Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:47:50 -0700
Reply-To: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Roger Whittaker <rogerwhitt1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: New alternator in, was RE: Battery and OX light on -
In-Reply-To: <BAY113-W37AF022252736B991C6872CE640@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
dear fellow vanagoniters
just returned from a trip down to the big smoke ... vancouver ... from
powell river
vehicle up on hoist and did a once over including oil and grease etc ...
looked at this and that ... you know the usual pretrip stuff
for a variety of reasons ... i left the vanagon behind ... this time ...
our goal was to go to edmonton alberta for a quick visit with a friend .. a
10-14 hour drive from vanocuver
and then tack on the 5 + hours of ferry rides to get to vancouver ... with
my 6 months pregnant wife ...
.. so there we are moving along highway one .. our first leg is to get to
abbotsford and stay in a hotel just off the highway ...
things are going well ...
my wife says are the lights on ... i shut them off and immediately back on
to show her the difference ... traffic is very heavy .,.. miles of red tail
lights two lanes deep ahead of us
miles of headlights two lanes deep behind us ... then the radio winks out
...
wipers get slower ... it is raining hard ...
we have 3 miles to go to get to the hotel and i am seeing the dash lights
get less and less and less ...
so here i am on a road going 60 miles an hour with all systems shutting down
...pregnant wife ... pouring rain ....
i take the next exit ... there is a red light .. i stop at it and it feels
like the vehicle is failing ... we are not going to make it away from the
light ..
vehicle dies ...
i push it off the road ... actually i try to push it off ... lots of traffic
at this intersection too ... then tow guys jump out to help me push off to
the side
just as a note including the two guys who helped push to side there were
three separate people who inquired if we needed further assistance in the
time it took til BCAA arrived
dozens of cars whizzed by with out so much as a nod ...
while waiting i check the alternator for a broken wire ..all good ...
battery reads 7.4 volts on hand held meter
flashers are becoming less and less ..
wife is freaking out from too many episodes of destroyed in seconds ...
tow truck hauls us the last few miles and drops us in the hotel parking lot
...
after a good nights sleep ...
i call Lordco and they deliver a brand new bosch alternator ... plus the guy
gave me a discount after we spoke about the situation i was in
the hotel leased to the very busy ABC restaurant and they let me do the R &
R righ tin the parking lot .. took me slightly over 1.5 hours
my point is ..with this whole story is this . we are driving a 1995 chev ...
and for what it is worth all vehicles are subject to breakdown ...
older vehicles sometimes wear out during use ... even when one has done due
diligence ...
canceled journey to edmonton
went to baby store in vancouver to look at stuff
went to princess auto for some neat stuff ...
went to costco ...
came home ...
wife very happy i could repair on the fly ... me too
yours
On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 3:31 PM, B Feddish <uprightbassghost@hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>
> Thanks again for everyones help. Playing it safe, I did not mess with the
> alternator in the campground. I called Autozone yesterday and scheduled to
> have a reman waiting for me 25 miles north of Assateque at Autozone which
> was on my way home. I Hooked up my jumper box to the battery and ketp it
> turned off in case the battery died mid flight. I picked up the alternator
> and tucked it in the back of the van for extra piece of mind. I drove home
> in the rain with those red dash lights screaming at me and used the wipers
> maybe once. I kept all my lights off even though that's not only against my
> better judegemet but against the law now in most states. When I got home I
> tried to start the van just for kicks. The battery was dead. Took the old
> alternator off and struggled like a chimp banging with a club trying to get
> that pulley off. All the previous posts mentioned some allen wrench. There
> was no allen slot to be found. I drove it over to our new Advanced Auto
> Parts store the guys there took it off for me. I thought I'd have to drive
> it back to put it on but the reman had the allen wrench slot on it. Unlike
> my old one. Anyway. I'm all set.
>
> And if anyone can figure out why my van has chosen to have hiccups only
> when I've been camping this summer I'd love to know. I've been using it as
> my daily driver since February to break the engine in and it's been fine. It
> likes to pick my vacation jaunts...
>
> Bryan
>
--
roger w
From Proverbs:
Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a
servant who becomes king ...
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