Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 23:50:49 -0800
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: spent the day under my van
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
dear others
i spent the day doing some maintenance in preparation for the impending
journey east to ohio from bc
because this vanagon is a 89 OEM diesel from germany there are a few
differneces that must be addressed on the learning curve
with trusty bently and a haynes for 1983 diesel rabbit and a Parts
Catalougue from the parts place in michigan
these three books are my reference tools and an oil dipped mechanical genius
as my working guide ...
so the other day my tach stopped working due to alternator belt slippage ...
today was the first opportunity i had to address this ...
this is the third time i have had to replace this belt in 3 years .. the
other two times were on the road oe more to the point in a parking lot once
in salinas, and once in a car wash in the dalles, oregon
the last time it was cold and windy and took me only a couple of hours ...
today .. i had the advantage of a hoist today ..and as we inspected the jobs
incremental progress my guide advised me to remove the complicated muffler
section to see if i gained better access...
this suggestion after a discussion about how easy it used to be to work on
the older bays and by removing all the body cowling ...
well removal of the muffler was like the unveiling of a maiden ... full free
unfettered access to the entire underside ... of the engine .. how happy
was i ...
changed the belt in jig time with out having to remove the idler pulley ..
which is a hugely hard thing to do ...
also ben having an issue with glow plugs not working and the work around was
a pain ... so we opened up the box on the firewall that all the wires run
into and there are a couple of relays in there ..
went to change the potentially offending one (thanks scott daniel) when we
noticed there is a fusible link on the buss .. it had failed ( by which i
mean worked ...as it was broken)
Does anyone know what metal that link might be made from ... felt like a
cross between aluminum and brass ... very soft ...
we replaced with a piece of brass wire after some looking in the reference
books which suggested the fusible link was 50 amp ...
i also foinf an interesting configuration of pipes that appear to be part of
the turbo ... i will send a picture tomorrow to get some clarification or
identity or some sort for more knowledgeable opinion on ...
my freind indicated to me this might be some sort of air pipe that should be
capped as it appeared to be on the outlet side of the turbo ...
a fun day indeed ... tomorrow i will install the bumper (thanks tom stone)
...
button up the rest of the under the engine tin (of which there is a lot ) 3
pieces ... one small scoop to cool the turbo .. a large pan that dampens the
sound and protects against road sludge and a small piece along the muffler
to to shield the v belts
i am still on the hunt for a belt that is only 9 mm wide and yet long enough
to service the alternator ... the 11 mm wide one i got today rides a little
high and will start to slip on a long journey
hmmm a little more dirt and grease ...
then on the road again :)
yours
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
----------------------------------------------------------
Explore printed work at: http://www.prliving.ca/
View the growing list of video work at:
http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners
and ... older work at
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7135104650374818257
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3259745150182742364
