Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 10:30:04 -0400
Reply-To: Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: VW Dealer Mechanic for a day (a little long)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Well it had to happen sometime. Our local VW dealership got in a '91
Vanagon to do a clutch replacement. The mechanic who got this job was
affectionately known as "Hack" by his fellow mechs. He decided the easiest
way to replace the clutch was to pull the engine (of course, that pesky
transmission is such a pain). He found that the head gaskets were leaking
when he pulled the motor and so he replaced these as well. Then he promptly
quit/was fired/got hurt (I heard several different stories). Since this
particular dealer did not have it's VW franchise until the middle '90s they
not only did not have any mechanics that knew how to work on Vanagons, but
they also didn't even have a factory manual for the van. After calling me a
few times to ask, "What is the firing order for the spark plugs, etc" they
finally asked me to come up to the dealership and fix the van. I was
waiting on a couple of parts to finish the guy's van that is here now, and
so I decided to take them up on thier generous offer (if I told you how much
they agreed to pay me from the time I left my house until the time I
returned home (45 mins each way) you would agree that it was generous).
They were at the end of thier rope with this Vanagon and could not get it to
run.
I went up yesterday and I found a van engine that was just thrown in without
being properly installed. I went around connecting everything in the proper
manner. Hooked up the grounding wires for the engine harness on the motor,
and plugged up the oil filler tube with a rag temporarily(plastic part was
MIA). The van started right up and after timing it, it ran pretty good.
There is some lifter clatter, but this may go away with time. They were
happy with my work, and I got to be a "Certifiable VW Mechanic" for a day.
Everyone in the shop thought I was crazy. They only like to work on the
newer VWs that have computers that spit out error codes. They had a really
cool engine code machine that is basically a small Tablet computer with
touchscreen (about the size of a notebook screen but a little thicker). It
is running some version of Windows, and VWs own Vag-Com software. It was
cool, I want one!
The guy next to me was getting a brand new Golf ready to sell. I noticed he
was letting air out of the tires. I asked about it and he said that they
come on the boat with 45psi in the tires, but they are only supposed to have
around 35psi normally so they have to let the air out. I tried to catch
some for those folks who have to have "Factory VW Air" for thier tires but
didn't have a suitable container:-)
I also noticed the cool solar panels that come with all of the new VWs.
Someone has posted about them before. They are a small panel about 12"x12"
square. They attach to the front window by four suction cups and have a
wire that terminates in a plug for the cigarette lighter. Apparently VW was
having problems with the batteries in the cars dying in shipping. They
found that these panels were cheaper than buying new batteries. I asked the
service manager about the panels out of curiosity and his reply was "How
many do you want?"
Apparantly many of the car buyers don't care if they get these panels or not
(they are supposed to come with new VWs). So if the customer doesn't want
it, these folks keep them. He gave me one last night and it is cool. I am
going to put it in my camper to keep the battery up when I am not using it
and also when we are camping. You can buy these from the dealer for around
$68 or if you are friendly with your dealer you might just ask about them
the next time you are there (they may have a stack cluttering up thier
office).
Just thought I would share.
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-327-4936
Fax: (856)-327-2242
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