Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2002 21:20:07 -0700
Reply-To: mike <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mike <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
Subject: Road trip-long in all senses
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Well Volks here it is:
Big country.
Al Knoll lent me a GPS [which I never learned how to use, no time] and sold
me some walkie talkies. I still owe him bucks for those, as well as his GPS
back. Neat toy. He noticed my headlights were toast and new how to replace
them, a procedure I'd forgotten. Thanks, Al.
Left CA with 1200 miles on a new AVP rebuild and the valves adjusted. New
suspension bushings, shifter bushings, shocks, starter, distributor, etc.
But the adage is: Your vehicle is as reliable as the oldest part, not the
newest.
In Reno went to J & J Van specialists, nice guys, gave them no time to
diagnose a stumble problem, put on a new ignition control module and left
because they couldn't get the problem to show up. 100 yds from the shop the
problem showed up and continued to get worse. After trying via phone to
figure it how David B sent me a new ECU with a Darrell tool built in. Great
device. Didn't solve the problem but Boston Bob had called and said 'It's
vacuum leak'. I had sprayed enough carb cleaner to start a small fire,
engine note never changed so it couldn't be a vacuum leak.
Really big country.
Putting in the ECU found the vacuum leak. So the ECU change worked, in a
way. David B overnighted the sucker to me which made that all possible, in
addition to spending enough time on the phone diagnosing so that event the
IRS would say I'm a legitimate deduction. Thanks David.
Front tires wearing out on the inner edge. Camber, right? The mad man of
Chicago, Terry, wore out his ear on the phone with this one. Took it to an
alignment shop in Brazil, IN. Who found the front suspension so stiff that
it wouldn't deflect under the weight of the van so they couldn't align it.
Turns out that's what normal with all new bushings and shocks. Oh, well.
Their guess as to why it was not deflecting was frozen shocks, or wrong
shocks. Terry rounded up some new shocks and took me over to his shop and
started putting them on. Exact same shocks as what was on there and worked
the same way. Crud. He spent most of the rest of his day off trying to
find someone to align it. No go Saturday in Chicago, EVERYONE is getting an
alignment. Found a National Tire and Battery in St. Louis [Sears] and they
did it. Tires are wearing normally now, so far.
Thanks, Terry.
Bolt fell off the sliding door hinge connector, and it was the last of two.
Need a replacement.
Huge country. Beautiful too, except where it gorgeous. Empty except where
it's crowded.
Went from CA to Maryland and back by way of everywhere. 8000 miles. Got 21
mpg tailgating a truck with the wind, and 15 mpg tailgating a truck into a
wind. Mostly around 20 mpg.
Engine still using about a 1/2 qt. Per 400 miles of 65-70 mph. AC worked
great until we hit a 110 degree day in Phoenix, costs about 10% in mpg to
use it though. A fill of propane ran the fridge at about 1/3max for about
20 days, using the stove once to boil a cup of water.
The people we met were mostly great, there's not much in the way of exotic
food [natural foods, good coffee, vegetarian stuff] outside the coasts and
the big cities, the wild cat rescue place in Centerpoint, IN. is really
nifty. Big kitties that ask to have their ears rubbed!
Did I mention this is a big country?
Oh, if anyone gets to northern CA and needs help, give me a call,
916-972-1119. I have a lot of paying back to do.
Mike
