Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:56:40 +0000
Reply-To: J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: When little Jobs Go Wrong
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OK, so my story isn't nearly as bad as Stephen Grisanti's recent exhaust work which resulted in pulling a head, but a PITA just the same. The problem: Left front speaker cuts in and out plus poor sound quality despite being a nearly new Sony 3 1/2 speaker modified to fit stock enclosure. The cause: original puny gauge speaker wire brittle and cracked in several spots. So, I decided to rewire both front speakers. Now the original wiring was run through rubber grommets and tubes from the doors into the dash area. I'm thinking maybe it is unusual for these grommets/tubes to still be in place because I swear I do not remember my two previous Vanagons having them in place. They made it a real pain to fish new 18 gauge speaker wire through, especially on the drivers side but I managed to get it through. I had to disconnect and move the instrument cluster out of the way to get the wires routed on the drivers side. Upon re-installing the gauges, the red " Brake" and "Seat Belts" lens pops off and falls into the nether regions of the dash. Now I had to pull the gauge cluster completely out to search for the lens-I never did find it. I remember my spare cluster down in the basement and luckily that one still had the lens. Put the gauge cluster back in and turn the key-now my oil light does not light up (it had before) <sigh> This was supposed to be an hour long job at most!! Try my spare cluster and the oil light works. Finally, FOUR HOURS later, I have it all back together, except now the oil light isn't working again. And the speakers? Well, no more cutting out, but the sound quality still isn't that good. Frustrated, I decide to go for a motorcycle ride and salvage whats left of my Sunday afternoon. I get the bike out and clean it up, go in the house and put on all my gear and take off-within 1/2 mile it starts to rain. Its a good thing no one stopped yesterday and asked me "Hey, is your van for sale?" (which I do get asked from time to time) Jeff
Jeff Stewart
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