Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:56:49 -0800
Reply-To:     dj <djct2@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         dj <djct2@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      FW: bucking in parking lots,  motor revs up and dowm
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Pascal, hi again, Your story sounds familiar but you are a few years ahead of me. I know what you mean about the internet, I work my business all day then on the internet at night. find I haven't been getting enough sleep though. When you say "keep an eye on is your oil pressure on the 90", should I get an oil pressure gauge? I think there is just a light. What can be done if it see it go low? I also need tires on the 90. deek

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From: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) [mailto:Pascal.Giasson@gnb.ca] Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 5:19 AM To: dj Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

Hi Deek,

Wow, you have been busy! Looks like you fixed a lot of the common issues with these rigs.

I bough our 84 Westy in 2003 and I was quite intimidated by the water boxer motors at that time. Like you, the last time I seriously tinquered on cars (VW Beetles) was in my teens. I call the '84 the new campers as I was used to the Bay window campers.kind of funny calling an antique a new camper.

Anyway, through the internet and the shop manual I learned a lot and did quite a bit to it. Last year I rebuilt the top end with a lot of help/advice from people through the internet. Obviously I'm not as intimidated by it anymore. I did spend a lot of time on the internet researching the vanagon in the first few years and it is amazing what people do to help others.

I consider mine a hobby. If it were a daily driver I would likely not have it as it takes too much time and money to keep on the road. I do almost everything to it myself to keep the cost down.

I agree, they are an obsession/addiction.but they do keep the mind occupied.

The 90 and the 84 are quite different. One of the main things to keep an eye on is your oil pressure on the 90. At 150K they tend to throw a rod through the crankcase, but they should give you warning by low oil pressure. That failure is caused by the stretch type rod bolts used in the 2.1, the 1.9 did not use a stretch bolt and does not have the same problem.

Have fun!

Pascal

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From: dj [mailto:djct2@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 3:48 AM To: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

Pascal, hi, thanks again for all your help. I will try the things you say but I am kind of afraid, some of it seems over my head. When I bought this van I never imagined how much work I would be doing. I haven't done any mechanic work since my teens when I worked on Austin Healeys, I am now 62 so you can imagine. Wow it seems like there is so much to know and it all seems so over my head but I am hooked and I really love the van, I have owned a few porches when I was younger and a few vw's over the years and always loved them. Been mostly Japanese for about 15 years now. 2 88 honda accord hatchbacks, very few problems and fun to drive for a Japanese car. I never dared to go back to the german cars as I didn't have the money to pay to keep them going. Now I jumped in big time. Bought time 84 full camper for $3,500 and expected to put about $1,000-1,500 into it and then take it to maui, use it there leave it with a friend and come back when ever have a home and transportation there. I am now at about $5000 and hundreds of hours. But I have learned so much and the next time I buy one I will know what to look for. I did buy a 2nd one as I knew I didn't want to be here in s. cal with out one. Really hooked.. The other is a 90 weekender which I am having better luck with, I bought it for 3,500 because none of the interior lights worked and It had an oil leak that the owners mechanic thought needed the motor pulled to fix. I cleaned it real good and took it to the same mechanic and I found the leak and fixed it for $106. and another home mechanic spent hours in the shop manual and tracing wires and fixed all the interior lights for $60. now everything works , needs some stuff but I guess it all evened out. I got lucky. See below the list I have done on the 84. deek

buy and Install new back screen.

buy and install bushing for sliding door

install cover for sliding door

buy and install new interior light on door side

buy and install new skylight seal

buy and install new skylight arm

buy and install new window cranks

buy and install nut covers for luggage rack nuts

buy and install window screens

buy and replace kitchen light (florescent)

buy and install fan

buy and install side mirrors

Replace coolant overflow hose

Wax

Hide stuff, tools

clean fridge

resolve rough idling

buy and install aug battery

Install false bottom in storage under seat and other areas, this is to hide tools when shipping. (hope it works)

buy and install replacement seat belt passenger side, from junk yard

screen for skylight

done

buy and install tail light

Replacement panels for side door and rear hatch door made luane plywood

buy and install cover for propane vent

repair/install luggage rack

buy and install rear view mirror from junk yard, mind was all falling apart on the windshield side. Didn't notice it when buying.

new lids water and electrical inlets. These were missing, I didn't know they were supposed to be there

buy and Install new skylight lens. This was cracked and duct taped

buy and replace trans oil

oil change 2 times, first time they put in the wrong oil and heard tappets, called vw place and they said I needed 20w 50 oil. The oil change place put in 10w 30. they did the 2nd change free.

buy and replace visor clips

Fix windshied washers. They were clogged

glue door passenger panel

Install canvas patches for pop-top tent. Install strips to hold canvas to pop-top. They were missing and I didn't notice.

