Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:55:30 -0800
Reply-To: Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Tuovinen <aksyncronaut@GMAIL.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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I am sold on carrying a roll of "Rescue Tape". Last January we were on a
secondary hwy west of Tucson headed toward Gila Bend when a hose coming off
the front end of the passenger side cylinder head ruptured. I wrapped it
with Rescue Tape refilled our coolant and we drove another week or more and
1500 miles before replacing the hose at a friends house in Elk Grove, CA.
We do not carry AAA but do have Geico Roadside Assistance on our van. It
is cheap and as most of our travels are in Alaska their contract would tow
us home from anywhere in the State we may find ourselves. Their stated
policy is a tow to the nearest Dealer or your home which ever is closer and
you can opt to pay the difference if you prefer which ever is farther. We
confirmed this with them once when a different hose ruptured 360 miles from
home. We did not use the service but it would have been quite a tow bill
as we had four people and a Great Dane in the van and there was not a
crewcab slideback wrecker for hundreds of miles.
Mark in AK
`87 Westy Syncro
On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 1:34 PM, Marc Perdue <mcperdue@gmail.com> 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
>
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