Date:         Mon, 14 Feb 2000 17:13:12 -0800
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tcopley@POP.UNIXG.UBC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tcopley@POP.UNIXG.UBC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Asbestos Resurrected
Comments: To: Coby Smolens <cobys@WELL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <000201bf774a$db2fee60$37e1a9ce@fj6wx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 4:23 PM -0800 2/14/00, Coby Smolens wrote:
>This is the remarkable story of another instance where non-belligerent
>firmness paid--and continues to pay--off.
 [...]
>One day, in the course of a routine exhaust system repair, he became
>curious, and then alarmed, when he found what appeared to be asbestos in the
>insulation of a heat exchanger....He got on the phone to VW of America HQ
>and >told them the story. ...concluded in an agreement that our friend's
>entire
>fleet of vans (something like 20 of them) would be loaded on flatcars and
>shipped to a VW dealership in the Los Angeles area, at VW's expense, there
>to be fitted with ALL NEW heating and exhaust system components, from back
>to front.
[...]
>Our friend is sure that VW will continue to do
>this repair on an as-requested basis. It is repair work worth hundreds of
>dollars

Coby and others,

This has been covered extensively on the Type2 list.  A search of the Type2
archives (http://www.type2.com) searching for "LeCoz" will tell all.  In
short, VWoA *did* offer *free* replacement of heat exchangers and related
equipment for a period of several months a couple of years ago.  My
understanding is the offer has since been ended, and free exchange of these
parts has been discontinued.  I would be thrilled if someone were to check
into the current situation and prove me wrong on this, of course, but a
search of the archives will bring one up to date on the situation as it
last stood.

If someone *does* manage to get VW to agree to free parts replacement, I
hope that in the spirit of the list community they will post full details
(including VW contact names and phone numbers) to both this list and the
type2 list.

Good luck, but don't get your hopes too high...

T.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley   Bowen Island, BC, Canada              tobin.copley@ubc.ca

'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi       O|.           .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT   7,400 km        ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/