Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 20:54:18 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
Darn Quick
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Greetings..
speaketh thou to whom ?
Moi ?
if 'here' is the spot on the planet that my body often is ..
then sorry I missed ya !
it's better to email first if you plan to call.
the phone gets out of control sometimes..
Don't especially like spending a lot of interacting on it lately.
'cool comfort of my sunny spot' ..sure ..
though the normal 'sunny' in the Rogue Valley is Blazing Hot ..
every day ..
though I will say ..this is the first summer here in 7 years where I have
said it was a nice summer.
Usually it's either too hot or too cold here....like 80 % of the time it's
one or the other.
But this has been a quite nice summer.
Yup ,Rocket is in Bend ..and friendly I beleive..
they need a AAAA Plus for SVX vanaogn drivers !
glad your rig is rippin' it up like it should !
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Al Knoll" <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 8:18 PM
Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
Darn Quick
>a bit? I am a bit. (42 is the number) I was just there yesterday. yer
> phone dint answer.
>
> Best to try all these repairs in the cool comfort of your sunny spot.
> Then
> you'll know the drill so to speak. Change a belt, change a tire, replace
> the ecu WITH THE BATTERY DISCONNECTED. Change the fuel pump, the filter,
> and the relay, keep that green book handy so a pro mechanic asbergury or
> not can do the work.
>
> Practice. Fortune favors the well prepared.
>
> So you dint call Rocket? Drove right through Bent. Hoody river was most
> fine I could learn to like OR after suffering with Kaliforniacatedness far
> too long. SyncroSVX runs like a turbine now. New 3.3, rebuilt Transaxle
> with .70 top and 5.83 R&P. Work done by Tom Lengyel the gitane magician
> and
> dog handler there in Aurora OR. Highly recommended.
>
> Spares of course like them other folk recommend. I have starter,
> alternator, fuel rails, and other bits marked and ready to send in the
> flat
> rate boxies.
>
> AAA Premium gets you out of the desert.
>
> Pensionerd.
>
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 3:07 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <
> scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>
>> "how much heavier is a starter ? ...
>> like how much heavier than what.. ...say a spark plug ?
>> Quite a bit heavier than a spark plug.
>>
>> just teasing you.
>> I am very litteral. A bit asburgery.
>>
>> Starter isn't that hard to change on an auto trans vanagon.
>> I also get the impression..
>> and pretty sure this is accurate..
>> you almost never get under your van ..
>> or almost never have it off the ground...
>> given you don't have a safe spot to do that.
>>
>> Can a person even begin to understand and take care of their own vanagon
>> if
>> they never get it off the ground a foot extra or so ? Wheels off the
>> ground too.
>> Gotta be checking things ...like front suspension..
>> rear axles etc.
>> With the van on the ground..
>> vanagonauts can only access perhaps 40 % of what needs to be checked,
>> looked at, lubed, inspected, adjusted, tweaked, replaced etc.
>>
>> For those that have owned a keel type full-time-in-the-water sailboat ...
>> you can't really own and maintain the boat long term leaving in the water
>> 365 days a year, year in and year. out.
>> It simply has to come out of the water at least once every couple of
>> years
>> to clean and check things..
>> sure, a diver can clean and and inspect some now and then ( thinking
>> sailboats in salt water mainly ) ..
>> but it's not the same quite ..
>>
>> you gotta have access to the undersides of a vanagon now and then..
>> to really take care of it, check on things, etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
>> To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
>> Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 7:16 AM
>> Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
>> Darn Quick
>>
>>
>> "Starter is heavy ........and with manual trans you can always push or
>> tow
>>> start if you have to, so I never carry a spare starter, usually anyway."
>>>
>>> Sigh. Here I am with an auto trans. No push starting this thing. Just
>>> got
>>> a spare alternator to pack. How much heavier is a starter? Is it a major
>>> job to swap one on the road?
>>>
>>> (Note to my reader: I am not worrying, I am investigating.)
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>>> Bend, Ore.
