That Durned Under Body Cover

The under body cover on the Meanie dropped again. This time one of the screw holes stretched and snapped. I've e-mailed the seller with pictures, and hopefully will be sending it back for a refund.

I had considered requesting a replacement, but Gary had a better idea: make one out of aluminum. The cost for the sheet aluminum will be less than the cost for the after-market cover. As an added bonus, it should be much lighter. Oh yeah, it will also hold its form much better, unlike the old one which sagged.

One More Time

I called up a local VW dealership late in the winter and purchased a TDI badge for a Jetta to apply to the Blue Meanie. The vanity plate "MEANIE" was not available, nor was "TDI". I was shocked when the DMV informed me "DIESEL" was not yet taken.

Blue Meanie, World; Plus More!

Finally, pictures of the Blue Meanie!

The underbody cover had come loose again, so I brought it over to Dusty and Gary's to resolve the problem. I put the car on ramps and added some oversize washers so the plastic would have a more difficult time stretching around the retaining screws. While I was at it I snapped some pictures to send off to Terry Frost, the man who sold me the cover and the TDIheater (a ZeroStart with custom bracket and pre-bent hoses).

The cars have been running like champs lately. The Blue Meanie is due for an oil change, and while I'm at it I'll check the manual's service schedule and see what else there is for me to do.

Lately, I have been going over the interior electrical system in Casper (the Audi 200TQ). So far I've fixed one of the rear speakers (loose solder joint on the cone) and a rear seat bench heating element (contact pulled loose on the embedded switch).

Since I've been pulling out much of the interior for the headliner replacement, I have an opportunity to thoroughly clean every piece of trim. It is time-consuming, but rewarding!

While in the car, you never really get a clear picture of how filthy things become over time. Once you get a piece of the car in the same lighting under which you live, it is very difficult to ignore its filth. I sure hope things don't gradually end up this way in the Blue Meanie!

Battles Won and Battles Pending

Today I was able to remove the "C" pillar coverings, the rear seatbelt fixture coverings, and the "shelf" where the speakers are mounted. I went ahead and removed the speakers for testing, as some of them do not presently work. I began ripping out the headliner, and am about 50% done with that particular task, if I exclude the work involved in cleaning up all the sticky orange foam.

Now I'm held up. It is not inherently obvious how to remove the "A", "B", and "D" pillar coverings. I can get by with just the "A" and "B" coverings removed, but there are some electronics behind the "D" coverings that I would like to test. I would also like to be able to thoroughly clean all of them.

Additionally, I have not yet been able to figure out how to remove the sun visors. The Bentley has been completely useless in this matter. I may be looking in the wrong section, though... It's so much information, I'm never sure if I'm in the right spot.

I decided to quit removing things for the day and then retired to the apartment. Once inside, I began cleaning some items I had removed, namely the rear headrests and the "C" pillar coverings. Afterwards, I began testing the rear speakers.

One of the speakers worked great, but the other had not been putting out sound at all. I put a AA battery to the non-working speaker, and was still getting nothing. I made contact closer and closer to where the speaker wires disappeared into a pile of hot glue-ish goo, but with no success. I was beginning to think it may be the time to post on the Audi World forums to request a replacement speaker, but then I got to thinking...

What if I just melt this stuff off? I can't ruin the speaker any more than it's ruined already, right? I took my soldering iron to the wires running into the glob, gently pulling on them while heating until they slid out. I took a hair dryer to the globs and slowly worked them off with my Leatherman. The soldering joints which lead to the speakers internal wiring were fully exposed. I took my battery to them and hooray! Sound! It took some "precision" work, or at least "precision" for me to get things resoldered, but now that everything is put back together the speaker is working great.

Victory!

Heated Seats?!

I am in the process of removing the necessary interior trim on Casper to be able to remove the headliner. I figured that, while I'm at it, I may as well tackle some electrical issues that have been bothering me, as well as get some cleaning done.

So I ended up removing the back seat. Entirely. I'll be cleaning it indoors, which will allow me to get every nook and cranny.

When I pulled the seat I noticed something I have not noticed before. There is electrical wiring running directly into the bench and the backrest! Now, I've noticed the electrical wiring lashed to the bench, but I had never noticed it went into the bench. I experienced a moment of exhilaration. Could this be?! You see, Casper has a heated front seats. Well, they don't presently work but they are there. Could it be we have heated rear seats, too?

I ran inside and grabbed my trusty Bentley Publishers Audi 100, 200 Official Factory Repair Manual: Volume 3 which contains every electrical wiring diagram. Right there on page 719: the wiring schematic for the heated rear seats. Woohoo!

Now I've really got my work cut out for me!

TODO:
Remove/replace headliner
Clean/condition the leather interior
Fix short on relay #10 (interior lighting, locks, lighters, stereo, etc...)
Fix non-functional speakers
Fix/replace all seat heating elements