On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 8:47 PM, al sinclair <alvanagon@gmail.com> wrote: > Our 81 vanagon had smelly little visitors living behind the dash ... the smell is astonishingly potent. > The "heater" in the front has never warmed, let alone heated, for the years > since we got the van, but the hot-air outlet between/behind the front seats > works well. (81 = aircooled engine.) The heater fan works fine, but blows > only cold, so presumably there's a blockage somewhere in the front part of > the airduct, either above the spare wheel or perhaps in the inlet into the > heater..... > The wipers are s-l-o-w. Is a new wiper motor the answer? Or does the whole > wiper mechanism get aged? The van doesn't have any significant rust, but > maybe there are rubber parts that swell and should be replaced?
The smell may be residing, in part, in what's left of the sealing foam on flaps in the heat exchange box. Since you're getting cold air up front, but heat elsewhere, sounds like a heat exchange box rebuild is needed. Since you're pulling the dash, if you have an old school 12V charge, and are savvy with electrial stuff, you can hook up the charger to the fan and check how well the flaps seal. I bet they need new foam though. Given what may be a potential mouse issue, wear a mask when pulling things apart and cleaning etc. Wipers could be slow due to electrical inefficiencies, (alt., slipping alt belt, grounds and general wiring condition etc.) or wear in wiper linkage. Carefully wiggle wipers at shaft from outside vehicle. Any play? I rebuilt my linkages entirely when I had the dash off. I found that the relay arm bushings were actually in good shape. Wear was seen at wiper shaft bushings, and at arms (can't recall right term) that connect the relay rods to the wiper shaft assembly. 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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