Spring 2009 Update: The DSM God’s Must Be Crazy
2009 Car season begins late for me but no less anticipated. After a 6 month hibernation I was finally able to start the annual process getting on the road again.
The Prep:
Change the oil and filter. That Royal Purple shit was horrible. If you must know what it it’s like to blow almost $50 in a half hour on a DIY fluid exchange try the alley behind BK with the local corner street rat instead. Both leave you hurting and wishing you made the better decision.
After waiting longer than necessary for the royal oil to drain, just to be extra sure; I refilled with the Labrador of DSM oil options, Mobil 1. I then put in new plugs NGK BPR7ES. The parts store clerk still insists on looking up the car in the computer bit I insist just look it up by part # and save me some time. I know what my mistress needs.
The Start Up:
Having already charged the battery up, barely taping the key she started right up and purred like a kitten rumbling through the 3” pipes and out the 4” muffler. Oh how I missed her. I started thinking to myself how the DSM gods must have somehow overlooked this last of its kind TSi and that I must have been excluded from the fabled DSM curse. I pulled it out into the driveway to start cleaning her up:
The Set Up:
I vacuumed and cleaned out the interior/storage shed (an entire office of a closed business); it is surprisingly spacious with the rear deck out and seats down. I went to start her back up to store her in safety from the approaching thunderstorm and that's when the cruel toils of the DSM god’s struck.
I've made it 4 years. Bought, modded, paid off and daily driven a DSM with virtually no problems. I know my mods are weak sauce still but you can't argue with the uncharacteristic reliability of my ‘sort of’ Screaming Eagle. I think the DSM gods were listening to my thoughts of reliability reflection as smug and realized their oversight.
The Problems:
Start up yielded horrible choppy idle, puffs of smoke and screeches like a wounded eagle instead of a Screaming Eagle. I can’t even keep it running. I climbed my 6’1 tall stature out of the lower than remembered chassis and realized my DSM lucky streak had ended. I should have gone to the casino while lady luck was still my co pilot.
The diagnosis:
Faulty TPS, Bad O2 wire signal, loose alternator belt and a fault AFC NEO conspired simultaneously following their dark lords biddings.
The next step:
I take my brush with DSM evil humbly, thank the DSM god’s for their mercy and take this as a friendly reminder of my good DSM fortune. I head boldly but cautiously into season 2009. Maybe a long overdue turbo swap will appease the DSM gods.
Danger Wheels Champion!
Linear Mode
