Diablo - The '99 Red GLS

[classicyuppie]

OK, so it's been a few days since I signed up for NewBeetle.org and it's high time I posted some photos of Diablo (aka Red Devil) - my red '99 NB. The photos aren't the greatest, partially because I used the wrong lens on my camera and partially because the car isn't in that great of shape. The PO didn't exactly take care of the vehicle and chose to cover up the bad spots with a bra, rather than properly maintain the clear coat. I don't think she's ever been waxed. It's peeling pretty noticeably on the hood and front bumper. The rear bumper has some nasty gouges in the paint and I'll be (hopefully) rubbing those out this weekend. Also, some idiot painted over the VW center caps on the wheels, so there a black blob. Looks awful and *must* be fixed. The one thing I managed to do thus far is to take a headlamp cleaning kit to her headlights. They. Were. Groaty. My next immediate project is to change the air intake filter and cabin filter. I plan to tackle that tomorrow night.

The interior is in surprisingly good shape. The only blemishes I found were a broken mirror switch (that part should arrive next week), some vents needing replaced (still haven't found a vendor to order those from) and the air selection knob has a broken rod behind it and it's delicate to change from the defroster to the floorboards and the dashboard. The plastic dressings on the steering wheel need repainted and the emblem on needs to be replaced. Le sigh. All of the interior problems are cosmetic in nature and will be fixed in due time.

This weekend she'll be getting a much needed hand washing, polish and waxing. It's time to restore this Bug to her former glory. These photos are intended to be "before" photos and I'll post follow ups here as I continue to work on her.

Without any further adieu, I give you Diablo...

[classicyuppie]

I also need to snag me a replacement vase, since when I got Diablo there wasn't one already in the cabin.

[classicyuppie]

Due to the lights accidentally being left on while parked at school, Red Devil's battery discharged down to nothing. Luckily my wife, who was driving her at the time, was able to get an emergency jump from campus security and drive her.

However I noticed that she was driving rather sluggishly - if that's the right word. She would idle normal, but she didn't seem to shift into the next gear as smoothly as before. Also, the automatic up/down feature on the windows was disabled and the high beams wouldn't stay on - I could only pulse them.

Most noticeably, the gas gauge was stuck at half when the car was turned off and when I cranked the engine, it would go up to one dot under the full mark. When the battery died, I had one-half tank of gas left. It was so noticeable, I asked my wife on the way home if she got gas. She said no, so I knew there was a problem.

The alarm wouldn't set by either the remote or the key, but the door would lock with the key only.

After reading some tips on the forum for when you change your battery or after a recharge, I did a couple of things. First, I reset the window "computer" to restart the auto up/down feature (however, I've not yet reactivated the anti-pinch feature). I also took the time to reset the throttle position sensor (TPS). Now Red Devil is shifting perfectly, the alarm works both with they key and the remote, auto up/down on the windows works again and the high beams are functional.

All the issues created by the dead battery are fixed and now I can get back to planning some mods for her!

UPDATE: I realized that I forgot to share my secret of how to get the gas gauge normal again. Basically what I had to do was put the car in ACC (Accessory) mode about 20 times. The gauge would decrease a little bit each time towards zero until when I turned the car off, it finally read zero. When I was finished and turned it on, it read at a half tank again. Somehow this managed to "recalibrate" the gas gauge. Lucky for me it worked.

[Opelmania]

Good to see you got Diablo back to normal. I hve replaced my battery and good thing I didn't have to do all of that just to get going normally again. Can't wait to see what you have in stored for her.

[classicyuppie]

Originally Posted by Opelmania

Good to see you got Diablo back to normal. I hve replaced my battery and good thing I didn't have to do all of that just to get going normally again. Can't wait to see what you have in stored for her.

You have no idea how glad I was to get all of that taken care of. I'm the kind of person that doesn't usually have the best of luck with cars - there's always something happening. However, I've resolved to take care of her and I'll tell you why.

One of my father's first cars was an air-cooled Beetle. I don't remember the year, but I know it was a Super Beetle. He had a custom paint job: two tone red and black (body was red, fenders were black). In later years, he went on to own a Rabbit (which was driven to Florida *many* times), a Golf, and three consecutive Jettas.

Recently my father passed away and he left me a modest inheritance. With some of it, I decided to purchase a badly needed automobile, as the one my wife and I were using just wasn't cutting it. Of course, we decided to get a Beetle but the listings on Craigslist weren't plentiful. We went to a car lot to look at another vehicle and found that they had a red '99. We decided to take a look at it and fell in love. I firmly believe my dad had something to do with us finding it.

