Date:         Sat, 23 Nov 2002 17:25:06 -0500
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject:      I love this list...but way too much email...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

So, the delete key works and I've considered going off-list for a while,
but there's so much useful information here.  Thanks everyone!  First I
sign on after a long absence because my gas tank is leaking and find
everyone talking about gas tank leaks!  Have not yet been able to find
how to get the gas tank hoses . . . somebody supposedly carries them,
but I couldn't find any part number or any kind of listing for them.
(Help!)

The cold weather sets in and my van starts idling funny . . . apparently
everybody else's starts doing the same thing about the same time and
there are quite a few people on the list that know what to look for to
fix it.  Leaking vacuum hoses and poor ground connections.  Wow!
Another thing I notice when the temps drop is that my van's engine temp
needle is barely coming off of the bottom white line, much less getting
up to the LED.  This one's easy, even for an amateur like me . . . the
thermostat is probably not there or is bad.

Then the rains come . . . the van stalls on me and several people are
there to tell me that my O2 sensor is getting drenched, causing the van
to run so rich it stalls.  Is there (supposed to be) a shield that
covers this?  If not, how do you seal this connection to prevent it from
happening again?

So, what have I fixed?  None of it.  I was right in the middle of
getting ready for my 45th birthday party and disposing of my Passat*
when all this came up on the van.  What timing . . .  I finally got a
chance to get some work done on the van.  Took it in and had them change
the oil, check the brakes, rotate the tires, check all fluids, check the
thermostat.  All simple stuff, I know, and there was a time when I would
have readily done all this myself, but now I'd rather be hanging out
with friends and playing music than tinkering with my cars.  Anyway, the
thermostat was bad but of course the dealer didn't have it in stock . .
. }:^(

Well, when I take my van back in to have the thermostat replaced, I'm
going to have them replace all the rubber hoses, fuel lines, vacuum
hoses, and coolant lines, and check and clean all the ground
connections.  Should I have them put "di-electric" grease on the ground
connections?  Once that's done, we'll see how she runs . . . I suspect
superbly.

Thanks for all your help everyone,
Marc Perdue

*Re: the Passat from Hell (not Vanagon, but VW)--My 2000 Passat, bought
used with 24,xxx miles on it (yes, over warranty), had run right 3
months out of the 18 I owned it.  The VWOA service rep listened to my
tale of woe but couldn't guarantee that they could fix my bucking
problem (they'd worked on it off and on for 11 months!), so I traded it
in on a 2003 Honda Accord.  AWESOME car!!