Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Mon, 26 Aug 2002 12:18:32 -0700
Reply-To:     J McCavitt <mccavittj@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         J McCavitt <mccavittj@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      When it rains, it pours- or, why does my van hate me
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

OK, last week it was the ECU. So we took the van on a trip up to Cape Cod over the weekend to celebrate getting it back on the road. On the way, the alternator stopped charging. I think the regulator went bad, the batt. light never stayed on, just glowed faintly and flickered. I replaced all the wire terminals, as well as cutting an inch of flaking green conductor off all the wires, but no help. Picked up a rebuilt unit at Auto Zone in CT, $81.00 plus $50 core. No garage staying open around there to install, and I had no tools (irrelevant). Charged the battery for 20 min, crossed our fingers, and headed out. Camped at a state park near RI border, parked near a hill, and diconnected the battery overnight. Nature encounter: a skunk wandered by, attracted by the cooking. Fed him some chicken scraps (well away from the van) got a few pics.Very cute, no smell.


Continued the next day, seemed to be holding up, as long as I kept lights/wipers off, etc. Made Cape Cod, searched for garage to install alt. Tough sell on a Saturday at noon. Stumbled on to a Benz mechanic; Peter at Euro-Classics, 215 Underpass Rd. Brewster, MA (508) 896-1880. No signs, just an acre of classic MBs slowly returning to earth. Real nice 190E cabriolet for sale. Peter's an older German guy who took pity on me. He had to weld the lower bracket back together where it was cracked in two. The upper was cracked at the bolt hole also, but we judged it ok for service. Any other service station, and I would have been there overnight. 2hrs labor @ $65/hr.


Then on the way home, pouring rain, a horrible intermittent squalling noise started coming from the engine compt.... I didn't even want to look, I just kept going till we got home.  The water pump is failing, noise was the pulley wobbling and hitting the A/C belt. Tensioning the belt for the alt must have been the last straw for the pump bearing.


Holding my breath, waiting to see what's next.


Jerry McCavitt


'86 Syncro GL 15"/Betts/OME






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