Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 13:27:15 -0600
Reply-To: Paul & Becky Oliver <oliver8@TDS.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Paul & Becky Oliver <oliver8@TDS.NET>
Subject: Re: STRANDED: L.A. Vanagon Syndrome!!!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
The first thing I would tell him, is to get a phillips screw driver, remove
the fuse box and look at all the wires and their contacts. Look for burnt or
melted wires and bad connectors. Wire clips that have a poor contact will
heat up and expand thus, losing their connection until they cool off
(sometimes only seconds), than work fine again. Over time they may build up
a kind of "crust" in the joint that will not let electricity flow through
it.
I had this problem for about 8 months until a wire burned off completely and
I had to go hunting for the problem. Some new wires, cleaned connections and
it's never started or run this well before.
Last owner replaced alternator twice and starter a couple of times. I
believe the fuse box connections were all that was ever wrong. When he sold
it to me, he thought the alternator was going out again and was tired of
replacing it.
Won't hurt for him to look and he doesn't need meters or such knowledge to
be able to see burnt or melted wires. Connectors that have been hot will
have a darker color than the rest. If it looks burnt, black or melted wires,
replace or clean and soldier joints if need be.
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Fox" <afox@CNR.COLOSTATE.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:34 PM
Subject: STRANDED: L.A. Vanagon Syndrome!!!
> My buddy, Tommy Drum a fellow listee is stranded in Los Angeles, CA with
> what sounds like a bad case of Vanagon Syndrome. His van sharply cuts out
> and dies often while driving, he pulls over turns it off and restarts it
> and it runs fine for awhile then does it again.
>
> He does not have the skills (wiring, multimeter) to diagnose/fix the
> problem himself. Can anyone recommend a repair shop in the LA area who
> has dealt with vanagon syndrom before and can help my buddy? Or are there
> any kind souls in the LA area who have tackled this problem before and
> would be willing to help him, im sure he could offer something nice in
> return? I warned him against bringing it to a repair shop which has not
> dealt with vanagon syndrome before because I can see him getting charged
> up the yin yang in labor for unfruitful diagnostics.
>
> Please email me with any information and I will relay it to him via
> telephone.
>
> Thanks very much in advance!
>
> Andrew Fox on behalf of Tommy Drum
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