Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage

nicholam77 said:

alarm time.

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Is that your clock display, or something else?

cccoltsicehockey said:

hose are all really great ideas. The returning home announcements are actually a great idea.

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Thanks!

kaymccampbell said:

Is that your clock display, or something else?

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Hi, Kay... if you're referring to the digital clock numbers in that picture, that's just a bit of generative AI fun (Google Gemini / Nano Banana). I was just trying to spice up my images a bit — it's supposed to be representative of the configured light alarm wake up time. I thought it would be fun to have them floating / integrated in the scene.

nicholam77 said:

Thanks!



Hi, Kay... if you're referring to the digital clock numbers in that picture, that's just a bit of generative AI fun (Google Gemini / Nano Banana). I was just trying to spice up my images a bit — it's supposed to be representative of the configured light alarm wake up time. I thought it would be fun to have them floating / integrated in the scene.

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I was hoping they were real, so I could see theirs and figure out how to make my own. I still may. It's on my list of weird-****-to-figure-out-and-do now.

kaymccampbell said:

I was hoping they were real, so I could see theirs and figure out how to make my own. I still may. It's on my list of weird-****-to-figure-out-and-do now.

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Can you use one of those spinning or pendulum-waving LED thingies?

zanyad said:

Can you use one of those spinning or pendulum-waving LED thingies?

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I can guarantee I'd never sleep again. Have you ever been near one of those. The noise is astounding. I'm thinking more of bare LEDs embedded between two sheets of plexiglass, or some kind of projector pumping the light up to plexiglass through lucite or some kind of other light conducting tube. But that's for later.

Eh, at least you wouldn't need a white noise machine or fan

zanyad said:

Eh, at least you wouldn't need a white noise machine or fan

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I'd need earplugs. They're like standing next to a Cessna.

Denwood said:

Ok, great to hear there is a small relay option for my older house circuits. I hear you on the LED thing. I’m playing around in my shop with 95+ CRI (which I know is definitely not the standard today) COB LED at 700 lumens per foot at 5000K and I don’t care about dimming..just reliable on/off. The HUE spectra is not so good…

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Yeah, Hue has a very apparent green spike IMO. Their standard white bulbs I mean. I know this because all my walls are pure white and it's apparent at night. During the day or with RGB bulbs, it doesn't really matter.

Waveform do sell LEDs for film + photography — in fact I *think* that's how they started and then migrated into the 'human centric' aspect.

cccoltsicehockey said:

Those are all really great ideas. The returning home announcements are actually a great idea.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah the returning home announcements are great. Of course I get push notifications for stuff like laundry... but if you're out and about you swipe it away, come home, and forget the wet clothes are sitting in their. Or at least I do. So it's an extra kick in the pants. My Reolink doorbell is an older PoE model and doesn't do package detection, so knowing if someone approached the door while gone is handy, too, as it's almost always a delivery or mail. We go in the back door because of the alley garage...

Bathroom Fan

It's always something! Another little house repair background task.

Longtime readers may remember my main floor bathroom remodel. Back when I was younger, crazier, childless, and had energy for large house projects.



Well the bathroom fan finally died. This was several months ago.

At the time I had a lot going on and my wife was threatening to find a handy man because I was being fussy and didn't feel like an annoying project.

But after I popped the cover off, I quickly realized our bathroom fan does not look like any other bathroom fan, and a 'handy man' probably wouldn't know what to do and charge way too much money and possibly wreck my ceiling.



I don't know anything about bathroom fans myself, but I do know they probably shouldn't be partially covered with drywall.

So that drywall hole is like 4.5", and the fan housing is about 6" diameter. Every bathroom fan model I could find was square, and much larger like 8-10" housing.

The other thing is it's crammed right up against the wall.

Fortunately I take a lot of pics, and was able to look at some old demolition pics from when my ceiling leaked.




And holy joists that's a lot of joists! Now I could see the wiring and that there's no way I could retrofit one of these new, larger fans.

After being stumped for while I used some Google-Fu and figured out it's an inline fan for 6" ducting. I cut away the drywall a bit, but not too much as to not be able to replace the cover, and found a model sticker.

And was able to get the old fan out.



It's cooked, as the kids say. Or chopped? Idk one of the two.



The inside of the housing was very dirty and clogged with lint and grime. There's actually a butterfly vent damper thingy in the center that was stuck open due to lint build up.

I ordered a new motor and fan blade from Broan Nu-Tone. It's plug and play. I was so thankful not to do any electrical work.

The motor was a bit different shape but it was mostly a direct fit and I was able to re-use the mounting bracket.



All buttoned up, and now my daughter can take her 45min shower without it turning into a sauna.



The new motor (and probably cleaning everything inside) is actually quite effective. It's quieter, and I felt a noticeable difference in performance.

I really didn't want to do this project, but I also hate lighting money on fire, and apparently all it took was my wife threatening to hire somebody else to kick my *** in gear.

The fan motor + blade was about $100 with tax and shipping. I'm guessing having someone tackle this little project would have been $300-500 with labor included.

The way I see it, I guess I've earned myself permission to go nuts on the next Criterion Collection sale!

Nice job on that fix. Bathroom exhaust fans are pretty much essential if you want to reduce mold etc. in the bath. A lot of people never remove that grill either to clean up dust etc!