Fix backup lights

repair screen for pop-top

repair surface rust with POR-15 and touch up paint. I heard rust is a big problem I Hawaii and I should really take care of any before getting there

repair back heater leak

remove rusted propane tank, have it sandblasted and painted buy and install new tank fill valve and test,

get fridge working on propane, lots of work to get it going.

attach front bumper rubber piece

silicone around spray heads

buy and install bumper ends caps

have clutch master and slave cylinder replaced

tappet sounds (needed 20-50 oil)

tune up by vw shop

solar shower

flush cooling system by VW shop

tune up

buy and Install sliding door opening screen. .

Ck coolant hose leak in storage under rear seat

remove and sandblast and paint with por-15 and appliance epoxy. Tank was leaking at the valve and rusty, found out HI is very fussy about condition of propane tanks, some places wont fill them if they are more than 5 years old, others wont fill any rusty tanks.

guages working gas and temp gauges

oil change

new cat and muffler and misc repairs by VW shop

new master and slave cylinder

owner manual

shop manual

compass

inverter

remove rear bumper straighten and add new bumper end caps

buy and install new seat covers. Seat were a mess under old covers,

buy and new windshield wipers

install new fuel pump by VW shop

buy and install new rear door struts

new window cranks

re-attach front grill and paint

install second battery

battery monitor

window side screen

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From: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) [mailto:Pascal.Giasson@gnb.ca] Sent: Monday, November 24, 2008 5:26 AM To: dj Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

Hi Deek,

Sorry I did not get to my emails this weekend. Glad to hear it worked. It's a nice feeling eh! I have no problem if you use any of our correspondence.

The thing with VW mechanics is that they may not necessarily have a lot of experience with Vanagon. Also the 1.9 was only produced for two years so they likely have not seen too many of those either. That is what is so great about the internet...you can get tips from people who know these vanagon very well.

Regarding turning the big idle adjustment screw all the way in and the motor still running. From my experience that does not sound normal, it should really slow the idle down and the motor should not run very smoothly. But that could be caused by a variety of different things. All what that screw does is control the amount of air getting past the butterfly valve in the throttle body. If your throttle body is really worn then the screw might not do much as there may be air getting past the butterfly valve where it is suppose to seal on the throttle body. Similarly as your mechanic said there may be a vacuum leak. You might want to ask the question on the list and see what responses you get. Just describe what happens when you screw the idle screw in all the way.

Have you tried setting the idle as per the Bentley? It might be that the idle stabilizer is compensating for the idle screw being screwed in, but you should get some change in the idle when screwing the big idle adjusting screw in. Also, if you do try to set the idle, you will be checking your timing and if you set it to spec it will make the motor a little sluggish so most people set it a little more advanced. I think spec is 5 after top dead center (ATDC). Mine is probably set at top deal center (TDC). (there is information in the vanagon archives and on the Samba on this as well, and it is specific to the 1.9l motor. The 5 ATDC setting was to meet the emission standards)

Having said all that, if it seems to be running fine, I would not be too worried about going on your trip. You can then pick away at it and try to fine tune it latter.

Pascal

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From: dj [mailto:djct2@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 1:35 PM To: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

Pascal, I think it worked, driven some yesterday and no problem so far. Took less than 60 seconds. I will keep you posted. I will put all our correspondences together and post if you don't mind. It might help others. Really strange if this works as I had 4 different mechanics check this out, 2 were vw specialists. one said could be vacuum lines or air box and could be very expensive, he would have to keep to van maybe a few weeks and try various things could be very expensive. He diagnosed the cause by turning what I called the idle adjustment screw all they way in and said because the motor keep running it meant it was sucking air in from somewhere. 2 others said they didn't know and to wait till it go worse i went with the 4th one who said a tune up and timing adjustment should fix it. They are vw specialist. It didn't work and cost me over $350, I am sure what they did was needed but how could they fail to do this? Thanks so much. This was holding up my plans to take it to maui. If it holds for a few days I will buy my ticket. deek

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From: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) [mailto:Pascal.Giasson@gnb.ca] Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 9:29 AM To: dj Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

One thing they say to do is put some paint or something to prevent that screw from moving once it is set. I did not do that.but I intend to eventually. I thought of using some blue loctite.

Yes please let me know how you make out.

Pascal

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From: dj [mailto:djct2@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 12:38 PM To: Giasson, Pascal (DNR/MRN) Subject: RE: bucking in parking lots

Yes, found it, it says one full turn after click, I will try and let you know. Thanks,deek

CalTel Systems Dj Martin Phone: 760-712-2178 Fax: 305-418-7425

email: djct2@yahoo.com

web: www. <http://www.calteltelecom.com> calteltelecom.com

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