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The good deed snowball effect.

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Banjo

Banjo

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I have some folks I met that have a nice 77 VW camper similar to mine, and after talking they wanted me to get theirs running again. It had been running poorly, then it wouldn't start, and had been sitting in their front yard for 2 years. They were getting sick of people trying to buy it. So I agreed to give a hand. It's not charity work, but I really didn't want to take on any projects right now. I've got a ton of my own, and I am putting in lots of overtime at work.
Anyhow, it finally shows up at my house, on a roll-back, unannounced.... I get home one evening to find an immobile vehicle in my driveway, blocking the garage bay that I need to get my bus out of to put this one in. A lot of pushing and shoving later, it's in the garage.
The battery is toast. We has already determined that the fuel pump was the root of the no-start condition, so I borrow a battery out of another car, grab a pump I had on the bench and get it to start.
It runs like doggie poo.
Vacuum leaks everywhere, and puffing oil smoke.
I put in an order for parts. Now with all the vacuum leaks under control, and a new fuel pump and battery I can realistically try and get it tuned.
It still runs like dog poo.
So, I try looking at timing. I can't get it anywhere near where it should be without it stalling. It's also puffing a healthy amount of blue smoke. Now I'm starting to have bad thoughts. (Any VW veterans can already guess where this is going)
Pulling the plugs starts to confirm my suspicion. #3 is covered in burnt oil. eeeew.
Compression test is next. #1 120psi, #2 120psi, #3 60 psi, #4 120 psi.
crud crud crud crud!!!!!!
Here's my dilemma. It needs rings. I probably could do it, but I really don't want to "own" this engine. I really don't need the money right now, and I sure don't need a decent size job either. I'm waiting for the owners to get back to me. I'm not sure what I am going to tell them. I know they will want to fix it. I just don't know if I want to fix it..... And be tied to it forever.....
 
It sounds like a "no win" situation for you. Maybe best to give them your diagnosis and tell them that it may best best to have the dealer do the work.
You're right, if you continue you will own it.
A couple of years ago I had a fully restored scooter for sale. Someone in my neighborhood offered to buy it IF I agreed to do the repairs when needed. I sold it to someone else so I wouldn't have to deal with being the "repair man".
 
You've already done them a huge deed, Ben. And since they dumped it on you unannounced, you know it's gonna darken your driveway over again.

Three words from Elsa: "Let it go!"
 
As I have gotten older I have gotten more and more comfortable telling people I simply don't want to do something.

If you feel compelled to explain why, tell them upon your examination you feel that this could easily turn out to be a time-consuming, expensive and complex job and you cannot afford to take this amount of time away from your family and your job.

If it needs rings you already know it will need more than that.

By the way, don't let it sit in your driveway too long, even if you have to cover the return tow. Otherwise, it's presence may wear you down and get you hooked into something that sounds like a bad idea.
 
It's like feeding a stray cat..... You will never get rid of it, it will keep coming back for more.
 
I told them I would install a rebuilt engine, or let them have this one rebuilt, but I did not feel comfortable doing the rebuild myself. We shall see where it goes from there. And I said absolutely no way would I do a Subaru swap! (they jokingly mentioned it) It's a popular thing, and I have nothing against it, but the amount of time and work it would take, and talk about being married to something!!!!!
 
So ... are they paying for the parts and labor?

:crazyeyes:
 
Yes. Like I said, this is not charity work. my backyard rate is $40 an hour. I figure half the going rate at the local garages is fair. The big issue is that I really don't have the time right now.
They got back to me. They are seeing if they can scrape the money together to buy a new engine. I warned them that there may still be other problems that I can't detect right now because the engine is bad. We'll see where it goes.
 
GregW said:
By that time, you may have even less time to do the work. And your garage has a dead car in it.
Click to expand...

all of which is completely true - nut, OTOH, I think we have all been there where we just needed someone trustworthy to help us over a hump. So, looking at it another way, good on you for being trustworthy, honest and helpful, especially when busy. They likely appreciate it more than the reduced shop rate.
 
Take it from an old veteran "volunteer" - the first time you say no is the easiest. And remember this old saw - No good deed ever goes unpunished.
Enough for today.
 
if you do it Ben you may get more stars in your crown
 
The term we like is "mission creep". You start out offering to do something nice and the person keeps adding and adding. I get this an awful lot in the music business "Well, since you're going to be there anyway, can you...?"

My favorite are the people who ask to borrow a microphone for the wedding ceremony, as if the microphone has some magical power to project your voice. I'll tell them they are more than welcome to the microphone, but it needs to be hooked up to a P.A. system, and I normally don't carry a second system.

In this case, I wouldn't want to get mired to deeply.

OTOH - sometimes doing something good also has a "ripple effect" and opens doors that otherwise wouldn't open.
 
I don't think it's quite as bad as you all think. I knew they were having it towed to my house, I just didn't know it was coming that day. But it was almost a month behind when I wanted to get started on it. Now we're into the busy season. The original deal was just for me to look it over and get it running so they could use it this summer. I now see that was a little too open ended of a description.
I don't have a big problem doing a motor change. It is an air-cooled VW after all. I just wish I was already done with it.
 
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