Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:55:55 -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: What to keep on hand to not be stranded
In-Reply-To: <CAEwp_cQQ4tQ_2+XsaujWxo_uK5J_idkAi5L2RzangabBRMK1NQ@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi,
well certainlyspare fuel filter.
I always carry my bag of odd bits of hose and short sections of pipes
and some miscellaneous hose clamps.
It saved me too, in 87 Wolfsburg ..
a classic plastic main pipe failure ..the metal insert slid out ...
started leakingbadly there, and I had a major pass to get over to get home.
I had to rig something a few times before it held enough to get me home.
Would have been a hundred + mile tow otherwise.
Those plastic main pipes - - "they do that."
Don't know what year van you are talking about..
and I don't think anyone really could everreplace *every hose* in a
vanagon ..
especially an 86 or later.
I'm talking about both heaters ,
thesmall bleed raid hoses, all the big hoses, front and rear ...
hoses for auto trans oil cooler if you have one of those ..
I challenge anyone to *actually* count every *single* hose in an 86 or
later waterboxer vanagon.
So ...it's not likely anyone will replace every last hose in the entire
beast..
thus ....carry some clamps and bailing wire ..
and since I am building engine coversions on a regular basis, I end up
with lots of odd bits of hoses and a few pieces of pipeor junctions -
sure saved me that one time.
I would sure carry a known-good distributor. Usually *extremely* reliable ..
but when their really old .....the Hall Sender can get intermittant.
I've used my spare distributor at least twice on trips on my good van.
Got one with a new Hall Sender in it now ...still gotta try that out.
Temp Sensor II ..another part that can'get you.' Small enough to have in
the parts stash.
To me ..the bottom line is if you can keep moving or not.
Even if you're limited to say 35to 50 mph ..
or can run for say 20 minutes, then have to cool down ..
as long as you can 'keep moving' .....like say you only have 2nd gear ..
as long as you are not totally dead in the water ..
that's the bottom line to me ..
you can at least get to somewhere . Somewhere safe where you can work on
stuff, get parts etc.
for a manaul trans vanagon I wouldn't carry a spare starter as you can
push start.
For an auto trans vanagon ......at least have a fresh one installed.
I like to carry a spare alterantor. The one I have is a factory new 65
amper , that's smaller than the 90 amp one ..
I got it off an industrial 1.9 TD engne..makes a nice spare.
Or at least carry the Regulator with Brushes ...also small and light and
worth having on board.
this list can go onfor quite a while.
I don't think I've even been 'just dead' ..but I've had to deal with
stuff, patch things , jury rig some ..
What fun !
Scott
www.turbovans.com
On 10/22/2012 2:34 PM, Marc Perdue wrote:
> Okay, I'm giving my van a new lease on life . . . with conditions. I've
> never had another vehicle have such catastrophic failures that would leave
> me stranded the way the Vanagon does. Mind you, one person's definition of
> catastrophic will be different from another's. When I take the van camping,
> I don't load ALL of my tools to make every possible repair on the road
> (like ruptured coolant hoses), I'm not usually traveling near a decent
> shop, and not usually on weekdays. So I'm going to finally replace ALL of
> the coolant hoses and fuel lines. My plan then is to have certain parts
> on-board that, should they fail, would mean a dead van, but they being
> parts I could replace on the road. I'm starting with the list below and
> wonder what you all would add to it (or take off):
>
> 1) Fuel pump
> 2) Ignition switch
> 3) ECU
> 4) Ignition coil (though I've never had one actually fail...take off?)
> 5) Belts
>
> I'm thinking this might prove useful to someone else too, who knows? So,
> what do you all think?
>
> Marc P.
>
> PS--I ain't talking about rods being thrown threw the crankcase here. BTDT
>