It looks like the drywaller may have covered up a junction box in your ceiling? There should be an access panel, or a cover for the junction box accesible from the underside.

Denwood said:

A lot of people never remove that grill either to clean up dust etc!

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Including me

I'm going to try to remember to clean it out occasionally now.

Denwood said:

It looks like the drywaller may have covered up a junction box in your ceiling? There should be an access panel, or a cover for the junction box accesible from the underside.

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Hmmm, apparently so... funny, I don't recall that, but I'm not surprised because this old house if full of **** like that and the bathroom ceiling was replaced on its own before the remodel due to a leak from the toilet in the bathroom above. I was probably too inexperienced and preoccupied with the leak to notice. I guess the contractor didn't notice or care either.

I suppose I could still add an access panel and try to eyeball the right location based on that photo. I don't love the way that would look, but I'll add it to the punch list I guess.

nicholam77 said:

Including me

I'm going to try to remember to clean it out occasionally now.



Hmmm, apparently so... funny, I don't recall that, but I'm not surprised because this old house if full of **** like that and the bathroom ceiling was replaced on its own before the remodel due to a leak from the toilet in the bathroom above. I was probably too inexperienced and preoccupied with the leak to notice. I guess the contractor didn't notice or care either.

I suppose I could still add an access panel and try to eyeball the right location based on that photo. I don't love the way that would look, but I'll add it to the punch list I guess.

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You could likely find that exactly with a strong magnet

nicholam77 said:

Yeah, Hue has a very apparent green spike IMO. Their standard white bulbs I mean. I know this because all my walls are pure white and it's apparent at night. During the day or with RGB bulbs, it doesn't really matter.

Waveform do sell LEDs for film + photography — in fact I *think* that's how they started and then migrated into the 'human centric' aspect.



Thanks! Yeah the returning home announcements are great. Of course I get push notifications for stuff like laundry... but if you're out and about you swipe it away, come home, and forget the wet clothes are sitting in their. Or at least I do. So it's an extra kick in the pants. My Reolink doorbell is an older PoE model and doesn't do package detection, so knowing if someone approached the door while gone is handy, too, as it's almost always a delivery or mail. We go in the back door because of the alley garage...

Click to expand...

The laundry one is awesome. I need to add that to the sooner than later list now. I do that way too often. Are you using a clamp on power sensor to track the start and stop of the washer and dryer?

nicholam77 said:

Including me

I'm going to try to remember to clean it out occasionally now.



Hmmm, apparently so... funny, I don't recall that, but I'm not surprised because this old house if full of **** like that and the bathroom ceiling was replaced on its own before the remodel due to a leak from the toilet in the bathroom above. I was probably too inexperienced and preoccupied with the leak to notice. I guess the contractor didn't notice or care either.

I suppose I could still add an access panel and try to eyeball the right location based on that photo. I don't love the way that would look, but I'll add it to the punch list I guess.

Click to expand...

Nice when a project turns out better than initially expected.

I agree an access panel up there would be hard to look at but if you ever did want to do it check out these new seemless looking ones. I only recently learned about them.

cccoltsicehockey said:

The laundry one is awesome. I need to add that to the sooner than later list now. I do that way too often. Are you using a clamp on power sensor to track the start and stop of the washer and dryer?

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I'm using a couple of Zooz ZEN15 Z-wave power meter plugs. They are appliance-rated and have worked flawlessly.

Maybe there are other plugs that do the same (I don't have many power metering plugs), but I like the configurability with these Zooz models.

Specifically that you can set the reporting intervals and thresholds. That way the Z-wave network isn't constantly chattering. I have mine set to update power every 30sec, or if there's a change larger than 50 Watts.



And I'm just using the Watts measurement to detect if it's running or not.



You'll have to find your own thresholds, and washing machines can be a little tricky with their difference cycles, but for me it's:

Power stays above 10W for 30 seconds = running

Power stays below 1W for 1 minute = done

For automation and notifications, I actually am going a step further and created a dropdown 'input select' helper for both the washing machine and the dryer. Each has three possible 'states': Off, Running, and Unemptied. That way I can differentiate between the machine finishing, and someone actually having emptied it. I'm using contact sensors on the doors for the empty status.

Sorry if that's more info than you wanted, but I get carried away with these things.

If you want to do more reading, my automation is closely based on this one:


Although instead of separate automations I combined it all into one using the Trigger ID / 'Choose' action.

cccoltsicehockey said:

I agree an access panel up there would be hard to look at but if you ever did want to do it check out these new seemless looking ones. I only recently learned about them.

Flush Access Panel, 12″ x 12″ | Made2Match

www.made2match.us

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Thanks. Involves some yucky drywall work, but looks pretty clean. Didn't know about these, either.

nicholam77 said:

I'm using a couple of Zooz ZEN15 Z-wave power meter plugs. They are appliance-rated and have worked flawlessly.

Maybe there are other plugs that do the same (I don't have many power metering plugs), but I like the configurability with these Zooz models.

Specifically that you can set the reporting intervals and thresholds. That way the Z-wave network isn't constantly chattering. I have mine set to update power every 30sec, or if there's a change larger than 50 Watts.



And I'm just using the Watts measurement to detect if it's running or not.



