Well it was quiet yesterday. There were two minor issues to attend to on the new beater car. The windshield washers did not squirt but the low fluid level light was not on. So up with the hood and put some washer fluid in.

Back in the car to see if they worked. Well now the wipers did not work either. Yet they had the last time it rained. After some troubleshooting it turns out the wipers do not work with the hood up.

The hood would not interfere with the wiper arc if they were operational. So I thought some caution should be used when working on this beast. I can only think the designers did not want you driving around in the rain with your hood up. Second problem was a little heavier.

Trip odometer went back to zero every time you turned the engine off. also the clock returned to 12 o'clock. Found a fuse out quick enough but things did not return to normal. This problem had been attended to by the dealer when the car was new. It was not clear from the invoices if they had ever repaired it but it was reported by the service advisor on the invoice.

During supper with family guests I mentioned it to a younger guy. He suggested I had to either drive the car 300km or get into the computer. Probably before the functions would return.

Makes a guy feel somewhat incompetent with the newer vehicles although this one is 11 years old. Although I was glad I did it as the service records where accidentally found in the process.

I was going to change the timing belt as I had found no way to determine if it had been changed or not. The original owner had expired unfortunately. Plus the original selling dealer had no record of the change.

The service records clearly indicated that he had separated from the dealer service for a good alternative early. The timing belt was changed but not the water pump and tensioner and roller. I can live with that. Car now needs nothing hopefully other than the oil changed and I will buy an oil extractor over removing the under pan every time.

The lesson learnt was to really exercise caution and assume your old knowledge is not really good enough. I got two suprises on two minor issues.

The service invoices also show that the older owner took care of everything pretty much as it arose. Most work like brakes etc occurred in 2013 and the car has only accumulated about three thousand miles since..

He had done alignment and expected General maintenance pretty well. I suspect the last oil change may now be overdue. This is one thing you just do not want to do on these Volkswagon diesel engines.

You have to study the dealer service invoices to understand why he left them. Some of the fairly minor work under warranty was not done properly. Although they charged over 100 dollars per oil change. After warranty their charges where high to say the least. There are a few things that should be recalls by Volkswagon. Volkswagon is not customer friendly in this regard. They will occur with time with this car but for the present the car is pretty much as new.

The alternative place he took it to offered good competent specialist service on the audi volkswagon line although not a dealer. Still a little high but not highway robbery.

If this old car is a partial earlier reflexion of what is today. When purchasing really new vehicles you want to or expect to keep after warranty. It is pretty obvious that you should buy the most reliable brand you can find. Otherwise after warranty work could financially really put a dent in your wallet.

These are not your fathers cars. Instead with multiple busses and many computer modules and seemingly a lot of almost endless complexity. Unrelated functions can have an impact on each other that you would not expect. When they act up I think it will be very costly in many cases.