Return from lurking

[vwdaun at yahoo.com (Daun Yeagley)]

--- Jacob Hawes <gr8hunter1@comcast.net> wrote:

My mom was on her way
> home from work 
> in the alero when a guy t-boned her because he was
> watching the opposite 
> direction of traffic and saw an opening he decided to
> take.

Man, that sucks.  Glad she's ok though.
 
> We know it needs brakes and something with suspension. I
> bought shoes 
> for it a while ago and they have been sitting in the back
> end ever 
> since. We also need to get pads but I am not sure which
> caliper the car 
> has (the guy at the FLAPS said there were two).

Look in the Bentley, it has illustrations for both.  It is
most likely the Kelsey-Hayes (I think) but check it out to
be sure.  (Or you could replace the calipers with new... 
not THAT expensive.)
 
> The suspension bottoms out from going over rail road
> tracks, a high 
> rising cross street, or even just pushing down on the
> back end hard.

You are in desperate need of struts.  You'll probably want
to do all four corners at once, and make sure you replace
the strut bearings in the front at the same time.  You will
need an alignment when it's finished.  If you're going
stock and cheap, I would probably recommend the Boge Progas
struts.

> Something that I have not been able to track down is a
> leak at the rear 
> passenger corner. There is always a little water in the
> corner but not 
> enough to spread anywhere. I think the seal is good. How
> do I track this 
> very slow leak down.

Try could crawling into the trunk and having someone spray
the car with a hose.  Another possiblility is it leaking
around the taillight lenses.  Trunk leaks are pretty common
problems on both Mk 1 and Mk 2 cars...  keep 'em out of the
rain if you don't want them to leak I suppose.
 
> Something that I asked about last winter has happened
> again. Mold on the 
> steering wheel. The car has been sitting and we always
> have a lot of 
> humidity (in the form of precipitation), so I looked
> today and of course 
> just like last year there is white and green mold. Last
> year I used 
> tilex mold killer quickly followed by vinyl conditioner.
> I don't think 
> that this killed it so much as just removed it from the
> surface.

The environment is ripe for mold production, so without
constant use, the mold will likely return.
 
> Also the passenger door will not open from the outside.
> Just follow the 
> bently?

Remove the door handle and see if the mechanism works with
your finger.  Most likely your door handle is broken.

HTH and keep us posted!


Daun Yeagley - Wilmington Ohio
'81 Scirocco S               '86 Scirocco 8v
'88 Scirocco 16v             '88 Scirocco Slegato 
'96 Passat GLX Wagon         '56 Cessna 172
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts - Ehrlich's Law.

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