You'll have to find your own thresholds, and washing machines can be a little tricky with their difference cycles, but for me it's:

Power stays above 10W for 30 seconds = running

Power stays below 1W for 1 minute = done

For automation and notifications, I actually am going a step further and created a dropdown 'input select' helper for both the washing machine and the dryer. Each has three possible 'states': Off, Running, and Unemptied. That way I can differentiate between the machine finishing, and someone actually having emptied it. I'm using contact sensors on the doors for the empty status.

Sorry if that's more info than you wanted, but I get carried away with these things.

If you want to do more reading, my automation is closely based on this one:

Get notified when your Washing Machine has finished it's wash cycle using Smart Switches and Contact Sensors — Home Automation Guy

I have a bad habit of forgetting that I've put clothes in the washing machine. The clothes have been known to stay in there for 24 hours after a cycle has run, and inevitably end up smelling like a wet dog when I eventually remember to take them out. I decided to try and do something about this usi

www.homeautomationguy.io

Although instead of separate automations I combined it all into one using the Trigger ID / 'Choose' action.



Thanks. Involves some yucky drywall work, but looks pretty clean. Didn't know about these, either.

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That is really cool. Never too much information. Love the details and appreciate the link you based your automation on.

That would work for my washer but not my dryer. My dryer is 240v so I think I would need to use one of the clamp ones. Normally not concerned as much about the dryer so maybe I will just start with the washer instead.

cccoltsicehockey said:

That is really cool. Never too much information. Love the details and appreciate the link you based your automation on.

That would work for my washer but not my dryer. My dryer is 240v so I think I would need to use one of the clamp ones. Normally not concerned as much about the dryer so maybe I will just start with the washer instead.

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Clamp on style would probably work similarly. I don't know what your dryer looks like, but two other ideas:

— Vibration Sensor

Never used one myself, and likely battery powered, but many people use this for dryers.

— Contact Sensor

If you have an old-school dryer with the kitchen timer style dial, you can 3M tape the two halves of a contact sensor to 'close' when the timer rotates to zero.

After a few 70° days mixed with cold and snow, it seemed like a good time to get my summer tires and wheels on.



I've complained on here before about a suspension 'clunk' only on my winter setup. I could never figure it out (or never had time or motivation since it's usually cold!).

The only thing I could think of is my winter setup is more outboard than my summer wheels.



So before doing the swap, I tried the 'Fender Screw Mod', which should be familiar to the VW crowd.

Basically at the top of the fender arch there is a screw and metal tab that holds the fender liner in place. The mod is to remove the screw, bend the metal tab inwards, and tuck the liner behind the tab.

Original screw / tab for reference:



And right away I noticed the rubbing on the screw.

Thanks to the Wera Toolcheck mini ratchet and Torx bit I was even able to do it without removing the wheels.



And then massacre a plastic rivet thing.



And bend the tab back pretty easily with my fingers.



I dropped the car off the stands and went for a quick drive to my known speed bumps. Nothing. No noise. No rubbing.

I can't believe I didn't try this sooner!!! Also... the noise really didn't sound like rubber on a metal screw to me, but I guess it was.

I am so happy to have this resolved!

And then on to the wheel swap:



The scrape on one of my rear shocks is now rusting. I meant to clean it up and spray paint / clear coat it, but I forgot and put the wheels on. Now I'll have to take the wheel off and attend to it a different time.



Also I found one of my summer tires had a wood screw in it. I don't think it punctured but we'll see.



Good to have the BBS back.



And one more look at the little bastards that have caused me so much agony of the past several winters!

Glad you finally found out the cause of the noise. I think I have done that on every car I have owned if it wasn't already done. My TSX was the worst with how bumped out all those mounts were in the fender liner.

cccoltsicehockey said:

Glad you finally found out the cause of the noise. I think I have done that on every car I have owned if it wasn't already done. My TSX was the worst with how bumped out all those mounts were in the fender liner.

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I wish I had tried it sooner. Now I know I guess!

---

Things moving slowly over here, but her's a small tech project.

I installed 'Quickbars for Home Assistant' on my basement Sony TV, which runs Android TV OS.

Basically, it lets you reprogram buttons on your native TV remote to adjust Home Assistant devices and scenes.

All the lighting in my TV room is smart lighting (HUE overheads, TP-Link RGB bulb for the table lamp, and TP-Link RGBWW LED strip for the TV's bias lighting).

It is automated... it changes scenes when the TV comes on and off. And I can turn the TV on via a switch at the top of the stairs as I'm headed down. And I can use the HUE dimmer switch on the wall to cycle scenes. Or turn off everything as I leave the room. Or my phone dashboard. And I also get a rich notification on my phone whenever the TV turns on, that lets me quick choose a lighting scene. And there's also the 3D printed Hue remote carrier that I designed last year that can cycle some lighting scenes and turn on the TV:



So I have a ton of options. But I'm always trying to make this *as friendly as possible*. And there's always an edge case / need for manual intervention.

The problem with lighting automations — it might set our default, but what if we want something else? Needs manual input.

The problem with the wall switch - need to get up off the couch and walk across the room.

The problem with the phone dashboard - too many steps, annoying, clunky.

The problem with the push notification - it works once and then clears. If I want to adjust lights again, then I need another method.

The problem with the Hue remote I made - it's not the TV remote, and it's kind of annoying to use two remotes.

So that's what Quickbars sovles for me.



Now when I press the "TV" button on my Sony remote (an otherwise unused button), it brings up an overlay menu where I can choose a lighting scene, toggle specific lights like the bias LED strip or the table lamp, and even change their color or brightness.



