Date:         Tue, 31 Oct 2000 14:59:20 -0500
Reply-To:     Karl Mullendore <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Karl Mullendore <thewestyman@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      Rocks and bananas,
              my adventures with importing 'Leaky' (very long!)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I had been wanting a singlecab transporter for some time, to use here in
Maryland in my Westfalia/Vanagon repair business. After passing on a
beautiful blue one in New Brunswick (too nice to use for a work truck!), I
found what seemed to be the perfect truck, located way over in Alberta! What
the heck, I thought, I need a road trip to get away for a few days! So, last
Wednesday, I flew into Edmonton, and was met at the airport by the owner,
Glen Cook, and his wife. After getting a notary to witness the bill of sale,
Glen drove me through the edge of the big city, so that I would not get lost
on my way out. We stopped at a light, he hopped out, and I into the driver's
seat, and on my way I went. The truck was running great, I was cruising with
the other vehicles out there, ahhhh, on the road again. Then in a few hours,
I noticed steam coming from the rear, so I pulled over to investigate.
Coolant was boiling from the overflow tank behind the license plate. I
thought, oh well, it must just need bleeding. I added a bit of water, got to
the next town where I purchased a pair of cheap pliers and some coolant, and
bled the thing then and there. All was well for awhile, when it all happened
again. This was the way I spent the next few hundred miles. Finally, I
looked closely at the expansion tank cap, and noticed  a small sliver of
blue silicone had lodged into the cap, causing it to stay in the partially
open position. I stopped at an auto recycler just down the road, which of
course had absolutely NO Vanagons. Oh well, maybe an Audi 4000 cap will
work, it will hold pressure, but vent to the outside. That worked for some
few hundred miles. I decided to cross the border at the town of Estavan in
Saskatchewan, and chose a entry point where there would likely be little
problem going through. Well, big problem: the conformity certificate had the
wrong VIN printed on it! So, I spent the night in Estavan, and the proper
certificate was faxed to me there. In the AM, no big deal at the main border
crossing at North Portal, except the unfriendly, non-smiling woman there
thought for some reason I was hauling something not good, and decided to
search the whole truck. When she came back to me inside the office, she held
up her 'loot', two nice oranges I had just purchased in Estavan. "Can't have
them, they are probably form Brazil or someplace with fruit fly
infestation". Good grief, what a great gov't we have, even protecting me
from an unsafe piece of fruit! (What jerks, I thought, really, couldn't find
any contraband, let's take his food!) Finally, back in the US. What a relief
to have that crossing business done with! With 200 miles done with no adding
coolant, I thought I had the problem licked. No such thing, as at that exact
moment, about 30 miles northwest of Minot, ND, the temp gauge suddenly shot
up. Pulled over, and to my disbelief, the radiator was shooting a stream
straight out into the road. The only place that appeared to be a business in
the small town was a strip bar. Luckily, no strippers were on at the time,
just a few normal folks sipping beers. The owner filled about six gallon
jugs for me, to fill the truck long enough to make it to Minot. The water
still shot from the front, so in desperation, I searched through my
everything I had with me for something to temporarily stop the leak. I found
my baggie of dehydrated bananas, and thought 'perfect!'. After carefully
softening a piece in my mouth, I applied it to the hole, and voila! No more
leak. Made it to Minot, and located a radiator repair shop, which kindly and
carefully soldered the hole shut, even allowing me into the shop to help
out, as they really had no clue how to properly fill and bleed the system.
At one time, three people were on the job, and when done, they only wanted
$40. I expressed my gratitude for dropping everything to help me out, and
off I went. I left the coolant cap loose, thinking that all would be better
with no pressure to cause more holes in the rotten radiator. Once underway,
I resumed my search also for a new coolant cap, to no avail, so continued on
the way, continually stopping every 30 to 50 miles to refill the coolant
again, as for some reason it still wanted to occasionally boil over. Once I
must have mistakenly tightened the cap too much, as out in the middle of
nowhere, it blew yet another hole in the radiator. No worries, I have more
bananas! And the service station had a bottle of Bars' leak, not something I
would normally use in anything I own, but hey, this is different now.
Problem is, there is no cap on the radiator, which is the best place to add
the Bar's leak, if you want it to act quickly. So, back inside, I got a
straw from the small restaurant, poked it through a styrofoam cup, and added
the liquid to the radiator through the tiny bleeder hole! Problem is, the
little pellets would not go into the straw willingly, so I dropped then one
by one into the hole, all 400 or so of them, while the frigid wind froze my
fingers. And, it worked! Yay! For good measure, I also applied some more
bananas! I still needed to add coolant occasionally, but managed to make it
all the way to Ohio, where it suddenly began to overheat again! This, of
course, happened in a construction zone, with no shoulders, and also just as
a traffic jam started due to an accident ahead. I inched forward until there
was a spot wide enough that the truck wouldn't fall off the grass shoulder,
shut it off, and just sat there, reading, snacking, and waiting for the jam
to disperse. It did, finally, so I filled and bled one more time. Somewhere
in the night, I began noticing something seriously wrong, a distinct tire
vibration. Upon inspection, I found that the tread plies were separating,
causing the tread to bulge, and the tread was worn very thin. No worries,
again, I'll just put on the spare. Well, the lug wrench broke. Begged
motorists for a wrench, finally finding the proper size, and then the truck
drove wonderfully smooth again! Made it safely to the PA turnpike, through
the tollbooth, and suddenly, once again, the gauge shot skyward, and I
pulled over. This time, the hole that I had recently patched blew wide open,
and spurted coolant in a stream about 20 feet from the truck! I felt that
this was the end, I would need a tow from here, sadly. Then MacGuyver in me
reawakened, and said "hey, there are still some bananas, don't give up
yet!". So, I carefully cleared the rotten fins surrounding the split in the
tube, and ever so carefully packed pieces of bananas into the spots where
the fins once were, compressing the crack so that the Bar's leak could seal
the hole once more. No thinking that this would hold, I desperately searched
for something to wedge between the patch and the sheetmetal of the front, to
ensure that the patch stayed securely. What I found was a perfectly sized
rock, shaped ever so perfect, like it was there just for this purpose. This
fix lasted all the way home to Maryland, although I did need to start adding
more antifreeze/antiboil to the mix to ensure that it would not boil
terribly driving through the mountains of western PA and MD. And I MADE IT!
I was so thrilled to be home, and waiting there was my wonderful girlfriend,
Pam, who had spent so much time trying every resource and joining this
wonderful list, to coordinate help to get me safely back home. I thank all
of you, for you offers of help, kind words, and support, and most of all to
Pam, without her support I would have probably given up and dropped the
truck by the wayside to retrieve later. This is a great community, this
list! Glad to be back!

Karl Mullendore
Westy Ventures
1987 Syncro Westfalia 1.9TD 'Otto'
1985 Transporter Singlecab 'Leaky'
(1977 Westy, 1982 diesel Westy, 1984 Westy, 1986 Westy all for sale)