Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 11:03:14 -0700
Reply-To: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Another Burning Van!
In-Reply-To: <022d01c9e33c$cccd2870$6801a8c0@PROSPERITY>
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On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Scott Daniel -
Turbovans<scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
> my thoughts about 'changing fuel lines' .......
> personally, I'd amend that to 'check your fuel lines' .........
> which is what I do, on the either or so vanagons I'm restoring , and of
> course I replace stuff that's tired or worn, or not of high quality.
> but due to two factors ..........
> quality of materials used, and workmanship .......sometimes replacing fuel
> hoses INCREASES chances of a fuel-line induced fire .
....
> And ............the OTHER FIRE HAZZARD ...........and rather common, is
> electrically caused fires.
> At the minimum you should have two things.........
> a fire extinquisher, and a FAST way to disconnect the battery or batteries.
> Entire vanagons have burnt to a crisp from shorting out wires......
> non-stock ones I might add. The stock wiring is pretty well fused protected,
> though not infallible. It's the aftermarket and back yard hack work
> that'll get ya there........messy sound system wiring .
> Some peole do not realize that if you run a hot battery wire 6 feet, then
> fuse it ...........the entire 6 foot run is unfused and can short and cause
> a fire.
> This happened to pretty nice 85 Vanagon I have now ........
> guy was driving along, noticed smoke in the back.......pulled
> over............the rear upholstery caught on fire .......no fire
> extinquisher...........no way to get the battery disconencted quickly.....or
> it didn't occur to him to do that ............he called 911, and waited
> while his van burnt to nothing. - al for lack of .......
> proper fusing on the stereo/booster amp wires under the back seat , no
> extinquisher on board, and no way to disconnect the batterry quickly or
> easily.
When I think back to my first days with my '81 air cooled engine, I
shudder to think I drove it any distance at all with the fuel lines
that were in place. Had it checked out by a reputable shop before
purchase, but no mention of fuel line quality. Though in hindisight
the lines weren't cracking, they did have what appeared to be the
original crimped type connectors on hoses to FI's. I can only assume
they were original. Thanks to this list, I did the job.
Fast forward to what I've learned since then, if I ever get another
Vanagon, unless I am *certain* job was done recently by a quality
shop, first job, replace FI hoses.
As for the owner doing the work, and increasing odds of a leak, I
totally see what you mean. To this day, not entirely sure as to the
"why", but on one union, a new hose leaked at steel line between
injector and hose. Real tiny leak. Like a tiny stain. Noticed it while
static timing engine at a CG.
As for cut off switch at battery, that sounds like a really useful
safety upgrade. Especially if one just bought a Vanagon. (I see email
threads from time to time of people complaining about PO's wiring
work)
I imagine a marine type switch would suffice? Likely 2 if one using an
aux. battery?
To simplify things, could one install it at ground strap(s) to battery(s)?
Neil.
--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
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