Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 20:18:51 -0700
Reply-To: Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
Darn Quick
In-Reply-To: <013701cc6761$36a8e9f0$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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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