Date: Mon, 16 May 2005 16:17:05 +0000
Reply-To: Robert Rountree <syncro87@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Rountree <syncro87@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Mixed replys (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Mixed bag.
just to cover a few recent questions with my large sloppy broad brush like
atti-dude.
Propane,
Like water, when ya put too much in your glass it overflows. It's a physics
thing, like gravity don't bend or mess with it if you're not good at that
kind of thing.
Tail Lights,
The regular running light bulbs seem fine with me, but I use the extra
strength 50watt halogen back up bulbs. I find they really help in dark
places, like the woods, lighting up behind a van that's known for it's lack
of visibility traversing de derriere. And yes I know some think that if you
leave them on for long periods you might "melt you sockets"... so like the
Dr. says when you tell him "it hurts when I do this"... well.....don't do
that!
Front end creaking,
also sometimes maybe a thumping while creeping along or uneven ground...
classic control arm bushings sounds.. If you can live with the squeaky
sounds, you can live with the bushings until your front end starts getting
sloppy and out of line..... then denial takes on a whole new dynamic.... I
would expound more on this but I'm in my own state of denial about this
pending problem... can you spell procrastinater Rob?
Viscous Coupling
Don't we wish all good couplings were?...a Syncro is sort of AWD... 2 common
problems with the lock-up not working are.... #1 somewhere in the vacuum
line from the switch below the dash back to the attentunator, there is an
air leak (check your balls..no really, you have 3:^)... #2 and the most
common problem, the Attentuator itself is stuck (usually rusted in place)..
we hope open... believe me ya'd know if it was stuck locked on.
What octane fuel,
I run regular in the flat lands and add higher octane as I go higher... the
higher octane stops the pinging & knocking up steep passes. But sometimes
when you stop hot, it will vapor lock a bit with high octane and once you
restart you'll have to clear the bubbles out of the line with some uneven
idleing.... I also add fuel injector cleaner about say every 6th tank... but
not into a full tank. I add the cleaner near the bottom quarter of the tank,
drive a bit, then fill up...
Service? station culture.
I remember once in 1967 while going to Calif. to see Monterey Pop, I was
getting my new Karman Gia filled up at the premier corporate flagship Shell
station in Dallas Tx.... I paid .23 cents a gallon... four guys in shell
orange monkey suits came out and swarmed my car, washing my windshield,
checking the oil and all fluids, topping up my window washer tank, topping
up my tire air pressure, and wiping down my lights.... you have to get a
deluxe oil change to get half of that service now....actually I don't let
anyone change my syncro's oil but me, and I always pump my own gas......
Until I got to Oregon..... Big sign sayings something like... You can not
TOUCH the gas pumps... it's against the law and you'll be arrested.. so I
get out and walk back around to MY gas filler cap.. The pump Guy who looks
really busy and stressed, starts yelling at me.. You can NOT Pump your own
gas.. get away from YOUR van!!!... So I say to him.. would you like for ME
to unlock MY filler so YOU can pump YOUR gas into MY van? ..oh yeah... I
do... but now because this guy's yelling at me, I'm not going to tell him
that to get gas in fast and evenly you need to hold the hose almost parallel
with the body with the hose pointing back....... or as I was enjoying
watching him painfully learn, it just keeps clicking off.... But No! No! No!
I did not touch!!!.....Do they also spank a lot in Oregon?......... Another
Service? station story....Montana.. I do a real nice full scale clean up of
my van at a coin wash in Billings. I then head up towards the Beartooth Pass
over into Yellowstone and the surrounding Nat'l forest ...one Great area...
anyway in Red Lodge I think, I'm looking at looming big mtns ahead and I
whip into a place with gas pumps (notice I didn't say service) and figure
I'll top up with anti knock high test premium to make the uphill grade....
so this chick... lets call her, guess how many hidden tattoos I have Betty.
well Betty asks... what's it gonna be podna ? do you or the windshield?...
and I say neither thank you Betty and what lovely sharp teeth and kitty like
claws you have... well Betty doesn't hear my reply and takes out one of the
ugliest, dirtiest, slimiest, squeegees you've ever seen and starts making
the biggest mess of my front end and window... and she doesn't understand
why I'm not happy with her original fermented bug slime paint job all over
my front end..... service stations.. now there is a modern oxymoron.
Later Vanagonuts
RR
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