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Date:         Wed, 6 Sep 2006 21:34:26 -0400
Reply-To:     Victor Spinetti <vspinx2@NETZERO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Victor Spinetti <vspinx2@NETZERO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Blinking coolant level light

I realize that I'm coming in the middle of this disciussion but I could not hold myself back. I've been fixing VW vans since 1970, for about 28 of those years people have paid me to do it & I went to many of the VW service schools in the '70's. I've been around & around with the parts quality issue & here is another thing to think about. Most car makers (VW included) do not make all their own parts. They buy them from "vendors". The maker (hereafter referred to as VW) designs the van & figures out what they need to make it work, in this case a coolant level warning light "relay". VW figures out what the "relay" is supposed to do & contacts electronics makers to have it built. When the "relays" are made they get some sort of testing to see if they will work as originally intended. Then they are installed on the vans. Now comes a crucial point, suppose that after a while that many vans are returning to the dealers with always blinking coolant warning lights. Eventually the problem is traced to the "relay" & a new design is created. The new "relays" fix the problem, but what happens to all the "old" ones on the shelves at parts depts. & warehouses? Ideally they would be "recycled" & not used, but what if they get wholesaled out the back door? After all some of them worked some of the time. So that less expensive part you might have bought could be less than ideal in function even if it has an OEM logo & part # on it!


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