>>> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
>>> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
>>> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>>>
>>> Sent from my kitchen.
>>>
>>> On 08/29/2011 07:34 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>>>
>>>> I agree not necessary to carry a spare throttle body.
>>>> the worst that is likely to happen is an idle problem ..
>>>>
>>>> 'anything that can prevent you from moving' is what I go by.
>>>>
>>>> Starter is heavy ........and with manual trans you can always push or
>>>> tow
>>>> start if you have to, so I never carry a spare starter, usually anyway.
>>>>
>>>> yes on the water pump unless it's pretty new.
>>>>
>>>> absolutely on the ecu ..
>>>> they are generally quite good ...
>>>> I can think of 3 that were genuinely bad in the last 2 or 3
>>>> years...among
>>>> maybe 70 EFI vanagons.
>>>> One was just a couple of months ago.
>>>> I seriously carry a known-good spare ECU ..
>>>> if that thing takes a dump on ya.....you ain't goin' nowhere.
>>>>
>>>> mandatory I'd say.
>>>> Temp Sensor II for sure.
>>>> distributor for sure.
>>>> Igniter if it's not inside the ecu.
>>>> a spare good plug wire or two ..
>>>> left over tune up parts that are still good.
>>>> oxygen sensor ..
>>>> real like scenario....
>>>> I just had a hose blow out ...spewing coolant all over the engine.
>>>> That lead to a so-so used distributor cap crapping out ..
>>>> and a didn't-look-bad-at-all oxygen sensor crapping out as well. ..
>>>> though you can always keep moving with the 02 connected if you need to.
>>>> Not
>>>> as smooth, burns more gas....but still runs all right.
>>>> Air intake boot ..if I have one of those ...I carry that.
>>>> and a box of misc hoses, hose junctions, and hose clamps.
>>>>
>>>> Scott
>>>> www.turbovans.com
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "neil n" <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
>>>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>>>> Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 5:18 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out
>>>> Pretty
>>>> Darn Quick
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I had a real tendency to carry way too many spares.
>>>>
>>>> Here's a before and after of paring down:
>>>>
>>>> https://picasaweb.google.com/**musomuso/MiscVanagonWestyPics#**
>>>> 5387387355555099026<https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/MiscVanagonWestyPics#5387387355555099026>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Like I really didn't need the extra throttle body. ;) I still
>>>> tend to carry too much stuff, but there are times when I add something
>>>> to my rig or fiddle with things. Nice to have the extra stuff for
>>>> that. If I had an SO and/or kids, I wouldn't have time for that kind
>>>> of thing while on the road!
>>>>
>>>> What one carries depends on the engine too. In terms of a minimum, I
>>>> carry spares for parts that when failed, would cause a no start
>>>> situation:
>>>>
>>>> Ones shared with WBX:
>>>>
>>>> starter (this one could be debatable but it would depend on the
>>>> situation)
>>>> ign. switch
>>>> Distributor, cap/rotor, tension lead to/from coil.
>>>> fuel pump
>>>> alt/water pump belt
>>>> coil
>>>> wires/tape/various connectors etc.
>>>> gasket material
>>>>
>>>> I suspect I really should carry a water pump and ECU too. There's
>>>> probably things I've forgotten
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Neil.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Poppie Jagersand
>>>> <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I also ask: How many spares should one really carry? Wife drives Toyota
>>>>> with no clue what to do if it stops... So do 99% of others whether
>>>>> they
>>>>> drive a car or RV.
>>>>>
>>>>> I used to have spares and tools filling the whole storage under the
>>>>> bench,
>>>>> but with a growing family there's need for the wife and kid's stuff
>>>>> too!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Neil n
>>>>
>>>> 65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp
>>>>
>>>> '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"
>>>> http://tubaneil.googlepages.**com/<http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>>>>
>>>> Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:
>>>>
>>>> http://groups.google.com/**group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-**
>>>> 4-cylinder-gas-engines<http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines>
>>>>
>>>>
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