jastrue
26-01-2008, 05:10 AM
Hello, I recently acquired a 1999 Beetle, primarily for my daughter to drive so she can help ferry her siblings around when I am away on business. I live in the state of Washington, in the USA.
The day I brought the car home, I had the opportunity to learn how to replace a headlamp element. There are some excellent references, with photos, available on the Internet. The fit tolerances on parts are pretty tight, and it's hard to see what you're doing, but it can be done. For a good price, one does not expect a car with almost 90,000 miles to be perfectly defect-free.
I am interested in your experiences as VW owners, and willing to share my own, in the hopes of helping others. There are several car brands I will never touch again, this is so far not one of those, but there have already been several issues with the vehicle, so over the course of time, my opinion might change. :p
Today I purchased a Haynes manual for the car, specifically due to its claim of a thorough troubleshooting section. I found that to be woefully inadequate and hope the book redeems itself some time in the next 5-10 years. The auto parts store had all the manuals shrink-wrapped to keep people from getting greasy hand prints on them using them for a free reference library, kind of hard to blame them.
So my first question for everyone will be about where they turn first for diagnostics, and my guess is it is probably not their local VW dealership.
The day I brought the car home, I had the opportunity to learn how to replace a headlamp element. There are some excellent references, with photos, available on the Internet. The fit tolerances on parts are pretty tight, and it's hard to see what you're doing, but it can be done. For a good price, one does not expect a car with almost 90,000 miles to be perfectly defect-free.
I am interested in your experiences as VW owners, and willing to share my own, in the hopes of helping others. There are several car brands I will never touch again, this is so far not one of those, but there have already been several issues with the vehicle, so over the course of time, my opinion might change. :p
Today I purchased a Haynes manual for the car, specifically due to its claim of a thorough troubleshooting section. I found that to be woefully inadequate and hope the book redeems itself some time in the next 5-10 years. The auto parts store had all the manuals shrink-wrapped to keep people from getting greasy hand prints on them using them for a free reference library, kind of hard to blame them.
So my first question for everyone will be about where they turn first for diagnostics, and my guess is it is probably not their local VW dealership.