Shop Shots Volume 14 Insider Pictures of Automotive Service

Volkswagen Beetle Sticker

Ah Shop Shots, some of my favorite posts are the pictures from the auto shop. Ok, no messing around, lets DO THIS!

VW Jetta TDI PictureIf you look close, you can see that the BACK of the car is covered in bug guts. Yep, this brand new car has been traveling at high speeds in reverse. Well, kinda. It just came off the shipping truck. Someone had to back the car onto the TOP level of a shipping truck. That is NUTS to think that someone backed the car onto the truck. I would have a panic attack trying to do that. Now, this is not really a life changing picture, but I swear I crack up every time I see it. Like EVERY time. 😀

Volkswagen Beetle StickerHAHAHAHA. WTH?? I am laughing about this still! See I take pictures almost every day. I don’t always use the pictures the same week I take them. I found this one again today. Why the heck do people put this on their car? Do they get paid for it? Are just really be fans of “$weep$take$”? You have actually seen the other side of this Beetle before. It is the wrecked Beetle I posted a few weeks ago. If anyone knows why people do this, please post it in the comments.

Tiguan Water LeakI have talked about Volkswagen water leaks in other posts. Here is a Tiguan that had a slight leak. This actually belongs to a buddy of mine. We had been trying to get his car in to be checked. Finally we got the leak fixed. I pulled the carpet up to dry it. I think it came out great. A little shampoo, a little scrubbing, and a lot of fan, the car dried up nicely. If you ever find water on the carpet of your car, understand that the water is probably deeper than you think. The carpet on most VWs sits about 1.5 inches above the body. That means there can be a ton of water standing before it is at the carpet level. If you find you have water, get the carpet pulled and dried. A shop vac will not do the trick.

Pig Volkswagen BeetleI think this goes in the “What the heck were they thinking” file. Then again, I bet my Cabriolet does too. 😉 This was sent to me by Steve in Chicago. Thanks Steve! I can’t really comment on what, of why someone did this. I have be be honest, it looks like they put some time into it.. The detail is pretty good. I am sure that Jim LOVES his little pig. HAHA!

Ok, this video is AWESOME! What you are looking at here is called the Leak Detection Pump(LDP). This pump is part of the Evaporative Emissions system on your car. This system controls fuel vapors from your car. Whether it is when your car is being filled with gas, or that hot summer day, it will control the amount of vapors released in the atmosphere. The pump pressurizes your fuel system to check for leaks. When the system fails, your Check Engine Light comes on.

This car came in with a check engine light on. I did a “smoke test” on the system. Basically I charge the system with nitrogen, and add a chemical that smokes. When I unplugged the electrical connector for the LDP, this is what happened. I have seen it before, and I always like to watch it.

Well, another week of Shop Shots is done. There is one more thing that I want to say to everyone. This post is my 100th post. I want to tell each and every one of you THANK YOU! I truly appreciate the fact that you take time out of your day to visit the blog, read the posts, comment and so on. I just cant say THANK YOU enough. Thank you to all everyone that likes the facebook page, or follow on twitter. I appreciate every “share” every “retweet” especially the one that said, “check out this VW blog, sans skinny jeans”. That one might be the funniest.  I feel really lucky to get to know all of you and I am really looking forward to the next 100,300,500,1000, and beyond! I hope that you enjoy the site,and get a good laugh all while learning some things about cars.. Seriously, THANK YOU ALL!!!!

I don’t need to say it, you know what to do. 😉

12 replies
  1. Brandon
    Brandon says:

    That is really ironic that you posted about the Jetta with bugs on it. The whole reason I even found out about VW in the first place is because my dad hauls them for a living. In the summer I go with him down to houston and pick them up at the port and deliver them to the dealerships. I would hope his fear of backing up on the top spot is gone by now, because he’s been doing it for 20+ YEARS! Usually though, he tries to put any Audi’s we may be hauling in that spot because they have the big huge protective bags around them. Awesome post Charles!

    Reply
      • Brandon
        Brandon says:

        Definately, so many people in his line of work like to just slam the cars on as fast as they can and be done with it. My dad has learned the hard way why you should slow down. This winter, he made his first “rookie” mistake when he tried to load really fast and forgot to lock one of the decks securely into place. By the time he noticed something wasnt right, he had already crushed the roof in on a brand new 2012 turbo beetle. The dealership luckly was able to somehow fix it instead of totalling it. (thank god!) As with the whole backing thing, I remember a story he told me from about 10-15 years ago when he worked for the union hauling brand new GM vehicles and one of his buddies just starting out had accidently pressed the gas instead of the brake, and ended up backing a $40,000 Silverado off the top deck.

        Reply
  2. Kristin
    Kristin says:

    Those people with the sweepstakes car have to be getting paid to have that on their car. Also I would drive the heck out of that pig bug.

    Reply
  3. Jeremy
    Jeremy says:

    We get so many cars that travel backwards on the trucks. It always seems to be the white ones.. Also, who the hell would take the risk of backing a car onto the top of trailer..

    Reply
      • Brandon
        Brandon says:

        Jeremy, It takes alot of guts, but there are specific reasons my dad told me why some vehicles need to be backed on to trucks, and I can’t remember so I will ask him and then update why.

        Reply
        • Brandon
          Brandon says:

          Update: He said the biggest reason is weight distribution. The most part where a car weighs is its engine, and if you drive it on forwards you have to much weight going to the drive tires, making it hard to steer, and if you put too much weight on that part of the suspension, it could bust. That, and every time you cross state lines in a truck you go over a weigh station. If you have to much weight on one axle you could face a huge $1,200 overweight fine, Because you could be “tearing up the road your driving on”

          Reply
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