[Opelmania]

Great story and you definitely have VW blood in you! Hope you continue to have good luck with Diablo.

[dnyed]

Good luck with the automatic transmission. If you have perused threads here, you have seen the issues.


An and good note, I say, it looks good for a 12 year old!

[ramboow]

i like the color red, is diferent from i seen. show us pics when you have it all shy and everything.good luck

[RedHeadache]

Wow! Red Devil is in close to the same condition as Penny when I got her! Her paint is still peely mostly on the hood/front bumper and she too has some owies on the rear bumper, I'm not sure how to fix those yet but the interior also looks similar. Do you plan on repainting the steering wheel spokes or any other little things on the interior?

[classicyuppie]

Originally Posted by RedHeadache

Wow! Red Devil is in close to the same condition as Penny when I got her! Her paint is still peely mostly on the hood/front bumper and she too has some owies on the rear bumper, I'm not sure how to fix those yet but the interior also looks similar. Do you plan on repainting the steering wheel spokes or any other little things on the interior?

Diablo made me nervous last night, driving through a small rain storm. She popped her CEL (solid) on and I wasn't able to do anything about it at the time. Took her to AutoZone this morning and they said she was misfiring on cylinders 1-3. I knew something was wrong because she kept idling rougher than normal and gear changes weren't as smooth (especially going from reverse to first). We gassed her up later in the day at Sam's Club (were we always get gas). I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I clicked the tank shut twice, just to be sure. Got back in the car and CEL is off and she's running like clockwork again. IDK.

Yes, I plan on painting the steering wheel spokes back to their original silver. I have to figure out how to get them off the steering wheel without removing the center of it (where the horn/airbag is). Playing around with the airbag makes me *very* nervous.

Eventually I plan on adding a spoiler to the back hatch. I know it doesn't help with mpg's but it sure does look nice. I'm debating on underbody LED lights for the front and sides - I haven't fully decided yet. I *did* get her a custom plate, which I will keep secret until I can put it on the car and show it off. I'll give everyone three guesses, and the first two don't count!

She went for a much-needed bath this morning. I was going to do a clay bar/polish/wax, but it looked like rain today, so I didn't want to mess with all that work for nothing. After washing though, I noticed she has some serious swirling in the paint, so a heavy polishing is needed. I'd rather do that when I have the proper amount of time to spend on it, rather than rush through it. Since the front plastic on the bumper is cracked and the clear coat is peeling heavily, I've put the bra back on her. That should help with making sure it doesn't get any worse and honestly, it doesn't look that bad (like I thought it did at first.

Quick tip for those that have fingerprints on the rubber/plastic dash. I know that org'ers are very polarized on the whole Armor All debate, but seriously, I used an Armor All Cleansing Wipe immediately followed by a clean (in my case, brand new) microfiber cloth. This will eliminate any grungy looking finger prints and smudges that can make your dash all junky looking. Some people are strongly against using any kind of Armor All product and I can understand this. The regular wipes that make your dash "like new" by putting a sheen on it can dry the plastic over time, but the cleansing wipes have always done right by me.

I will definitely have to post some photos later this evening or tomorrow to share with the ORG.

[RedHeadache]

If you want I took alot of pics of my steering wheel while working on it, I repainted spokes and replaced the center cap (which I sat in the passenger seat to do lol just in case). As of now, if I pull off my center cap, u can see and poke the air bag but here, check out my thread! 1998- PennyLane

You can pop the spokes off with a flat head screw driver. If you look around the back of the spokes, there should be a little seam and just gently fiddle with the screw driver until they pop off, very easy lol Goodluck!
And as for the center cap... it's a battle to get the little sucker off...I would think there should be a simpler way? O.o there's a silver dollar sized... thing? under the rubber of the airbag compartment, I just cut it out tho ? Hope that's okay with the airbag haha.

Oh and I like your zip ties :/ my valence zip tie job sucks

[dnyed]

I could not find a way to remove the plastic steering wheel spokes, without destrying them. I didn't have any problem destroying them, but it was not easy to get them off.

I replaced them with metal Turbo S spokes, and am very happy I did.

Good luck to you - both of you!

[RedHeadache]

hmm :/ Mine came off with very little damage

[classicyuppie]

Had my wife snap a few with her iPhone after we got Red Devil home from the car wash. I put the bra back on and it's a little saggy in a few places - the velcro isn't sticking and I'll need to either replace the velcro or the bra altogether. Look how she shines!