"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:17:35 +0000, Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
m:

Since you had to pull the
engine to change the clutch out, a good thing.

That wasn't much of a big deal IF you had the proper engine stand to put
under it on the lift. The dealers pulled them out for the simplest of
reasons.

I had no trouble using just a wheeled floor jack. Once the transaxle
splines are clear of the pressure plate you just lower the engine then
push it off the jack and onto the floor. Then jack up the car's rear
end enough to drag the engine clear. All light duty stuff, no lift
required. Maybe 1/2 an hour after you've done it once.
It's a PITA if the jack is in sand though, which situation I let
myself get into once.

I was in the Volkswagen Analog Computer Repair Business for a while when
I owned the 411 wagon. My 411 just stopped for no reason in the middle
of traffic. The towtruck took it back to its dealer, with me in a bad
mood. "It's the computer.", the service manager said flatly. He never
even looked at it. He already knew what the problem was. So, I got a
new "computer", an analog device that squirted fuel into its gullet
electrically. It wasn't much of a "computer", nothing digital, just hard
parts! I commandeered my old computer from him before he threw it into a
large pile of computers in a big box in the parts department. LOTS of
computers were tits up, it seemed. No schematic available, of course, I
took it back to my office and pulled it apart and drew my own. I tested
the simple transistors with my Radio Shack in-circuit transistor tester
and found one open, base to collector. I replaced the transistor with a
garden variety 2N2222 that was, in quantity, about 8c in those days. I
swapped it out under the driver's seat and my 411 wagon cranked right up.
I ran it on my home-repaired box, keeping the OEM box as a spare in the
car, just in case. I never had any more trouble with it.

Next time I had it serviced, I told the service manager about my repair,
carefully NOT telling him I knew what was wrong with, at least, my
computer box. "Would you like to repair some more?", he asked. "Sure.",
I replied. I took home about 200 dead boxes from his collection. I went
straight to that one transistor and they were all blown. I replaced a
bunch with 2N2222 generic NPNs and tested them in my 411, all good.

We came to an agreement at $50/unit to repair them. 2 other dealers sent
me their "collections". Anyone trying to pry information about my
repairs got nothing. I'm not shooting my foot. It was easy to open the
box and look at the transistor I replaced. In the next couple of years,
I made a tidy sum out of the repairs from the 3 dealers in just spare
time. I hired some of my tech school students to work on them on
weekends as they backed up. As the model ended, repairs slowed down and
I moved to a better job on the road with Navy contractors so the shop
closed. Every unit but about 3 had all the same blown part....too much
Ic for the little German transistor they were using, melted its
collector. 2N2222 worked great...(c;

Cool. Sometimes I wish I learned more about electronics, but my color
perception kept me on wrenches. I'll just refer to your posts when I
need electronics advice.

--Vic

Vic, bad boys rape all our young girls, but Violet gives willingly, get some
now.