It's very fast and responsive, and the look of the pop-up menu is *somewhat* customizable, including transparency, colors, and auto-close timeout.

And it displays on top of whatever is on screen, including video content, without pausing.

And I'm loving it so far. Being able to adjust the lights from the remote that's used for the TV and usually nearby me, is perfect.

You can also trigger pop-ups via home assistant, including video PIP streams. So that might be my next task, do get doorbell camera feed to pop up when someone rings the doorbell.

I realize this is only useful if you both run Home Assistant and have a TV that runs Android or Google TV, but I found it cool enough that I thought I'd share.

nicholam77 said:

I wish I had tried it sooner. Now I know I guess!

---

Things moving slowly over here, but her's a small tech project.

I installed 'Quickbars for Home Assistant' on my basement Sony TV, which runs Android TV OS.

Basically, it lets you reprogram buttons on your native TV remote to adjust Home Assistant devices and scenes.

All the lighting in my TV room is smart lighting (HUE overheads, TP-Link RGB bulb for the table lamp, and TP-Link RGBWW LED strip for the TV's bias lighting).

It is automated... it changes scenes when the TV comes on and off. And I can turn the TV on via a switch at the top of the stairs as I'm headed down. And I can use the HUE dimmer switch on the wall to cycle scenes. Or turn off everything as I leave the room. Or my phone dashboard. And I also get a rich notification on my phone whenever the TV turns on, that lets me quick choose a lighting scene. And there's also the 3D printed Hue remote carrier that I designed last year that can cycle some lighting scenes and turn on the TV:



So I have a ton of options. But I'm always trying to make this *as friendly as possible*. And there's always an edge case / need for manual intervention.

The problem with lighting automations — it might set our default, but what if we want something else? Needs manual input.

The problem with the wall switch - need to get up off the couch and walk across the room.

The problem with the phone dashboard - too many steps, annoying, clunky.

The problem with the push notification - it works once and then clears. If I want to adjust lights again, then I need another method.

The problem with the Hue remote I made - it's not the TV remote, and it's kind of annoying to use two remotes.

So that's what Quickbars sovles for me.



Now when I press the "TV" button on my Sony remote (an otherwise unused button), it brings up an overlay menu where I can choose a lighting scene, toggle specific lights like the bias LED strip or the table lamp, and even change their color or brightness.



It's very fast and responsive, and the look of the pop-up menu is *somewhat* customizable, including transparency, colors, and auto-close timeout.

And it displays on top of whatever is on screen, including video content, without pausing.

And I'm loving it so far. Being able to adjust the lights from the remote that's used for the TV and usually nearby me, is perfect.

You can also trigger pop-ups via home assistant, including video PIP streams. So that might be my next task, do get doorbell camera feed to pop up when someone rings the doorbell.

I realize this is only useful if you both run Home Assistant and have a TV that runs Android or Google TV, but I found it cool enough that I thought I'd share.

Click to expand...

Quickbars. Sweet..so maybe the replacement for my Harmony system once it dies is not a remote at all but an app on the TV.

On the GTI clunk, that would have driven me crazy too and I’d be just as stoked to figure it out!

With power monitoring for 240V, I’m using the Aeotec 240V heavy duty switch. I have it connected to the kitchen induction cook top. Hubitat then controls the exhaust hood ECM fan using 0-10V control. I‘m using a simple equation so the fan is set to a speed 0-99 relative to power use of the cooktop. Super slick and ensures the fan is always running with cooktop use, but always run as quietly as possible. That same 240 device triggers the HRV system to add about 60 CFM extra fresh air to the house to compensate for the kitchen exhaust.

Denwood said:

Quickbars. Sweet..so maybe the replacement for my Harmony system once it dies is not a remote at all but an app on the TV.

Click to expand...

Not a total replacement for Harmony device scenes, but definitely a good option to control lighting and Home Assistant scenes if you have a Google or Android TV!

My Harmony remote doesn't have the screen or the lighting control buttons.

I'm still using Harmony, only because Home Assistant seemed to not regularly keep track of my TV's power state very well. Sometimes it would go 'unavailable'. If not for that, I could probably ditch harmony altogether. Thanks to HDMI-CEC, the receiver powers on with the TV remote anyways, and even turning on my PS5 will auto-change the TV input. My receiver isn't 4K, so I'm basically running everything into the TV and just using the receiver for eARC audio.

The 4k blu-ray player is the one exception, I have an HDMI going to the TV, and then it has a dedicated Audio Only HDMI Out that is going to the receiver for full-resolution audio. But it's flakey. I really need to just get a 4k receiver.

Denwood said:

With power monitoring for 240V, I’m using the Aeotec 240V heavy duty switch.

Click to expand...

Tagging @cccoltsicehockey , I knew there must be a device like this!

Quick repair project —

My outdoor router stopped working last fall. I had done some diagnosis and found that pin 6 was bad on the long 100 ft cable that goes from the outside junction box, under the sidewalk, along the fence, to the shed.



I ordered a new cable but didn't have time to do anything with it before snow and cold temps came, so it's been sitting waiting for spring.

I didn't know where on the old cable the damage was, but since it does go under the sidewalk I really didn't want to have to route that again, so I tried cutting the old cable just after the sidewalk bit and putting a new end on.



