Never go full "German"*

"EL_ULY" (uly)
03/23/2015 at 07:58 • Filed to: ya valio verga lopnik

After 14 hours of RE doing the tensioner gaskets on my clumsy wagon, my water pump decided to fail very slowly... but that is just the horrible start.

Even as a professional automotive technician, I wasn't paying attention to the temp gauge until it was half passed the halfway point. It never got close to the red by any means, but on a 16 year old car with 139,915 miles, it just enough for:

-total water pump failure

-cracked radiatori

-blown head gaskets (Confirmed)

I wasn't to far from home and my dad brought me all my tools. A bore scope is a wonderful tool to see your dying engine from the inside :'(

With abouuut.. $7 or $9 measly dollars in the bank, it is going to be a bit rough til payday.

On the bright side, I ain't even mad yo. Porque? Because my wife is here in the US with me! Old news but dayum I'm still ultra mega happy she is here! :]

Here she is fixing up her new studio for her Youtube channel. She is 400 subcribers shy of 20,000! Not bad.jpeg

*it happens to ALL cars, not just German. Reliability and ALL automotive stereotypes are absolutely false and have way too many contradictions.

DISCUSSION (49)

jkm7680 > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:02

Congrats Uly! Glad to see that your wife made it safely!

Also, nooooooo! Luckily, there are lots of 30v 2.8 parts cars around to pick from.

Alex B > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:03

Congrats on your wife being here in the US! Would you mind sharing her YouTube channel link with me so I can offer some support? :]

505Turbeaux > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:06

I just gotta say it, god DAMN is your wifey hot. Take that as all compliment and not a weird thing.

Also:

Kinja'd!!!

Flavien Vidal > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:13

Kinja'd!!!

What is she doing with her entire collection of tampons??

Svend > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:14

Ouch hopefully you caught it in time for any real damage.

Also FYI (I believe the U.S. colloquialism is) 'dang son you one lucky dude.' (I think I got that right).

If your wife has a sister that likes the weather more on the cold and wet side rather than the hot and dry side. Let me know. ;) Lol.

If your even half as happy as your wife looks here then good-on-ya.

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:19

Thar she blows!!

Sorry to hear of your engine troubles.

Funktheduck > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:21

I generally mock "German Engineering" but in a lot of cases it's blown out of proportion on the Internet (S4 excluded). But the parts do tend to be more expensive which sucks when it comes time for maintenance.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:27

Damn man, that's car ownership for you. Are you going to repair it or try and get something else?

Wacko > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:57

Sucks for your car, but Congrats for your Wife with you.

So does this mean she is an american resident now?

dude, you missed the best Torch FP article last week. http://jalopnik.com/what-cookie-ma…

Sn210 > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 08:59

that sucks dude, at least your wife can console you as you cry yourself to sleep.

JR1 > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 09:11

Hey glad your wife made it up!

Maybe you should drop a good ol' LS engine into that Audi I bet you could pick one up at a junkyard for 5 bucks and a 6 pack.

EL_ULY > 505Turbeaux
03/23/2015 at 10:35

thanks buddy. AWESOME MEME! Forever saved for many future uses

505Turbeaux > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 10:36

haha it can never get old

EL_ULY > Svend
03/23/2015 at 10:39

thanks buddy :] It never got too hot thankfully but those aluminum heads are sensitive. hopefully nothing got too bad.

She doesn't have any sisters lol :]

EL_ULY > Alex B
03/23/2015 at 10:40

thanks buddy. Here is a link . All in Spanish tho :]

EL_ULY > jkm7680
03/23/2015 at 10:40

Thanks buddy. And yes those parts are nothing too rare.

EL_ULY > Sn210
03/23/2015 at 10:42

true true. She really like the ol' wagon also and was bummed out also... which I thought to myself "awww, she likes the wagon" :]

Side note, I saw like 10 cleeeean TL's like yours this weekend

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss
03/23/2015 at 10:42

it was due lol :]

EL_ULY > Flavien Vidal
03/23/2015 at 10:44

lol, that's what I was saying :] They are these paper things you fold out into flowers that hang from the ceiling

EL_ULY > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
03/23/2015 at 10:46

I can do the repairs but saving up for parts might take a little while. You would think after 6 German cars one would stop buying them... but ya know how we all are here :]

EL_ULY > Funktheduck
03/23/2015 at 10:47

Gotta pay to play. This is my 6th German car. I really like them but a little Corolla or Civic from 2010 and up does sound sooo good right now.

