Date:         Fri, 12 May 2000 12:33:15 -0300
Reply-To:     Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Subject:      The good, bad & ugly: Trip report (Very Long)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Borrowing from Charles Dickens:  "It was the best of trips, it was the worst of
trips":

I bought a viscous coupling from Derek Drew in Wash DC and I wanted a
new 3 window Westy canvas for my van (from the Busdepot).  I figured that
the cost to ship the VC and the canvas to Canada, plus the Canadian
customs and sales tax would just about equal the gas for the trip and I could
visit my brother in Morgantown WV as an added extra.  So last week off I
went, by myself, from Halifax to Wash DC, to Morgantown, to the Busdepot,
and back to Halifax.

The van ran fine all the way through Atlantic Canada, through New England
till I pulled off the Beltway in DC and I then heard metal to metal on the
brakes.  I had JUST put new pads and rotors on, prior to the trip, so HOW
COULD THIS BE!!!

I limped over the Derek's house and talked "vanagon" with him for a while,
received the VC and asked about a place to get the brakes fixed.  Derek had
a set of used pads and agreed to sell them to me just to get the pads back
on and save my NEW rotors.  Well, while nursing the van over to the brake
shop (down shifting and using the hand brake as much as I could), the van
quit on me every 2 minutes!!!!  Just stopped dead!  I would wait for 2 minutes
and then it would run perfectly for 2 minutes and stop.

I limped down to the brakes place (2 minutes on, 2 minutes off) and had
Derek's pads put on. The cause of the problems was diagnosed as a stuck
caliper and this was what was wearing away my pads.  After the "new" pads
were put on and the van DRIVEN out of the work bay and parked in the lot,
the owner of the brake shop said "NO CHARGE", nice of him.  But then my
van would NOT start at all.

Now, we need to keep in mind that my van has points, plugs and condenser
and a Weber carburettor.  I had my Bentley and many tools and I kept trying
to chase down electrical problems.  The van would turn over OK but not even
try to start.  I could hear the fuel pump pumping with the key "on".  I had
elect. to the coil, to the distributor, to the plugs.  I was at the end of my
knowledge and was getting a bit flustered.

Here is where I made my first mistake.  It was Easter eve and I was trying to
get to my brother's house for Easter, and I got a little panicky.  A nice guy
came over to see what was the problem and tried to "help".  While I was up
at the key, he pulled the plug wires out of the distributor and re-arranged then
to what he thought was 1,2,3,4.   So now I had 2 problems.

I called Derek again to get the name of a "fix-it" shop in DC.  He suggested
that I call Tom Forhan (list member) as Tom has lived in DC for 20 years.
Tom suggested that I have the van carried (it's a syncro and can't be towed)
to a "shade-tree" mechanic 2 blocks from Tom's house.   I did, and then I
settled in to spend Easter parked in the lot of a shade-tree mechanic in
Wash DC..

Tom was great!!  He came over that night to commiserate with me.  Then
showed up Easter morning to try and help. NOTHING, the van would turn
over, but was just dead and I still had not figured out how to get the plug
wires back in correctly.  Tom had the Muir's "idiot" book with the cylinder #s.
in it so that helped, but my distributor was different than in the Muir book, so
I was still a bit un-sure.  Tom came back in early afternoon and invited me to
his and his wife's Easter dinner party!!!!!!!  Is this list great or what.  Tom did
suggest that I could (should?) shower! prior to the dinner party - subtle or
what!  So in the middle of my van misery, I had a wonderful Easter dinner
with interesting people.  Thanks again Tom.

Well after 2 nights camping in the mechanic's parking lot, Monday morning
they all showed up for work.  They pushed and prodded and looked for about
3 hours and then gave up and said that they could not fix it and suggested
that I would have to take the van to a VW dealer.  During their "work"  they
had loosened the distributor and rotated it while I cranked the van.  So now I
had a new problem - the timing was WAY off.  On the "good" side, they also
said "no charge, we didn't fix anything".

So for the second time I called AAA and had the van carried to a VW shop.
The VW shop looked at the carbs etc. and said they would not work on the
engine.  So, Tom Forhan had suggested Auto Centro (about 25 miles away)
as the last word in honesty and competency.  So for the 3rd time (at about
$100 each time) I had the van carried to Auto Centro.  I arrived here just at
closing and spend the night in their parking lot.

Tuesday morning they had to clear up the cars they were working on and
while they did that I kept working on the van.  This is where Tom's Muir book
saved the day.  It had directions for plug wires, engine diagrams for cylinder
#1,2,3,4 firing order 1 4 3 2 and directions for static timing.

I was now confident that I had the plug wires on correctly, I set the points
with a feeler gauge and then found Top Dead Center (TDC) by rotating the
engine while I had a plastic straw down the #1 plug hole (very slowing and I
only put the straw in when I was approaching TDC.  I then set the engine
about! 6 degrees before TDC hooked up the static timing light and rotated the
distributor till the light came on. (Do any of you old-timers remember this
procedure?) The previous "mechanic" had left the distributor 90 degrees off!

Well, I put everything back together and tried the engine IT STARTED!!!!  and
idled perfectly for about 1.5 minutes the just quit!  So by now I had
eliminated all of the plug, dist. etc problems and it was about 11 a.m. and
the mechanic was ready to look at the van.

It would idle for about 1.5 minutes the quit!!.  So he (being much more
experienced than I), hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and, sure enough, with
he key "on" the fuel pump would pump and I/we could hear it.  But after a
minute, or so, the pressure went to zero, and the van stopped - no fuel.

So a new low pressure fuel pump and I was on my way.  THANKS to Auto
Centro (yes, they are listed on the vanagon recommended repair shops).

BUT, I still had the brake caliper problem, but I figured I'd just chew through
the pads till I arrived at Ron's (Busdepot) and get new pads and calipers.  So
off to my brother's house, I stayed for an enjoyable 5 days.  During this time I
had called Ron to see who could put on the new caliper and he suggested a
place about 20 miles from his Depot, so I made an appointment for Monday
morning.  I left my brother's place Sunday noonish and then camped out in
the parking lot of Lehman's Auto (not sure of the name) Sunday night, my
4th camping night in an auto-fix-it place!

Monday morning these guys put on the new caliper and lightly machined the
rotor and gave the van a once over.  They hooked the engine up to their
$60,000 Sun elect analyser machine and set the carbs and everything
checked our OK. Even my work with the points I had the dwell exactly at 48
degrees and the timing was only about 1 degree off.

I test drove the van and it was OK.  I paid the bill, and off I went.  WELL! I
was not more than 5 miles, on my way to Ron's, when the van started acting
up again,  This time it was definitely carb problems - it idled OK, full throttle
OK, but bucking a bit in the mid-range. I decided to "punish" the van and I
just kept on driving.

I stopped at Ron's to get the 3 window tent, an antennae, and a caliper for
the other side (to be put on later), and off I went, a bit of a rough ride, but not
too bad at highway speeds.  I drove for about 6 hours and then a MIRACLE
happened, the carbs just smoothed out and the van was running perfectly.
Whatever was plugging some jet in the carb worked its way through and the
van ran PERFECTLY for the last 15 hours of the trip back to Halifax.

So, the GOOD:  Derek's good work on the VC and selling the pads to me.
Tom's real caring involvement and hospitality to a complete stranger.

The BAD:  the van acted up when 3,000 kilometres from home.

The UGLY, about $800 UD$ to get it all fixed.

Hope you enjoyed this story.  Malcolm