Canada eh?

[mk1mark at gmail.com (Mark F.)]

On 6/7/06, Allyn <amalventano1@tds.net> wrote:
> Speaking of Canada, anyone got a number for Mark F (MK1 Mark)?
> He left on Tuesday morning with my two caddys and a whole bunch of caffeine
> and I'd like to know if he is still alive :)



Just got in late afternoon today!

I can't believe I actually made it.  I thought I'd have to throw in
the towel a couple of times, but perseverance and a bit of luck
(karma?) was enough to overcome a few hurdles along the way...

First off - 52hp (or whatever a 1.6NA diesel is rated at) is a bit on
the small side to motivate even one VW Caddy to highway speeds,
nevermind two.  Throw in anything more than a 1% uphill grade and
downshifting the POS 4 speed tranny until you run out of gears to
downshift is your new reality...  It was almost like culture shock -
going from a very peppy 86 Scirocco  (which didn't do too bad holding
it's own against David's R32, despite being loaded up w/ several
hundred extra pounds of dolly & stuff) to the slug they call a diesel
Caddy.

I was able to eventually get up to around 60-65 on the flats, fully
utilizing whatever pull I could get from drafting trucks.  Virginia/W.
Virginia/Pennsylvania were a real treat though.  The trick was to
"blast" (and I use that term loosely!)  down the descents at 75mph to
get a much needed head of steam for the next incline.  I'd fly by the
same five transport trucks, only to get re-passed on the way back up
the next hill, mile after mile.  It was like driving an elastic!  :)
On the steeper 5%+ grades after all of my
rush-down-the-mountain-momentum was consumed by the forces of gravity,
I settled in at a blistering 35mph - redlining second gear .  Needless
to say I could have used a brick on the accelerator as cruise control
- I swear I had it pinned 99% of the whole trip.  Poor little
bastard...

Breakdowns were the order of the day on Tuesday though.  A non-working
battery/alt. idiot light failed to warn me that the alternator belt
had disintegrated.  Being a diesel, it just kept chugging along
oblivious - that is, until I stalled it on an off ramp during a fuel
stop (where I also learned that first gear is sometimes third due to a
sloppy shift linkage).  After 20 minutes of assessing the situation
and hoping someone would stop and offer a boost I realized I'd have to
unhook the dolly and bumpstart it myself.  After getting it started I
drove to the gas station and got out my tools.   Damn A/C system - the
belt must be removed to replace the alt. belt.  The lower alt. bolt
was severely rusted and felt like it was about to snap, so I removed
the lower A/C compressor bracket bolt to try and get enough slack in
the belt.  No dice, so I was forced to remove the rusty alt. bolt to
gain access to the A/C compressor's belt tension adjustment bolts.  As
luck would have it, this time (for some reason) I threw a can of
Thrust penetrating oil in my toolbox, which did the trick...  Getting
that damn bottom A/C compressor bracket bolt back in wasn't fun
though...

Second stroke of luck - on my second look I actually found a proper
size good spare alt. belt buried under a mountain of parts on the
floor in the cabin of the "spare" Caddy.  Sweet...  I was fueled, fed,
cleaned up, and on the road again in just under three hours.  Sure, I
was behind schedule, but the self-satisfaction of being able to fix
the problem w/ the tools and parts at hand made up for it...  I was
back on the road w/ a grin...

In Virginia I felt a pretty noticable drop in power, so I immediately
pulled over to discover steam coming from the coolant overflow cap and
no action from the rad fan.  After letting things cool down and
answering nature's call in nature itself I proceeded to pour an entire
gallon of water into the overflow bottle, and rigged up the fan to run
constantly.  I pulled back onto the highway, and everything seemed ok,
but I was stopping every 1-2 hours the rest of the trip to top it up
w/ another gallon of water that had escaped as steam.  I think it's
either a faulty cap that's letting pressure/steam escape, or there's a
blown head gasket or crack in the head/block that's pressurizing the
coolant system.  Judging by the white smoke coming from the tailpipe a
couple times when I topped up the rad, I'm guessing it's the head
gasket or a crack in the head...  That would explain the
hissing/vacuum-leak-sounding-noise on shutdown we heard eh Al?

I started the trip from GA shortly after 6:30am Tuesday, and at 1:30am
Wednesday I finally stopped at a hotel for the night, after 850 miles
of endless downshifting...  Thank you RedBull...  :D

The rest of the trip went smoothly, except I had a couple issues at
the border - and for a change it was on the Canadian side...  Seems
they didn't like the fact that we had assigned a  value to the
vehicles on the receipt (since no money had changed hands - it was a
trade).  I asked them what they would have wanted me to do then, and
nobody had an answer.  82 Rabbit trucks aren't in their "blue book"
either, so in the end I was finally able to persuade them that I
wasn't trying to avoid duty charges and that the prices on the receipt
were representative of typical prices for these vehicles.   After all
the paperwork was done, and duty paid, some young prick of a customs
officer took issue w/ my nice set of wheels in the bed that weren't
part of the trade.  I tried to explain that they were the only decent
set of tires I had to get the car down to GA, but he was intent on
placing a value on them and charging me duty/tax since I "had imported
the car to the U.S. as a whole and bringing the wheels back is
dutiable".  I couldn't believe how much of a big deal he was making
about it, but his partner (who didn't look me once in the eyes)
convinced him to drop it while they were out inspecting the trucks.  I
can't stand "authority" figures who try to compensate for their small
dicks by unjustifiably wielding their power...

So, all things said and done I think I'm fortunate to have pulled off
this trip w/out having to leave one or both of the Caddys stranded in
the U.S.  I think I'll prepare myself a bit better the next time
though, so lesson learned...

Back to list hibernation,

Mark.
75
82
82 Caddy x2