Date:         Wed, 14 Aug 2002 18:22:40 -0700
Reply-To:     Aaron Reams <aaron@INTERVAL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Aaron Reams <aaron@INTERVAL.COM>
Subject:      Re: As non-mechanic, am I crazy to pull my own Fridge?
Comments: To: Nolan Hester <waywest@EARTHLINK.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I just took mine out about a week or so ago.  Piece of cake.  Unscrew the
vent on the outside of the van.  Unscrew the bolts on each side of the
fridge.  Unscrew the little grate up on the left side.  Unhook the
electrical connections and propane connection and rock her out.  It's really
not that bad.  Now for putting it back in... hmmm, haven't got to that yet.
Still tuning her up but it should be just as easy.

Cheers,
Aaron

-----Original Message-----
From: Nolan Hester [mailto:waywest@EARTHLINK.NET]
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 6:15 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: As non-mechanic, am I crazy to pull my own Fridge?


Need a reality check here. My 87 Westy's Dometic has stopped
lighting--despite repeated use of the many tricks contained in the
archives. It does fine on AC & battery, just won't light. Every time
in the past eight years, I've been able to get it lit eventually but
no go this time despite plugging it in, etc. I suspect the jet's
clogged or the Piezo lighter's dead.

My wonderful regular van mechanic--Bela's Foreign Car Repair in
Burbank, CA--doesn't work on the camper components. So using the
dometic.com site, I took it to an RV place that advertised that they
work on Dometics but they were exceptionally clueless about the VW
("Is this some kind of European import?"). Fortunately was able to
get the keys back and leave with my baby intact.

Thanks to the list I downloaded the Dometic manual and am just
wondering if I'd be crazy to pull the fridge out myself to
check\replace parts?

I'm NOT an electrical\grease monkey kind of guy but at first reading
seem to understand the manual's instructions. So tell me--is this
doable or would I be better off resuming my RV mechanic search?

thanks,
Nolan
87 Westy "Hanz"