning how to fix cars...

He has a couple friends that do instrument repairs. He's taken an interest in it and helped out a little.

I could never get him interested in cars when he was growing up. Music is his calling.

I have posted this in the sand box but here is a link to some of his works. This is some of his solo stuff and one of his bands Yester.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=kyle+o...amp;FORM=VQFRML

This was done live and raw in the Duluth Skywalk system.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHFRn0HOH9U


This one is awesome


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bc1jfK84jg


Some early Yester on The Playlist


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQaiPUh4xg


The Playlist


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNZwv0-feVo

Bump for weekenders.

if he is coming across 84 he is wecome here and have resources to hook him up

Thanks! I'm waiting for him to return my call. I want to get a route from him so I can hook him up. I'll post when I get more info. In the mean time enjoy the music.

So I got a call from Kyle. He is on the road again but now having an issue with the engine running away. (diesel) He is near Louisville and still trying to make it to a friends place tonight. He has managed to figure out how to shut the engine down when it takes off. He waits a little and can restart it and get down the road further.

He added oil today and over filled the engine. I managed to walk him through draining some out and getting it to the proper level. It could have been running on the engine oil. But he took off after correcting the level and it still ran away after about 10-15 miles. I was thinking there may be some oil still in the air box if that is the issue. But he is not very capable and I was not going to walk him through removing and cleaning the air box in the dark.

Anywho, do we have anyone in the Louisville area that can recommend an old school VW shop that can look at this thing?

Try Saint Matthews imports 502-896-0305 They have a good rep and been around a long time. I am just south of Louisville if I can help.
David

Stuttgart Specialists
1821 Taylor Avenue
Louisville, Ky 40213

(502) 454-5591

Tony Proasi is the owner and is well thought of in the Porsche community. This is the shop that is hosting the Louisville Swap Meet that is coming up.

Yes I forgot his shops name. I recommend him as well. ( easier to drive to )
David

Thanks guys. I think I talked him through the issue last night. It seems he checked his oil and may not have fully engaged the dip stick. He added oil to the engine. Way too much oil. When I had him check it he said it was about an inch over the full mark. He was able to drive for awhile before it started racing again. He pulled into a wayside and found a container and drained a bunch of oil out. He called this morning and said it happened again after he drained the oil but it shut down with the key. He slept til this morning (in the car) and he now has about 80 miles on and no issues so far. He blew through Louisville and is heading for Memphis.

The saga continues....

Maybe its just me, but I dont think Louisville to Vermont via Memphis is a direct route?

No, no it's not.... He is a wanderer. He doesn't need to be in VT for a month. Before he decided to come home and get a car he was traveling around the country on his thumb and hopping trains. Really.

I was glad he came home. He had a Dodge D100 4wd but the rear end was hollowing and the gas and oil usage were not good.

I gave him a nice V6 Ford Ranger Truck but it did get the kind of mileage he wanted.

He found this Rabbit and traded the Dodge for it thinking the diesel would be the answer. It had been sitting since 2007. As I stated his older brother and I spend several days an lots of money to try to ensure he could travel safe and not just dump the car off someplace and get back on the trains or thumb a ride.

We replaced the tires, windshield rear wheel bearings, oil change, Muffler and full brake job including calipers and wheel cylinders. We also rebuilt the vacuum pump that works the power brake booster. The car had a new radiator installed in 2007.

There was no heat in the car. I pulled the heater hoses and checked the control valve. It was working but when I blew air into the overflow with one hose off the heater core a bunch of silver seal came out. I guess they tried to fix the radiator in 2007 but succeeded in plugging up the heater core instead.

He left town the minute we finished the brakes. The car really seemed to run nice and the engine was clean.

He's a smart young man. He attended Perpich Institute for the Arts his senior year, finished a 2 year AA at McNally Smith College of Music in a year, has a BA in Music from UMD and graduated early with honors. I think he was just misled by the liberal education system we allowed him to attend. He's not a druggie and doesn't drink excessively.

He's starting to think about life beyond today. The Luthier school only takes 3 students at a time. It's expensive but I think it will be worth it. He may come away from there with some means of supporting himself beyond playing music on the street corners for cash. That's my hope for him. In the mean time all I can do is be a dad and try to keep him moving in a positive direction.