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Date:         Mon, 9 Jun 2003 20:34:35 -0700
Reply-To:     Martinez <mart1nez@PACBELL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Martinez <mart1nez@PACBELL.NET>
Subject:      fuming battery
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Took my new (to me) 85 Vanagon Weekender (no fridge) for a short tune-up
camping trip over the weekend.  Left the San Francisco bay area on a Friday
around 3:00 PM - not early enough, soon found myself in stop and go traffic
as I worked my way north.  About an hour and a half into the trip (60 miles,
the longest and farthest I've driven this van)  my daughter asks me why
smoke is coming from behind my seat - now I've taught her to be more
respectful than that so I knew there was trouble.  Sure enough, the battery
was very hot and venting steam.  The battery was one of those maintenance
free die-hards.  Checked all the leads and made sure nothing was shorting
the terminals together and started down the road and it happened again.


I pulled into a handy FLAPS and replaced the battery and completed my trip
uneventfully.


So my question are:


Could it really have been a bad battery (I've never seen one fail like
that)?


My bus has two batteries (the smoker was under the drivers side) does that
info help in the post-mortem?  Which is the main and which the auxiliary?


Could I have done damage just running on the battery below the passenger
seat?


Can I use just a simple amp meter to check the output from my alternator?
(The manual speaks of some fancy test set)


Any words of wisdom clues as to what to check?


I'm trying to convince my wife this Vanagon can be her daily driver (so I
can keep my '70 bay westy) so I need to make it dependable and inspire some
confidence in her (the van not the wife)


Thanks for your time,


Juan








----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Stevens" <mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2003 08:49 PM
Subject: 84-headlights moisture




> I recently took my headlights off to clean out the haze and fogginess
> deposited inside. I washed them out with dish soap, rinsed them well, put
> alcohol in them and swished it around, set them in the sun for most of the
> day so they'd dry out well and put them back on. Worked well.
> Bob Stevens
>
> http://groups.msn.com/BobsPhotoShare
>
>
> > E-mail message
> >
> > Both of my headlights have moisture inside...how do I get this moisture
> > out?
> >
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