Aihnss.200
net.vwrabbit
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!ihnss!warren
Tue Nov 17 17:06:30 1981
Rabbit Operating Experience
Subject: experience
(Please excuse this if it is a duplicate, I mailed this to
allegra!vwrabbit but got no indication of arrival so am submitting
directly to net.vwrabbit)
In the interest of comparing notes on operating and repair
experiences, I am contributing my own experiences with my car. This
is lengthy, feel free to ignore.
Model: 1979 gas, 5 speed, AC, rear wiper/washer, wide rims & tires.
Miles: 47K
Use: Mostly commuting and long distance driving. Very little use
for short trips in town.
Mileage: 34 MPG (Varies between 32 and 36 seasonally).
Incremental Operating Cost: 5.2 cents/mile. (Includes gas and repairs).
Significant repairs:
5/80: (15K) AC condensor leaking. Fixed under warantee.
6/80 (18K) Front end missaligned, causing tire wear.
After unsatisfactory attempt to align by dealer, I
readjusted the toe in myself and have had no further
problems.
11/80: (30K) Front Brake pads ($45 by dealer).
11/80: (30K) Repacked half shafts and replaced seals ($85).
1/81: (34K) Corroded fuel pump relay bracket replaced ($34). This
apparently was caused by leakage from the antenna,
or by salt water splashed by driver's feet. The
symptoms were occasional sudden "misses" (felt like
someone threw a wrench in the gear box, but no sound
of mechanical trouble), and difficulty in starting
when warmed up.
10/81: (46K) Valve seals replaced ($140 by dealer). The car was
consuming 1Q of oil in 650 miles. Too little time
since repair to assess success, however I have not
observed significant oil loss since.
Persistent problems/anomolies:
When due for a tuneup, the car idles way too fast in cold weather
when the engine is warm. Retarding the timing (It usually seems too
far advanced at this point) helps somewhat by lowering the
temperature at which this reaction is triggered, however it does not
seem to be the fundamental cause.) The standard dealer service
seems to fix the problem, though I don't know what is wrong. (Phil
Karn and I have both described this one in this mailing list
before).
Difficult to shift to 2cnd gear in cold weather.
Air Condidioner has a tendancy to run too cold. (Actually what
seems to be happening is that if the compressor runs too long in one
shot, the circuitry that is supposed to make it cycle to maintain an
even temperature locks up, keeping it on constantly). There are
apparently no adjustments to be made.
Car is so air tight that it is hard to shut the passenger door with
all others shut.
Driver's side wiper smears, in spite of replacement or exchange with
other wipers. The rear wiper, however, is in my opinion well worth
the cost if you do any driving on wet and dirty roads, as the air
flow deposits lots of crud on the rear window.
(I have a simple unix database that keeps track of most of this
stuff and a simple program to extract gas mileage and cost of
operation)
Warren Montgomery
ihnss!warren
IH x2494
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