Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 12:44:50 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: What do I need?
In-Reply-To: <699b6e3f0711241218v78be93ecw66258c904a7d9065@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi Patti, welcome to a small club of Vanagon owners who are experiencing
pretty darn poor mileage for no known reason. We feel your pain. My 1984
Westy achieves a mighty 15.5 mpg on the highway, while others with the
same vehicle type get two to three more miles per gallon. My city driving
is more like 11 mpg. I get about 240 miles per tank on the highway.
Many of the group's list contributors have offered suggestions for things
I should consider (see http://camping.elliott.googlepages.com/poormileage
for some of the things I've looked at). No explanation for the poor
mileage has been found yet.
But more than one list contributor has been pushing me to get my wheel
alignment checked. I noticed uneven front tire wear last January, so bad
that I had to take my van to a shop where the fellow spotted worn out
upper ball joints, and swapped the unworn rear tires for the front so I
could get home. But even after replacing the ball joints, the front tires
started showing the same wear pattern, so I took the darn van to an
alignment shop last week.
Of the 14 measurements that their system made (caster, camber, toe, and
others), my van was out of range on nine of them. So they adjusted
everything -- everything except rear camber, said it's not adjustable.
Given the tire wear, a certain percentage of engine power has been
consumed scrubbing rubber off the tires. So next week I'm going on a trip
on which the mileage has been previously measured. If the problem has been
wheel alignment, I'll know it.
Fingers crossed!
Maybe there's something on my poor mileage page that will explain your
fuel consumption. Pretty much everything that anyone has suggested is there.
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
On 11/24/2007 12:18 PM PB wrote:
> Would I need new shocks, a wheel upgrade to 16" or both? I have to SLOWLY
> creep out of my normal driveway into the street, as if I'm driving on
> eggshells in order to avoid hitting the street with my front bumper. This
> is not a steep driveway at all.
>
> Another question: with local driving - no freeway, I have a range of 169
> miles on a tankful of gas. That seems extremely low. With freeway driving,
> my range increases to 189 - 200 miles. Since I live only 3 miles from my
> job, I don't do much freeway driving. What's this all about?
>
> Thanks
> Patti
> Still very much a newbie
> 90 Westy automatic