Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 21:07:26 -0500
Reply-To: pete or nancy owsianowski <pnocean@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: pete or nancy owsianowski <pnocean@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: First Long Drive, some observations
In-Reply-To: <C07C554C.7E7C%robertmstewart@mac.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
I have never seen 80 mph in 4 years of Vanagonning...
Pete
'87 Westy "Joe's Van"
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'77 Westy "Barnacle Bus"
> Hello to everyone,
>
> So I just took my 88 Auto Wolfsburg van that I purchased in January from
> upstate NY on itıs first long trip. I drove from Long Beach Long Island just
> past Middletown NY, basically a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive. The week before I
> attempted this trip and uncovered a damaged coolant pipe that forced a
> coolant blowout 30 miles away from Long Beach which cost me $85 dollars in
> Flatbed fees and $200 dollars in mechanic and parts fees. So this trip was a
> trial test of the vanıs ability to take a nice drive. I am happy to say it
> made there and back without a problem doing at max 80mph on the highway.
>
> A couple of issues though,... I suspect that the speedometer may be 5mph
> higher than actual speed is this normal? It has the stock size tires with
> alloy wheels.
>
> The ability to climb hills is weak, at best I can get her to do 45-55mph on
> any kind of relative incline, steep or not, is this normal? It seems to hang
> at around 3,000 rpm no higher, and giving it more gas seems not to do very
> much. On super steep hills in the countryside it did pretty well at lower
> speeds, and the transmission seems to shift pretty smooth, I was just
> wondering if others experienced this speed issue on rural route/highway
> hills at high speed?
>
> Next, when I reached my location after driving for 3 hours I am about to
> pull in, and all of sudden it stalls! I put it in park, and turns over no
> problem and continue to drive for another 5 minutes to my location without
> issue. What happened here? The O2 sensor is new, could I have an AFM
> problem?
>
> Last thing, a few weeks ago I wrote in about the accelerator pedal feeling
> as though it was falling off, well I checked it and the previous owner had
> tried to epoxy something to it. I took the lists suggestion and used some
> screws and bolted it down to the floor and that worked but while driving it
> seemed to me that pedal was hard to push down at times, does a cable or
> something need to be greased? Or lubricated with oil? It just does not feel
> smooth feeling when pressing down on the accelerator compared to modern
> cars. It this something I need to get used to?
>
> Thanks for your feedback in advance!
>
> Regards to all,
>
> Rob
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