Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:09:22 -0400
Reply-To: Joseph Doré <josephpdore@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joseph Doré <josephpdore@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Our new 1982 A-C M/T Vanagon/Westfalia. Questions and concerns.
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Hi all.
Just subscribed to the list a few days ago and I've really enjoyed
reading the series of posts so far. It's really great to hear stories
from people with the same unique vehicle.
Anyhow. I'll get to it:
My wife and I bought our very first VW camper just a few weeks ago.
It's in beautiful condition but I guess the previous owner was not too
mechanically inclined, so I (who is mechanically inclined but is a far
far cry from being an auto mechanic) have found quite a few things
that need attention over the last few weeks. Some little things like
the exterior hose/tank/electrical covers being velcroed shut instead
of just tensioning and installing the spring properly, or not running
the speaker wires to the back after having redone/oil sprayed the
interior. Little things like that are annoying but no big deal.
Unfortunately I've found some other more serious problems as well.
After a couple of days of driving, the oil pressure warning lamp began
to illuminate faintly at high RPM just before changing gears. Then a
few days later it would do the same but begin to stay illuminated
faintly while cruising at 100km/h (if I had been driving during the
day I would not have been able to see the light). So I did some
research and the consensus seems to be that only Mann oh Mahle oil
filters should be run on an air-cooled VW and the oil of choice for
the fall season would be a 20W50 conventional oil. So I found a repair
shop that stocks some air-cooled parts and got a Mann filter from them
and picked up some good quality 20W50 and changed the oil yesterday.
Nice new filter, nice fresh oil, then took her for a spin and I was
shocked to see the oil pressure warning lamp coming on sooner and more
frequently than before! I'm afraid to drive it now. Any ideas?
Next thing I noticed was a rattling sound in the front passenger
side. Every time we hit some good cracks or potholes it sounded like
metal on metal rattling. I brought it in to Mufflerman (I've had
great success with them and my '01 Honda) and asked them to look over
the front end suspension. They found nothing wrong and said it must
be the spare tire carrier. So I padded the spare tire above and below
to test it out and the rattle was still there. So yesterday, after
changing the oil, while I had access to a pit, I inspected the front
end for myself and found (without any knowledge of suspension
components) a sway bar linkage broken just above the lower bushing and
the broken linkage has spun backwards and has been rattling against
the coil spring this whole time! So my question now is, where do I
find a sway bar linkage? Or does it need a whole new sway bar? I can't
figure out how the linkage would ever be removed/installed onto the
sway bar.
Next thing is my back-up light switch is oozing transmission fluid and
leaving annoying oil stains on my driveway. I ordered a switch from
the repair shop but they gave me the wrong one (Looks like the one for
a Rabbit). So I still need to exchange that for the right one before
I can resolve that problem.
Basically, this all leads me to one question: Where can I find Vanagon
parts in Canada without having to travel 2 hours to the specialty auto
repair shop or waiting 3 weeks and paying ridiculous import fees on
parts from the U.S.? The driving season is short enough in Canada, it
would be a shame to spend too much of it on repairs instead of travel.
Thanks!
Joe