Date:         Mon, 8 Sep 2003 09:09:50 -0700
Reply-To:     laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Delanty <laurasdog@WEIRDSTUFFWEMAKE.COM>
Subject:      Re: 2 Westy questions
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Roger wrote:
>I'm a happy owner of a 'new' 87 Westy. I've got a couple questions for you:

[giggle] Only a couple of questions? You must have JUST got it! (-:

>1. 2nd battery, mine already had one installed. It has a battery
>behind/under the passenger seat and another under the rear seat. It also has
>a relay behind/under the driver's seat. How can I tell if these batteries
>are wired correctly so that when camping and running lights, etc. I do not
>run down my starting battery?

Start the engine, and take a good voltmeter and check the charging voltage
of each battery with the engine running. They should both read well above
13.2 volts. (13.5 -14 hopefully) This verifies that BOTH batteries are being
charged when the engine is running. Now find that relay under the seat
and pull the BLUE wire off of it. This wire comes from the alternator, and
provides power to energize the relay coil only when the alternator is charging.
So remove the wire from the relay (which should turn the relay off) and
check the 2 battery voltages again. The main battery (under the passenger
seat should still read 13.5-14 volts, but the rear battery should drop down
to under 13 volts, as it should no longer be charging with the relay
disconnected.
You've just verified that the charging system is working on both batteries
and that they are disconnected from each other when relay is not energized.

Now with the engine OFF, disconnect the ground cable from the main
(front) battery and turn on each of your house lights and/or accessories.
If they all work, then they are indeed wired to the house battery and not
the starting battery. Reconnect the main battery ground and disconnect.
the house battery ground. None of your house lights or accessories
work now, right?

If you passed all those tests, then you should be good to go. If not then
further investigation may be necessary...

>2. What do people use to clean/flush out the drinking water system? I just
>got mine working, and I believe it hasn't been used for many a year. I
>filled the tank to test the system & discovered I needed to replace the
>pump. I left the water in there and 5 days later I got my replacement pump.
>When installing it I noticed that the old pump and hose were slimy to the
>touch. I'm pretty reluctant to drink out of there until I clean it up. Any
>suggestions/comments?

Remove the screw cap from the top of the tank, accessible through the
false floor in the bottom of the rear flat cupboard. You can get your arm
inside the tank to clean it. If you work out or have thick arms, you may
need to find a skinnier friend to help...
You can scrub it out pretty good that way. There's a drain on the tank
too, so crawl under the bus and remove it and scrub and flush to your
hearts content. Inspect the plastic fill and pump lines also. Replace
them if they are gross. Mine were disgusting and black inside.
Remove the fill assembly thingies on the outside of the van and you can
fish new hoses through if you are patient. I used a hose coupling to
connect the hoses together and used the old to pull the new through.

Once it's all clean, you can add about 1/2 cup of chlorine (unscented
household bleach) to a full tank of water to sterilize it. Drive around
with the chlorine mix for a day to slosh it around good, and also run
the faucet a little once in a while to get some of the chlorine juice
flushed through the lines, pump and faucet.
Drain the tank again and flush with good clean water, running the
faucet for awhile to flush it all out.

Refill with good clean water and enjoy!

Steve
EJ22 -> '86 Westy "Escape Pod"