Date:         Sat, 9 Sep 2000 08:57:28 -0700
Reply-To:     "Tom L. Neal" <jneal@NETCOM.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Tom L. Neal" <jneal@NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      Re: OXY---ignoring maintenance will lead to an unreliable Vanagon
In-Reply-To:  <FKBDEMNDMALIBAAA@mailcity.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

> On my '87 vanagon (Wolfburg edition) the OXY. sensor lamp has turned on.
> I am NOT going to replace the sensor but could some one please tell me
> where the re-set button is and how to turn the lamp off?
> How big a deal is it to disconnect the lamp so that it never comes on?
>

If not replaced every 60K miles or so, the O2 sensor will deteriorate and
cause major havoc with the fuel injection system and van reliability
in the form of lower mileage, running rich, poor starting, etc. These
conditions are not my idea of fun, I've been through most of them, and
they can be VERY costly in money, time, and disrupted life. Good idea to
replace the O2 sensor when VW says to.  Only costs about $30 at TBD for a
generic that you can easily splice in, and if you get a late '80's Ford V8
O2 cable you can even make an elegant adapter cable to connect to the
generic directly. There are about 3000 posts on the delicate nature of O2
sensors which can be accessed in the archives. Switch is on side of small
box near the left wheel.

It's tempting to let these machines run until they break but many of the
failure modes are very nasty and difficult to either find or deal with.
Blown engines, disrupted trips, expensive repairs, and general chaos seem
to be a common result of this approach. It's easy to blame the machines,
but when knowledgeable mechanics do continuous (not inexpensive)
preventative maintenance, Vanagons can be very reliable because the
failure modes, while plentiful, are predictable, as 100,000 posts to this
list demonstrate.

Cheers, Tom Neal   '87 syncro  254K