Date:         Fri, 10 Aug 2001 08:54:09 -0700
Reply-To:     David O'Shea <DOShea@GEOMATRIX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David O'Shea <DOShea@GEOMATRIX.COM>
Subject:      Are Car Problems Contagious?

Read the following and be warned:

Last week I noticed some coolant dribbling to the ground under the rear of
my diesel westfalia. Upon inspection, I discovered that the water pump was
leaking at the shaft. Not a big deal. I got my self home with no problem and
had the pump out by 10:00 am Saturday. I ziplocked the pump and gaskets (to
make sure of a match at the parts store) and I jumped into my other car (bmw
525i) and drove to the store. I bought the parts and, with new and old parts
on the front seat beside me, I drove on home. About 2 miles from my house,
the BMW started to overheat. Thinking what a weird coincidence this was, I
pulled over, inspected, and decided that only a bad thermostat would create
the set of symptoms I was observing (details available for any interested
parties-no vanagon content). 3 cool-off stops and 30 minutes later I was
home.

The VW water pump replacement went quickly and successfully. I jumped into
the VW to go back to the parts store for the BMW thermostat & gaskets.
Halfway to the store it hit me. Had I inadvertently contaminated one car
with the faulty parts of the other? -- Maybe a german coolant system virus
of some sort? I looked over at the ziplocked bag on the passenger seat
beside me. The same bag that had held the water pump before. If coolant
system problems are contagious, maybe ziplock bags don't provide enough
protection. Had I even sealed the bag when the VW water pump was in it? I
wasn't sure.

Home again I got to work on the BMW. This job also went easily and quickly,
except, a test drive revealed that my roadside diagnosis was faulty -- the
car still gets too hot on the open road. I'm sweating now. I limp home and
park. At this point my wife enters the garage and asks: "How long before the
car's fixed?" (This is my second favorite question, right after: "Are you
sure you know what you're doing?")

Well, at this point I figured I had either a blockage in the cooling
system/radiator -- or A BAD WATER PUMP! I pulled the water pump first and
indeed, it had failed -- the plastic fins that drive the coolant were
shattered (new pump uses metal fins BTW).

Two failed water pumps in two days? -- I think this is pretty conclusive
evidence that some sort of contagion is on the loose and I thought I should
alert you all to this potential danger.  If anyone out there has experienced
this and has a cure, please let me know. I want to stop this before it
spreads any farther.

Dave O.
SF, CA
83 Diesel Westfalia