Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 19:13:17 -0600
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: I am not alone
In-Reply-To: <W0mb1n00X08X5Fr010md4D>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Well, it might be hard for some to say this if they were me, after being so hypercritical of the beast soon after I bought it. And yes, it is better to have Vanagon experienced mechanics work on the thing than just any Jack off the street. That happens to be true of most vehicles. Experience matters.
Took me half a day to change out the 12V battery in my Prius -- a job that takes 20 minutes on most vehicles, and that the dealer allocates an hour for. Experience and knowledge matter, with any vehicle.
Finally, after preliminaries above, I get around to it. The waterboxer engine works for me. Sure, there are things that need work now and again. And some of us make modifications like an external oil cooler to help the beast out a bit. But try to drive any vehicle 170k miles without some work. Very unlikely. I trust my camper to get me to the outback, and back to the inback. I make sure before I go that it is ready to go, and I go. Maybe some time I'll get stuck out there. Or maybe I'll be in Green River, Utah, or Dime Box, Texas, or even Slap Out, Oklahoma, when I get stuck. But I've been in worse places. Well, I don't know if there is a worse place than Slap Out, Oklahoma.
In my experience, only a minority of mechanics are willing to even look at what some of them call bastard cars, because they can't line item the "flat rate" hourly charge out of a shop manual.
mcneely
---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> I'm often unwilling to accept "the general consensus"..but I'm smart enough
> to read up on stuff before I buy. There was so much information on the
> failures and problematic reliability of the WBX as it comes in a Vanagon
> that it just ruled-out that motor for me. I'm not saying an inline VW
> motor is perfect... and never having dealt with the wbx motor myself I
> can't say from experience anything. But "Everyone" can't be totally lying
> about leaky heads expensive and frequently-needed major work and the need
> for very specific experienced mechanical workers to keep them going.
>
> I chose to avoid that.
>
> On Feb 23, 2014 4:13 PM, "Karl Wolz" <wolzphoto@q.com> wrote:
>
> > Stick with the waterboxer, but get it, and keep it, running right.
> >
David McNeely
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