Single was good, and the router booted up fine.



The snipped part of the old cable connects to the new outdoor cable I bought with a weatherproof connecter.




This area does get buried in snow in the winter, so we'll see how it holds up.

Then the task of undoing all the cable clips along the fence, removing the old cable, and routing and fastening the new one.



I have no idea why the old one failed after 1-2 yrs, but hopefully this new cable lasts longer.

It's great to have WiFi on the patio and in the garage again!!!

P.S. My 3D-printed mount for the router has held up just fine all this time in 95° F and -20° F, and it's PLA. It's not in direct sunlight, but I'm taking it to prove my theory that PLA is actually more outdoors-resistant than many claim it to be.

nicholam77 said:

...P.S. My 3D-printed mount for the router has held up just fine all this time in 95° F and -20° F, and it's PLA. It's not in direct sunlight, but I'm taking it to prove my theory that PLA is actually more outdoors-resistant than many claim it to be.

Click to expand...

Late last summer when we were moving out of the old house, I noticed that the PLA mailbox number that I printed back in 2020 had a small crack in it. That does see full sunlight during the summer and gets pelted with snow/ice when the plow trucks drive by in the winter. I honestly didn't expect it to last more than a year or two, let alone 5+ years with just a minor crack (just drove by it the other day). I did prime/paint/clear it though, which I believe is helping quite a bit with it's durability.

nicholam77 said:

Not a total replacement for Harmony device scenes, but definitely a good option to control lighting and Home Assistant scenes if you have a Google or Android TV!

My Harmony remote doesn't have the screen or the lighting control buttons.

I'm still using Harmony, only because Home Assistant seemed to not regularly keep track of my TV's power state very well. Sometimes it would go 'unavailable'. If not for that, I could probably ditch harmony altogether. Thanks to HDMI-CEC, the receiver powers on with the TV remote anyways, and even turning on my PS5 will auto-change the TV input. My receiver isn't 4K, so I'm basically running everything into the TV and just using the receiver for eARC audio.

The 4k blu-ray player is the one exception, I have an HDMI going to the TV, and then it has a dedicated Audio Only HDMI Out that is going to the receiver for full-resolution audio. But it's flakey. I really need to just get a 4k receiver.



Tagging @cccoltsicehockey , I knew there must be a device like this!

Click to expand...

That Quickbars add-on sounds cool. I am going to have to try that. I am finally using some lighting scenes in the garage cause I don't watch TV in the dark and have figured out a good dimming setting for the recessed and stair lights in the garage. Each time I get up there I push a button on a scene controller on the wall and another button when I leave. Will be nice to have a way to do that from the TV now if I forget. Hopefully, I can reprogram the Netflix button on the Google TV Streamer.

Those AOTECC 240v look good. I guess I could cut my dryer cord to put one inline before the plug. Zooz also makes one as well. I plan to use one on my future air compressor upgrade and then one on my hot water heater in the garage.

Suction Jet Pump Recall 20UF - Part 1

Wife:



Me:



So I run out there and yeah it smells pretty heavy of gas. I move my car and see no leaks on the floor.

I think back to two days prior when I noticed my throttle was extra lurchy on the highway home from work.

Put 2+2 together and realized I'd finally been bitten by the Mk7 Suction Jet Pump Recall!

VW recalled it in 2017, and then again in 2024. Essentially it's a small pump in the gas tank that purges gas from the EVAP system. Maybe it does other stuff, too, idk. But there's a seal on it that goes bad, and then liquid gasoline can get into the EVAP system and charcoal canister, and even leak out. Symptoms include not being able to fill at the pump (keeps clicking off), fuel smell inside or outside the vehicle, rough idle, and lurchy throttle (I guess if liquid fuel gets in the charcoal canister it can mess with the air-fuel ratio). I had have all those things. Risk of fire blah blah blah.

I never did the recall before because it involves pulling the low pressure fuel pump from the gas tank below the rear seats, and I've read horror stories of techs spilling gas everywhere in the interior and people not being able to get the smell out. Plus my motto when it comes to letting the dealer mess with the car is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But here we are.

They say you need to bring the car in with 1/4 tank or less to minimize splashing.

Of course I had just filled up my car and had 3/4+ tank sitting in it. I didn't really want to drive it a bunch because I assume when the pumps are running it makes the problem worse. And from what I can tell, siphoning from the filler cap is not so easy on modern cars. I think the Mk7 might even have a split / saddle tank design.

But after some Google-Fu, I discovered something clever. My Intergrated Engineering OBD2 flash device from my ECU tune has a feature in the iOS app that lets you drain fuel! It's supposed to be for those wanting to switch to ethanol or race gas or whatever.

Essentially you disconnect the feed line from the high-pressure fuel pump on the engine, direct it into a gas can, and the app can then run the low-pressure pump within the gas tank while the car is not started. And the car just pumps the gas out. Pretty sweet.

My car primes the low-pressure fuel pump in the tank every time you open the driver's door. Not wanting to spray myself in the face with gasoline upon removing the hose, I pulled the fuze for the LPFP. Neat how VW includes these little fuze pliers underneath the fuze box lid.




I gave it a few minutes to hopefully de-pressurize. I think you can start the car at this point and let the engine die, but I forgot to do that.

