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Date:         Wed, 11 May 2011 08:35:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Williams <sbw@SBW.ORG>
Subject:      Maintenance Saga: '84 Westy
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

What follows is nothing more than a routine tale of some recent work I had done on my '84 Wolfsburg camper. It was interesting for me, and maybe some part of my experience will be useful to someone else.

In March, I put the camper in storage and flew to New York to visit family for a couple of months, not realizing its California registration was due within days of my planned return and required a smog check!

GoWesty installed my 2.3L waterboxer engine in May, 2009, about 30,000 miles ago.

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/sbw/vanagon

Since then, one shop had a little trouble getting the GoWesty engine set up just right, since it uses the stock air flow meter and computer. I didn't want any trouble with the smog check, so I made an appointment at GoWesty for May 6, to check the tuning and then take it to Smitty's around the corner for the smog test.

Then I realized it was due for the 30K/2-year service, so I figured I'd have GoWesty do that at the same time:

http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=313

(GoWesty installed an overhauled transmission in November, 2009, about 15,000 miles ago, so not all of the 30K service would be needed.)

And I thought I had a minor coolant leak: I had to add a little coolant more often than I should, and at the last oil change, the bottom of the engine and the oil filter were covered with a crusty residue that I suspected was cooked coolant. So I figured I'd ask GoWesty to look at that, too.

Oh, and my aux battery wasn't charging. I find the wiring diagrams unintelligible (Has anybody converted the Bentley diagrams to ordinary electrical schematics?), so I thought I'd let them troubleshoot that.

Normally, I'd have this work done at one of the shops in the Bay Area:

- Van Cafe in Santa Cruz - Peninsula Automotive in Campbell - Fred's Garage in Redwood City

I have family in Santa Cruz, and I've found Van Cafe less expensive than GoWesty. But I really wanted GoWesty involved in the smog test.

I returned to Oakland April 30. The Westy fired right up. (I had disconnected the batteries, just in case.) After a week of work in the Bay Area, I headed down to GoWesty late on May 5, camped at their shop, and handed 'em the keys first thing on Friday, May 6.

By lunchtime, the smog test was passed, and I renewed the registration on-line with four days to spare!

Back at GoWesty, the mechanic put the camper on the lift and pointed out a cracked exhaust pipe, the #1 & #3 pipe adjacent to the water pump, which was leaking! Indeed, that same crusty residue was on the pump below the drain hole.

That water pump was installed by Van Cafe 13 months before and had only 4,500 miles on it. (The warranty is 12 months or 12,000 miles.) I'm told water pumps fail more often than we'd like, but maybe hot exhaust gases accelerated the failure?

There wasn't time to replace the exhaust pipe and water pump that Friday, and it was safe enough to drive the camper (Who knows how long the exhaust had been cracked?), so I decided to have them finish the rest of the work, then drive down to Venice Beach for the weekend. It was nice to have the aux battery charging, finally!

On the way to GoWesty, I had driven at 60 mph and saw 21.7 mpg! That's much better than my average of 18.8 mpg. So I stayed at 60 mph on the way to Venice Beach. I was surprised to see 17.9 mpg on the first leg.

After a nice weekend at Venice Beach, I headed back to Los Osos. The fuel gauge was dropping much faster than I expected, so I stopped for gas and was astonished to see 14.8 mpg!

I again camped in GoWesty's lot, then got up early to fill the gas tank. I was down to 12.9 mpg!

I added poor fuel economy to the list, and GoWesty got to work. They replaced the exhaust pipe and water pump. And they determined the oxygen sensor had failed just hours after the successful smog check! What are the chances?

https://twitter.com/sbwsty

By mid-afternoon, I was back on the road to the Bay Area. Arriving in Santa Cruz, after 3.5 hours slogging along at 60 mph in very strong crosswinds, I filled the tank and calculated 17.8 mpg. That's a typical number for unfavorable conditions.

Tuesday morning, I stopped by Van Cafe to show them the failed water pump. They surprised me by offering partial store credit for the pump, which I'll probably apply to some H4 headlights.

The total bill at GoWesty was around $1,500. That's more than I wish it was, but I've found they stand by their work. I'm not disappointed.

Now, if I could just get the Propex heater to light!


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