Date:         Sat, 8 Jul 2006 19:49:28 -0700
Reply-To:     BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BA <oddstray@ODDSTRAY.COM>
Subject:      Re: Just how far in over my head am I? (long)
In-Reply-To:  <6da579340607080844v5a2f1f0cic635d606e50e60dd@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On Sat, 8 Jul 2006 08:44:33 -0700, you wrote:

>> So what's the bottom line - will I ever be able to
>> truly relax and have miles of trouble and worry free
>> driving, or is something always gong to need fixing?
>>
>
>Well...I'd say what happens eventually is you get to a point where it's a
>little of both. In the beginning, pretty much everyone gets a little
>panicked by all the money they end up throwing down the rathole just to turn
>a typical (ab)used into a trustworthy vehicle....
>
>Of course it's always easier to not worry when you've got dull, dependable
>car to fall back on when the Vanagon needs something. I have a 94 Honda
>Civic. I hate it because its a noisy, uncomfortable, soulless roller skate,
>but it never needs any repair and it get 30mpg.


We had a Serious Moment of Reflection this last weekend.  We spent
June 30 in Erendira Mexico.  We had planned a night at Erendira,
another night at Santo Tomas, and a third night in the Valle de
Guadalupe.

We arrived at Erendira in fine spirits.  Decided to move to a
different site at the campground (Malibu Beach Sur).  But ... the van
wouldn't start!  We could hear the solenoid clicking.  We'd recently
had a rebuilt starter, and S gave it a few whacks with a hammer to no
avail.  Hmmmm ....   Well, we easily found a half-dozen volunteers to
give us a push-start [more on that later].

We stayed overnight and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Possible more than
usual, since we interacted more with our co-campers.  Later that
afternoon, we were trying to troubleshoot the problem.  S stuck his
head under the engine and asked me to turn the key in the ignition.

It started!!!!

Hmmm .... "thermal effects", thought I.

Anyhow.  Next day we headed back to Santo Tomas.  Stalled just outside
the gate of that campground.  Luckily they had a (we were warned
about) steep driveway.  We persuaded them to let us use their driveway
for a quick "push" start.  But they wanted a minimum two nights' fee,
and it was packed and noisy so we declined.

Went on to our planned third-night site.  This was at Rancho Sordo
Mudo.  It's the front yard of a school for deaf kids.  The yard was
quite nice.  And deserted.  And windy ... and the wind was *hot*!  So
we had lunch and decided we couldn't justify sleeping overnight there.
Luckily S had found us a slight downhill to park at, so I managed to
push enough to get us a start.

We found ourselves in line at the border crossing in Tecate.  Our
engine fan went into "crazy overtime" mode since it was hot weather
and we needed a spell of AC from time-to-time.  Just ahead of the
border, on a slight uphill ...

... the engine died.  :-o

As expected, the folks in line behind us were Royally Annoyed.  S
asked for help getting a push start.  This is interesting ... the
volunteers were:  (1) myself  (2) and older gringo lady (3) a younger
hispanic lady, who got out of her car shouting to her companion
something like, "for heaven sakes ... he just needs a push!", and
(finally!) (4) a hispanic youngish guy.  This says something about the
manners of gringos.  Especially male gringos.  And what it says isn't
very complimentary!!!

Anyroadup, the four of us managed to push just fast enough for S to
snap it into gear and get us re-started.


As it turns out, the "rebuilt" starter we'd most recently had
installed turned out to be a half@ssed partially rebuilt starter (the
stuff that looked 'old' got rebuilt and the rest was just left).  S
says he's astonished we even made it home.  And we've been having
words with our mechanic to pass on to the place where he got that
allegedly-rebuilt starter!!!


But the ultimate moral of this tale is ... at some point we seriously
wondered whether this sort of stuff was "worth it".  S came up with a
(I think brilliant) criterion.  He said that as long as it enables us
to go to places we wouldn't otherwise go to, then it's all worth it.
If it ever reaches the point where it impedes us from going someplace,
that's the time to replace it with something else.


B(&S)
'87 Westy 'Esmerelda Blanc'
SoCal