Car tools you just can't find loacally!!

FONSguy

Super Member
So I've been a VW gut since the early 1980s. Bought a 1982 Jetta. Totaled in 1990, I then acquired a tricked out 1983 Rabbit GTI. It died in 1998, and was replaced with a 1995 Jetta. in 2007 I bought a 2004 Jetta wagon. Love it. Last Wednesday the radio stopped working. Checked the fuse in the fuse panel. It's fine. HOWEVER... Their is ANOTHER 10 Amp fuse on the back of the radio!! WTF?? It requires 4 special keys to move the retaining springs out of the way to remove the radio from the dash. Wasted all of Saturday first attempting to locate some in northern VA, just west of DC, and the rest of the day trying to make some. NO LUCK. I guess until I get a set on line I'll have to use my 'shower radio' in the car for those traffic reports. AARRGGGHHH!
 
Ebay has a 20pc set of keys for $13. Amazon has the specific keys for the same price. Everything I need seems to be on the other side of town here. Normally I do a call for stock check as it's like driving to a different city to get something.
 
Most every silly tool I've needed to buy for my Lincoln/BMW diesel were ordered. Just try finding tools for a 1980s BMW turbo diesel engine in Bugtussle, NJ. I tried to borrow an oil primer for a Chevy V8, of which there are probably 20 within throwing distance of my house. Nobody had one, I ended up making one from a long 3/8" wood spade bit that I ground the point off. Same with an oil primer for a Ford smallblock. Made one from an old distributor that I removed the gear from. The seal drivers that I used to do the pinion seal on the Lincoln were made from a worn out belt sheave off the conveyor system at work. None for loan, the sale price was just too high for something I could make in 15 minutes from scrap metal. I own a power steering pulley remover/installer because the loaner was broken and what was on the shelf was a complete POS.
 
I had the factory radio out of our 2000 Jetta, which shared the same body style and interior with the 2004. I improvised and didn't go out looking for special tools. I don't remember having a hard time getting it out, but I try real hard to block ALL memories of that POS out of my mind.:no:
 
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Here;s one that might come in handy if you drive a Hubble ...

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You can make your own puller for those from a coathanger. Not a lot to it... pair of U-shaped devices with slightly pointed ends and some notching near the tips that helps engage the springs to pull it out.

John
 
Just wait until you need to remove a front axle shaft or the rear brake calipers on that VW.

The inner end of the axle is held in by a bunch of small bolts that take splined star bits (NOT Torx). And the outer retaining nut was some odd ball 12 point job, somewhere around 30 mm. I had to put a clutch in the POS we had, and couldn't find those star bits anywhere locally, and the car was already half torn apart in a friend's garage.:mad: I ended up having to use vice grips on them. I think that those 10 or 12 little bolts were the worst part of the whole clutch job, because I didn't have the right tools. And of course after the job was already done, I found the damn tool set for sale.:rolleyes:
 
Just wait until you need to remove a front axle shaft or the rear brake calipers on that VW.

The inner end of the axle is held in by a bunch of small bolts that take splined star bits (NOT Torx). And the outer retaining nut was some odd ball 12 point job, somewhere around 30 mm. I had to put a clutch in the POS we had, and couldn't find those star bits anywhere locally, and the car was already half torn apart in a friend's garage.:mad: I ended up having to use vice grips on them. I think that those 10 or 12 little bolts were the worst part of the whole clutch job, because I didn't have the right tools. And of course after the job was already done, I found the damn tool set for sale.:rolleyes:
you will find they arent star but they are splines ..i have a set for the job ..had them many years .
 
you will find they arent star but they are splines ..i have a set for the job ..had them many years .
Star, spline, whatever.:rolleyes: Same basic thing, different number of points. I have a set, too. I bought them as soon as I found them. Hopefully, I'll never need to use them again. Never owning another German POS should help make sure of that.:)
 
Star, spline, whatever.:rolleyes: Same basic thing, different number of points. I have a set, too. I bought them as soon as I found them. Hopefully, I'll never need to use them again. Never owning another German POS should help make sure of that.:)
i find them better than torx star bits .
 
Water pump install tool for a Northstar engine ... There's only one way it will fit, and that will probably be the last one you try. Figuring out how the dang thing works is probably the hardest part of the job ... <G>

water-pump-orientation.jpg
 
Water pump install tool for a Northstar engine ... There's only one way it will fit, and that will probably be the last one you try. Figuring out how the dang thing works is probably the hardest part of the job ... <G>

water-pump-orientation.jpg
Been there before.
A Caddy that needed a water pump came into the small independent shop where I used to work. We had to special order the tool. I think it took longer to get the tool than it did the pump.
 
nice to have the correct tools but sometimes you have to make do with what you have .. lately i have been collecting tools to speed up my work and make it lots easier . my back hurts and body aches at the thought of doing it the long way round .. cant beat a large selection of hammers though .
 
I thought I needed a special tool on one Mercedes once.

Ordered it.

Tried it.

Didn’t work for shit.

Discovered it was not anything special and a channel lock did the actual removal and installation.


As far as the OP, I’ll bet a car stereo place has the tool.

And YouTube may have a how to DIY with a coat hanger.

For every idiot engineer, there is a grease ball that can fix the f-up.
 
Star, spline, whatever.:rolleyes: Same basic thing, different number of points. I have a set, too. I bought them as soon as I found them. Hopefully, I'll never need to use them again. Never owning another German POS should help make sure of that.:)
My one experience with a German-made car made me vow to never own another. POS was an understatement. And it also had that stupid lock system to hold the radio into the dash. I simply jammed four nails into the holes and yanked the dead thing out. (The radio died after less than a year; the entire car died with 1,400 on the odometer. Eff that crap.)
 
A lot of vehicles had that radio mount for a while. Ford started doing it around 1990. They sell what looks like two U shaped things, but you can pull them with nails, a suitably bent coat hanger, small screwdrivers, or basically any round thing that will poke into the holes and release the catch.
 
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