Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Headlights #2

After much research, I have decided not to go HID in the Blue Meanie. There are some electrical issues which would very likely crop up further down the road. It just doesn't seem worth it.

I was able to find a distributor selling Osram H1 Long Life (64150L) bulbs in the US. These bulbs are rated for a life span of 500+ hours and cost just under $7 per bulb when purchased as a 10-pack. In the long run this is just as good a deal as HID, but without the future electrical issues.

The Blue Meanie Gets A New Fuel Filter

The Beetle up and quit one day while Linnea was out. It simply refused to start for her. It would crank, but there was no combustion. Sometimes you could hear combustion on the first crank, but that would be it.

I stopped by the same night to get a feel for what was happening. My first guess was the fuel filter might be full of moisture. As it was past 10PM, I knew there was no way the car would be running in time to head to church in the morning. Thankfully, the Audi was ready for the Sunday morning trip.

Following church, my friend Brett used his mad connections from his former job to score a new fuel filter for $20. Brett also helped me swap out the fuel filter, which only took 10-15 minutes. On a New Beetle TDI the fuel filter is located to the left of the plastic engine cover, and the only tools you need are a large screwdriver to loosen the bracket and pliers to un-clamp the hoses.

Replacement is straight-forward enough, you shouldn't need any directions.

Now, a few lessons learned:
  1. Replacement of the fuel filter should happen at every oil change for diesels (10k miles for TDIs). If you're cheap you can get by with draining at 10k and replacing at 20k, but you must do something about the moisture build-up.
  2. Oh what I would have given for some diesel to pour into the new filter! I had to crank the engine for some time while the filter filled back up with fuel. The poor car sounded terrible, and spewed a small cloud of black smoke upon the first successful start. Do yourself a favor and prime the filter prior to installing.
  3. That was quite painless. There's no reason anyone couldn't do this on their own.
We drained the old filter into a glass jar for an idea of how much moisture was in there. There was definitely enough to fill the filter to the brim. What this meant was that initially diesel would be delivered to the engine, but as more fuel flooded into the filter it would stir up water which simply won't combust.

I of all people am surprised I got this one right on the first try.