> So what's the "unhealthiest" thing(s) you've done, as > regards your Vanagon, to keep it running, get it running, come to > peace with it, make amends with it, or just "Keep The Love Alive"? > Tasted every fluid on board, sometimes intentionally (to ID a > puddle), sometimes unintentionally (blorp! drip right in the > mouth!), including the grand old master of disgusting tasting > automotive fluids, 90 weight gear oil from the differential.
I'll bet I tasted a fluid you didn't. Driving in my '77 Westy through Nowhere, West Virginia some years ago, I felt a thump and pulled over on the interstate ... to find that the tread on my Continental tire had peeled off and been left somewhere down the road. (It was a retread, unbeknownst to me.) The tire was still holding air - it just had no tread section at all, and looked like a racing slick! It was about at that point that I also noticed some liquid dripping from the engine compartment. It was clear, so it couldn't be oil (as a bus owner I knew very well what dripping oil looked like). Couldn't be water either, since this Westy was aircooled. So, like an idiot, I touched my finger to it and tasted it. It was battery acid. Turns out that before bouncing merrily down the road behind me, the tread from my tire had punctured the bottom of my bus, the battery tray, and the bottom of the battery itself. Mmm-mmm good!! We pop-started my bus and drove a mile down the shoulder of the road on our new racing slick to a nearby exit, figuring it was a safer place to change a tire and hoping there was somewhere nearby that sold batteries. Lo and behold, right at the end of the exit ramp was a store called Battery Warehouse! - Ron Salmon The Bus Depot, Inc. www.busdepot.com (215) 234-VWVW _____________________________________________ Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT |
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