Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:44:27 -0700
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: The balance of karma
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There's Vanagon content, trust me. My motorcycle failed inspection due to a worn front tire (worth a try, right?) so I ordered one and it arrived yesterday and I tried my first mechanical in the new garage. Removed the front wheel and busted the old tire off the wheel. That was a hot and sweaty hour or so, and I decided not to risk damaging the new tire so loaded bare wheel and new tire into the Westy this morning (A/C works, not so in the Mopar dog-and-lumber minivan) for a trip to the Honda shop on my way to work.
Cruising west was passed by some guy on a Suzuki streetfighter-type motorcycle, a sportbike with the bodywork crashed off. Got off at that exit to find the exit/turn lane blocked by a New Beetle in distress and the biker stopping to help push. Slight incline indicated more help was needed so I stopped, too, and the three of us pushed the car around the corner and into a parking lot. We all took off and I gave the other driver a lift as far as the Honda place, where he could catch a bus. Pulled in and saw the Suzuki parked and it turns out the rider is the service writer in the shop, and somehow I managed to get a healthy discount on the usual rate for a mount and balance. Great!
Decided to celebrate the savings and prepare for the approaching derecho storm by gassing up so stopped at a Shell station across from the VW dealer. Chatted with a young salesman fueling a new Jetta TDI wagon and it was at that point I discovered the gas gushing out from under the filler neck. Yeow! Looks like it's leaking from a vent line joint where a rubber hose meets a plastic line, similar to the one back near the firewall.
So, I have to reinstall the bike wheel get the bike out of the garage and inspected so I can move more stuff out of the way so I can get the Westy in there for THAT troubleshooting and repair. My turn for the tank drop and vent line fix, I guess.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Stephen
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