I put the car on a battery maintainer since I'd have ACC on for the OBD2 access. Did I mention I'm doing this the night before bringing it into the dealer? That's right, I like to live my life on the edge. Don't want the battery dying, though.



This is the fuel feed line that goes to the engine:



Popped it off. Not too much drips. Then after about 5 seconds, the ****** of the high pressure fuel pumps started spraying like a cut artery. Three good squirts, right onto my jacket.



Then put the hose in my gas can.



Put the LPFP fuze back in, turn the car to ACC on, and boot up the IE app on my phone.




Then just press "Drain Fuel".



And BOOM it starts pumping it out. Pretty sweet.

I had to kill the lights and use the headlight glow to watch the level rise and know when to stop.




I had two gas cans and pulled about 6 gallons out. Maybe too much actually. The gas light came on the dash.



The original fuel line hose clamp is not reusable, so I ordered some single ear crimp-able automotive hose clamps to reattach it. Don't want that popping off while I'm driving.




The app also lets you "Prime" the fuel system after draining.

Packed it up and drove around the block, said I had 20 miles range. Everything started fine.

Was feeling good about myself for learning this neat trick.

To be continued...

Oh boy. I definitely would not reuse the fuel hose that is 10years old. The clamp isn’t a constant tension so you won’t have the some energy in the joint when you attach it to a compression set hose

fourmotioneer said:

Oh boy. I definitely would not reuse the fuel hose that is 10years old. The clamp isn’t a constant tension so you won’t have the some energy in the joint when you attach it to a compression set hose

Click to expand...

Now you have me worried! Are you saying just because it's old, or because of the clamp I used, or both? Should I have used an OEM VW clamp like the one that was on it originally, or is it just because the hose has been previously compressed?

If the hose itself should be replaced every time it's removed, I'm kind of surprised IE has that drain fuel feature because I highly doubt people are replacing the hose every time they switch gas.

I can get a new replacement, though, thanks for the heads up.

nicholam77 said:

Now you have me worried! Are you saying just because it's old, or because of the clamp I used, or both? Should I have used an OEM VW clamp like the one that was on it originally, or is it just because the hose has been previously compressed?

If the hose itself should be replaced every time it's removed, I'm kind of surprised IE has that drain fuel feature because I highly doubt people are replacing the hose every time they switch gas.

I can get a new replacement, though, thanks for the heads up.

Click to expand...

To be clear, the “oh boy” was in anticipation of the forthcoming part 2 post haha

But yeah I would replace because it’s ten years into compression set. I’m sure you saw a relief where the old clamp was?

It would not be advisable to remove and install a rubber hose on a fitting like that, no. I say this having solved numerous leaks on production vehicle powertrains. Hose and clamps are cheap

Suction Jet Pump Recall 20UF - Part 2

fourmotioneer said:

To be clear, the “oh boy” was in anticipation of the forthcoming part 2 post haha

Click to expand...

Part 2 happened two weeks ago, but I'm just getting back on here, excuse the delay

fourmotioneer said:

But yeah I would replace because it’s ten years into compression set. I’m sure you saw a relief where the old clamp was?

It would not be advisable to remove and install a rubber hose on a fitting like that, no. I say this having solved numerous leaks on production vehicle powertrains. Hose and clamps are cheap

Click to expand...

Yes, there was a relief. Haven't ordered one just yet, but I'll get it replaced. I have to get some air filters and oil change materials, too. Thanks for looking out and now I know!

---

So on my way leaving the house to the dealership, I decide to stop at gas station. With the 20 mile ECU-reported range in the tank, the dealer is 12 miles away. I guess I took too much out.

So I stop and try to put gas in, but the pump clicks off (like is a common issue with the suction jet pump failure). I managed to get about a gallon in, I think.

Start driving. Almost immediately my range drops to 15 miles. WTF. Now I'm freaking out a little bit, needle looks almost on empty. Trying to do calculations in my head on how much the gallon I just put in would add. I'm running late to my appt, so decide to go for it.

On the freeway, the throttle is lurching like crazy. I'm babying it in 6th gear, trying to hyper-mile the out of this thing. Even feather-light throttle in 6th causes delayed jerks, power feels like it's cutting out.

Range drops to 10 miles. Now I am panicking that I'm gonna run out of gas. Not sure if the lurching is from no gas, or from fuel in the EVAP system.

I make it to the dealer. My service appointee confirms the recall, and I start trying to ask him questions, because when I called to schedule it was a centralized call center. You can't even call the service department direct anymore, or I couldn't find a number. They had no info on the car symptoms and I wanted to explain it.

That the pump is clicking off at the station, my throttle is lurchy AF, and it smells like fuel after parked from the exterior.

The recall (and VW) explicitly state the replacement coverage of the Suction Jet Pump only. Not the EVAP Canister. But I had major concerns that the seal failure had allowed fuel to leak into the EVAP canister.

Well, my service guy was a ****. He told me it was impossible to happen. "They are separate systems, that's the vapor side, you don't know what you're talking about, it's physically impossible". He argued with me to my face about it for several minutes, so I had to pull up the recall letter on my phone, where literally the first line says fuel can get into the EVAP system.



I am a chill person and hate confrontation, but I had to be aggressive and then he started changing his tune once I started getting angry. So they agreed to check it out.

At this point I have basically zero confidence they are going to do it right.

