Tag: clean

Car care – AC clean and spare tyre stow

The AC clean is a very important procedure to get a good air quality inside a vehicle, it can avoid nasty bugs like Legionella developing . It is a very easy procedure, any DIYer should be able to do it with good results and saving some good money (really dont understand how some shops charge over 50 euros for this…). So, what you need:

  • AC cleaner product – i use the 1z klima-cleaner due to very good reviews online – you can get it at a paint shop or car parts shop .
  • Philips screwdriver
  • New cabin filter with charcoal element (if outside big cities get the simple no need of the charcoal).

So first, gain access to the cabin filter and remove it. The Golf 4 is very easy, lift rain rubber seal, remove the screws that hold the filter cover (located in engine bay in front of passenger seat), press clips of the filter frame and pull out. With the old filter out of the way, clean everything up (dust, leaves, cigar butts…).


© Volksbloggin

Now comes the very hard part (not), shake the AC cleaner can and insert the hose that comes with it all the way down the AC system thru the openings revealed by the filter remotion. Use half of the can there, the other half use evenly in the air vents. Remember, AC off and air blower off, open the vents and select in the dash the corresponding air direction as you deliver the product in each vents/section. After the can is empty, put the new filter in place (installation is the reverse of the removal). Then, open the windows and let AC pump air for 10 minutes with nobody inside. You can now enjoy the fresh air inside your car, so go buy something pretty to yourself with the money you have just saved.

I also cleaned up the mess that was the spare tyre compartment. I had a flat (a big rupture at tyre wall) and needed to change the tyre at the highway shoulder, so the wrecked tyre had lots of debris attached to it, brake dust, road dust, bits of tyre rubber, etc that were laid up to the spare tyre compartment. Everything normal, i just don’t understand why when afterward you get the car to the tyre shop they couldn’t care less about that mess, and don’t even pass up with a rag… what a pigs… so unless you want to carry at the trunk brake dust, bits of burned rubber in decomposition and other things that are not good to your health, its up to you to clean up, its very easy and need simple tools:

  • Portable vacuum cleaner
  • Water
  • Nivea lotion

Remove the spare tyre, wash it up with water. Let it dry. Vacuum all the shit of the tyre compartment and clean up with a rag. When the tyre has dried apply a coating of Nivea lotion to the rubber, better more than less. Check and inflate if needed. Now you can store the spare tyre and rest assured that will serve you good in case of need.

About the fuel prices

The fuel prices in the latest weeks are going up, and up, and by now at the pump we are paying around 1.50 euros for 1 liter/gas and 1.30 for diesel and everybody complains because they are too high. Well, i think that the prices should be much higher (50% or more), and that the price difference between gas,diesel and LPG is pathetic (this can be a complete new subject for a complete new post one of these days).

So, why? The last time i checked i’m not masochist, and my daily commute of 50 kilometers would indeed become more expensive. But there is rationale to tax more and get the prices higher, for starter to maintain a stable price for a period of years. Let’s say the price is set a 2 euro/liter, this would be the price for 10 years or a legislature or a relevant time frame. The extra tax collected when the oil prices are runing low, would be used to mantain the price when the oil price goes skyrocket. This would take the fuel prices uncertainty out of equation, for entrepreneurs doing business plans, for big companies, for small companies, for families budgets, for individuals. This would push the adoption of new oil free technologies. This would punish much more consumers who make non-eco choices. This would also reduce unnecessary trips (aka Passeio dos Tristes), and reduce overall average driving speeds and style to more normal values (yes, going 140km/h+ at 50cm of the front vehicle bumper and flashing ligths is only considered normal here and in Morocco…), hence reducing accidents and road mortality.

About the adoption of new technologies, remember that the true kick-start of the industrial revolution, was not the steam engine invention, but the end of the slavery, that dried up a tremendous free work force source and pushed the adoption of the new technology. This is the human way of doing things, when pushed we tend to find a way (a better way) and move forward.

As JFK challenged a country to put some guys in the moon, back in the 60’s, and this is the inspiration for it:

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

I believe this generation should accept the challenge of shift from oil to clean energy resources, by the end of this decade, not because its easy, but because its hard. Is the right thing to do, for us, for the environment, for our long term wealth, health and safety.