Sn210 > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 10:50

are you going to fix it or is it time for something different?

Also, awesome! I wish my TL was clean, in the literal sense. I haven't been able to wash it since November

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 10:52

My car is due for clutch replacement. But my clutch works fine right now lol. We will see, hopefully it doesn't catastrophically fail when I need it.

EL_ULY > Wacko
03/23/2015 at 10:52

thanks buddy. And yeees I saw it but I too late to comment in time :]

Funktheduck > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:01

My 04 corolla was so cheap to maintain. I didn't even care when I had to buy stuff. The most expensive thing I replaced was the starter at about $80 from autozone. By the end the cat needed replacing (expensive on all cars for a decent one) but 03-04 corollas had an issue with them. People like to dog them because they're full but if you want a car that's cheap to run and maintain they're hard to beat.

EL_ULY > Sn210
03/23/2015 at 11:17

Dat snooow. I will fix it but I won't be able to get parts for it any time soon. Or time to do it.

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss
03/23/2015 at 11:20

I know that feeling lol. Do you have the parts?

EL_ULY > Funktheduck
03/23/2015 at 11:22

Niiiiiiice! Those little cars go hard. I'd like to have one

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:23

Well it made it to almost 140k which isnt bad. We've never had a car get that far, we just scrapped one at 90k.

Sn210 > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:25

Money and Time; eluding jalops everywhere since 1885.

Good luck with the fix and good luck with the YouTubes!

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:26

Not yet. Debating weather I want to put in racing clutch again or regular clutch. Haven't had the chance to really investigate still only 1F here. *sighs*.

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss
03/23/2015 at 11:34

dayum! It's going to be 80F here today and tomorrow. I say get a performance clutch. Our Aston service adviser has a 05 GTO and his went out in traffic. Since it needed one, he got a really good performance clutch for not much more that a regular one

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:50

Good to know!!! I hope it breaks in summer so I can work on it myself!!

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss
03/23/2015 at 11:53

i'll bring the pizza

Funktheduck > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 11:54

It had a tough life. It was my gf's first car she got when she was 16. 2 or 3 small fender benders and a bigger hit from a drunk driver. Then I got it and used it for work. Now I have my 3 and hope I have the same reliability. Only time will tell.

EL_ULY > Funktheduck
03/23/2015 at 11:56

yes sir.

ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 12:30

Kinja'd!!!

This reminds me of my H20i thermostat failure. learn a lot in that one weekend...

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 12:49

That's pretty much exactly what happened to my Toyota. So it's not just a German thing. Cruising down the interstate, right after stopping for gas, when I looked down at my temp gauge. It had went from fine to red in about 2 minutes. It exploded less than a half mile from the next exit during rush hour, and I was 4 hours from home.

EL_ULY > ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper
03/23/2015 at 12:59

YAAAAY! :] That was me on Friday night before everything went boom :]

EL_ULY > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
03/23/2015 at 13:00

oh dayum! Yeah dude, no car is safe from this sort of thing

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 13:15

Riding 4 hours with a tow truck driver that wasn't told by his dispatcher that he was having to drive 4 hours to Florida and back, was quite an experience. If only I could have captured his expression when I surprisingly had to inform him of that.

EL_ULY > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
03/23/2015 at 13:23

oh man, I bet that was an odd ride

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 13:26

The first 2 hours were silent. After that he softened up and we talked for a while. 1/10, Hope to never do that again.

EL_ULY > JR1
03/23/2015 at 13:30

yeeessssss!!!!!!!!

Svend > EL_ULY
03/23/2015 at 16:17

Fingers crossed ay fella.

No sisters. It was a long shot. I doubt any sister would of wanted to live in the U.K. anyway. The weather is okay if your used to it, not so much if you aren't. Lol.

EL_ULY > Svend
03/23/2015 at 17:02

Plenty of beautiful girls in the UK i'm sure

pip bip - choose Corrour > EL_ULY
03/24/2015 at 04:01

Kinja'd!!!

you are a very lucky man! 8)

pip bip - choose Corrour > EL_ULY
03/24/2015 at 04:02

Kinja'd!!!

does she have any sisters that are looking for a husband?

EL_ULY > pip bip - choose Corrour
03/24/2015 at 09:06

just a lot of friends but back in Mexico DF. I'll keep an eye out for ya tho Pip :]