But he calls me back like 2 hours later saying they found exactly that, and here is what the invoice says:



So I guess there was "a large amount" of fuel in the EVAP canister. He wasn't apologetic on the phone or anything.

Straight away I get off work early to go pick it up, and they guy says "can I help you?". Didn't even recognize me from 5 hrs earlier after his fuss. How can customer service be so bad?

I told him I'd bring it back if I had any further issues, and he told me "well it's all fixed because they replaced the part". I hope so, but I'm going to be monitoring it.

And of course they messed up all my seat positions and settings and everything.

Thankfully there was no fuel smell inside the car. I'm glad I brought it in low.

Was able to gas up on the way home, everything seemed... ok. Throttle is still a tiny lurchy, but I might just be paranoid at this point.

So yeah, TL;DR... I hate the dealership!! Every time I go there they are a bunch of knuckleheads.



After driving around for a week and a half, I got the tank low enough to put the gas I had pumped out, back in.

The containers I bought would not pour directly into the tank due to their spout angle, and the 5 gallon is too heavy for me to do single-handed.

So I rigged up some assistance from my trusty Multi-Function Table — once again living up to its namesake.




I'm glad to have the car back, but now I need to figure out this rust situation, ASAP.

Every body shop I've contacted has turned me down, so far. If I can't find someone to to the work, or it's too expensive, I might be looking at trying to figure out a DIY fix. Maybe that could at least buy me a couple of years. I'm also toying with the idea of getting a winter beater and not driving it in the winter. I don't really know what to do yet, I don't want to buy a new car, and I like this car, and I don't want to see it fall apart with only 58k miles on it.




I still haven't had a chance to take the front wheels off and remove the fender liners and see what's behind them, to try to get a better gauge on it. It's hard to find time to take your daily driver apart with work and kids and life!

Thanks for listening to my rant!

Car dealers ****! It's amazing that people still go to the dealer for anything but warranty work..... Mini extended the warranty on the evaporative system (a known issue) long after the warranty had expired on my 2017 Clubman. I take my Mini to an independant shop, owned by former BMW mechanics, and they replaced it before Mini came out with the warranty extension. In the recall letter, they stated that if the system had been replaced, they would refund the cost with documentation/receipts. The receipt had to have the factory parts numbers on it. The original receipt I had, did not. The shop was so helpful, they actually rewrote the receipt for me and I was able to get all my money back (nearly $600)! I'll never go back to the dealer, even if it was cheaper.....

I become sad when I hear the stories of car dealers over there. I have never had any problem when using the dealers here in Sweden. Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Citroen or Skoda (an Volkswagen brand) all have been good and serviced and repaired my cars in a proper way without fuss. That said I don't think all dealerships here are good, I choose mine carefully. Before I moved back I used to drive about 250 km for a service in my hometown as it was cheaper than in Stockholm and I had other appointments in town.

That rust seems like a serious problem, almost like bad prep work. Is it only on one side of the car?

I just had a similar experience with my local VW dealership. If you’re feeling strong, it’s very easy to find the general manager’s phone number. I recommend texting them. Worked for me

I live an hour from VW NA engineering in Auburn Hills. The VW dealership there - Fox VW - is so good. Great sales, great service. A little far but I took my GTI there for warranty repairs at one point

patlun said:

...That rust seems like a serious problem, almost like bad prep work. Is it only on one side of the car?

Click to expand...

In this part of the US (I live three hours south of Nick), the roads get treated with calcium chloride during the winter to help with ice, so cars rust fairly quickly. Even cars that are taken care of (like Nick's) eventually succumb to it. The only way to really prevent it is to not drive them during winter months.

I know you get your fair share of snow and they use sodium chloride on the roads over there - do you not have rust issues like we do?

nicholam77 said:

...Every body shop I've contacted has turned me down...

Click to expand...

I suspect it's because most body shops would rather do insurance paid collision repair than vehicle restoration, which is what you are essentially looking for. Maybe it'd be worth trying to find a shop that is more focused on restoration and/or customization?

bdbecker said:

In this part of the US (I live three hours south of Nick), the roads get treated with calcium chloride during the winter to help with ice, so cars rust fairly quickly. Even cars that are taken care of (like Nick's) eventually succumb to it. The only way to really prevent it is to not drive them during winter months.

I know you get your fair share of snow and they use sodium chloride on the roads over there - do you not have rust issues like we do?

Click to expand...

Yes our ways are treated with sodium chloride to some degree depending on the weather. We have some rust issues because of that, but most cars are treated before they are put on the roads, either by the manufacturer or by the general agent. We still get rust of course as most people never maintain the protection, but I would say that normally you don't see it for the first 12-15 years or so. That is the reason I asked about the prep work from the manufacturer.

When I was young there was no or very little rust protection on most cars and many was scraped long before their time was up. For example Asian cars was known to be rusting even before you drove them from the dealer. Even in the eighties it was pretty bad, the first car I bought was an ten years old Honda Accord -88 and I needed to do some rust repairs before it was inspected.

in my minnesota experience any rust free time after 10years is a bonus. we had very similar rust repaired a few years ago but that shop looks to have closed down. maybe proof that all the money is in insurance claims these days

gearhead1960 said:

Car dealers ****! It's amazing that people still go to the dealer for anything but warranty work..... Mini extended the warranty on the evaporative system (a known issue) long after the warranty had expired on my 2017 Clubman. I take my Mini to an independant shop, owned by former BMW mechanics, and they replaced it before Mini came out with the warranty extension. In the recall letter, they stated that if the system had been replaced, they would refund the cost with documentation/receipts. The receipt had to have the factory parts numbers on it. The original receipt I had, did not. The shop was so helpful, they actually rewrote the receipt for me and I was able to get all my money back (nearly $600)! I'll never go back to the dealer, even if it was cheaper.....

