Date:         Sun, 2 May 2010 18:55:12 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      What a great thing the Vanagon List is...saved me a big hassel
              today...long boring story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

  Some time back someone posted about 'rescue tape' or 'silicone tape' or
'mir-a farkin' somekinda extra cool tape' ...Supposedly able to patch almost
anything or insluate wires... all kinds of stuff.  I thought that seemed
like a good think to put into my traveling tool kit, after reading up on it
and seeing all kinds of testimonials about how it actually does work.  So I
got some, I've tossed the packing and the sales receipt...but it was
expensive..some 'deal'..."buy one roll for $19 and get two more free, just
pay $15 for shipping" bla blah!
  Well, I bought some anyway and have used a little to patch some electrical
cords and put a chafe guard on a fuel line hose...It seemed to work.  I
figured...Have that tape in the van, along with a couple of various-sized
hose barbs and some extra clamps.  There is no way I could find storage to
have a spare for every Vanagon specific hose...so the tape....
  Today, I used it and it worked like a charm...on a pretty difficult hose.

 I have a faulty headgasket on my inline VW four motor.  I am waiting for
the replacment to arrive.  I am still driving the van, just watching the
cooling system and if need be, I bleed it...Done it twice in two tanks of
fuel...about 600 miles of driving.
  I went around Mt Hood today to a bike race, about 100 miles away near
Estacada, Or..Took a couple of jugs of water along and my tools (and my
tape).  No problems going up over Timberline pass but on the return..I
started getting cold air from the heater and the temp gauge climbed...pulled
right over with a cloud of steam coming from the rear hatch vents...Uh
oh!....To ad insult to injury, one of my rear tires was going flat..(turns
out it got punctured by an arrowhead-shaped volcanic cinder, the stuff they
use around here for traction on busy highways)
   So I toss all my bicycle wheels and gear outside and pull the
front grill, thinking..."bleed this van...I do it with a funnel and a piece
of steel tubing into the radiator bleed screw.  start filling what I thought
was an air bubble, but I pour about a gallon and it never gets full....Then
I spy a stream of water coming out by the left rear wheel...the flat
one...(something went my way)
   So I pull the wheel and toss my blanket into the mud I'd created under
there and there is this oddly configured hose coming from an outlet of the
head and going into the rear heater.  Put my channel locks on the clamp and
she pops right off..big split in the hose, right where the hose is molded
down from big to small....Kinda trumpet-shaped with a dog-leg and then it
hooks into the Vanagon hosesystem of the chassis...
  Cut to the chase...I wrapped it with that silicone tape, re-filled the
cooling system with the water I had, turned down an offer of help from a bay
window van guy who stopped to see if I needed anything, and went right off
again....thinking..."Will this stuff actually keep the water in?  Aren't I
supposed to wait while it 'bonds' or something?"  Well I blasted up
Interstate 84 going about 65mph with my eye on the mirror and the temp
gauge...She held just fine...
  So, List...good call on that "rescue tape" hint...

  Don Hanson