Click to expand...

Dang, glad you got your money back! I would have likely sought out an indie shop if it weren't for warranty. I don't really have a go-to, but there are several VW / German specialty shops near me. I haven't had to do many repairs yet fortunately.

patlun said:

I become sad when I hear the stories of car dealers over there. I have never had any problem when using the dealers here in Sweden. Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Citroen or Skoda (an Volkswagen brand) all have been good and serviced and repaired my cars in a proper way without fuss. That said I don't think all dealerships here are good, I choose mine carefully. Before I moved back I used to drive about 250 km for a service in my hometown as it was cheaper than in Stockholm and I had other appointments in town.

Click to expand...

Doesn't surprise me that dealers in Sweden are better than the U.S.

I'm sure there are good ones here, I've just had a number of bad experiences. Could happen at indie shops, too.

fourmotioneer said:

I just had a similar experience with my local VW dealership. If you’re feeling strong, it’s very easy to find the general manager’s phone number. I recommend texting them. Worked for me

I live an hour from VW NA engineering in Auburn Hills. The VW dealership there - Fox VW - is so good. Great sales, great service. A little far but I took my GTI there for warranty repairs at one point

Click to expand...

Now that it's over with, I'm not feeling strongly. I don't need to take vengeance on him . If they had completely messed up the repair, maybe, but I'm over it for now!

Glad you have a good one *relatively* near you.

bdbecker said:

I suspect it's because most body shops would rather do insurance paid collision repair than vehicle restoration, which is what you are essentially looking for. Maybe it'd be worth trying to find a shop that is more focused on restoration and/or customization?

Click to expand...

Oh for sure. I think they have no interest in doing small side projects direct-to-consumer, especially the bigger companies. I contacted several that advertised rust correction, and they said they can no longer offer that. As well as a smaller shop in the north burbs, and another one near me that their website said "restorations", but no reply from them yet.

I agree about trying to find a smaller restoration type shop, I'll keep digging. Although if their workload / capacity is limited, I don't really have the option to leave it somewhere for months like someone building a hot rod might do. I'll keep at it.

patlun said:

That rust seems like a serious problem, almost like bad prep work. Is it only on one side of the car?

Click to expand...

It's just starting on the passenger side, too, but no where near as bad.

Like @bdbecker said, it's road salts, the inability to wash very often in winter (a lot of car washes close when the temps go negative), and lines are always crazy.

It's impossible to keep it clean, especially inside the fenders and undercarriage. My car usually looks like this in the winter:

patlun said:

We have some rust issues because of that, but most cars are treated before they are put on the roads, either by the manufacturer or by the general agent. We still get rust of course as most people never maintain the protection, but I would say that normally you don't see it for the first 12-15 years or so. That is the reason I asked about the prep work from the manufacturer.

Click to expand...

Manufacturer doesn't do it for free or by default. You can pay to have it done, and there are places you can get a preventative undercoating. They are expensive, and I've always read don't last very long. Maybe worth it, idk.

My car is 10 yrs old, driven daily, through all sorts of conditions. Especially considering the road salts, it's not uncommon at all.

Also, this is a bad spot on modern VW's. There is a hard foam block near the bottom front door hinge that I think is for sound deadening, but it soaks up and retains water. Also apparently the fender liners trap a bunch of dirt and (snow, salt) in the same area. It's a design flaw. I wish I had paid attention to it better, earlier.

bdbecker said:

Even cars that are taken care of (like Nick's) eventually succumb to it.

Click to expand...

I could have taken care of it better, though. I should have been removing the fender liners twice a year and pressure washing it out. And removed that stupid foam door block that holds moisture. And been spraying an anti-rust / water displacing wax in that area at least twice a year when I swap wheels. Regretting it now!

boyboi said:

in my minnesota experience any rust free time after 10years is a bonus. we had very similar rust repaired a few years ago but that shop looks to have closed down. maybe proof that all the money is in insurance claims these days

Click to expand...

Pretty much! My Mk4 Jetta rusted pretty badly before this car, but this is my first car I've taken passed 10 yrs. May not have completely changed the course of things, but I wish I had at least tried to do some more preventative stuff in that problem area.

nicholam77 said:

...I could have taken care of it better, though. I should have been removing the fender liners twice a year and pressure washing it out. And removed that stupid foam door block that holds moisture. And been spraying an anti-rust / water displacing wax in that area at least twice a year when I swap wheels. Regretting it now!...

Click to expand...

You still do a better job than probably 90% of the general public. My car is lucky if it gets run through the auto wash once a month.

idk how attached you are to that particular GTI, but it would be much better overall for you to find a southern example and sell yours. You would be amazed as just how much better condition overall good southern vehicles are. I picked up an 09 Honda Fit 3 years ago that was from Florida, and it's so much easier to work on then something that was driven in our part of the world.

When I bought the Fit I invested in the Woolwax pro spray gun kit and woolwax black, then pulled all the body plugs I could and went to town. hahaha