Date:         Mon, 9 Mar 2015 09:46:33 -0400
Reply-To:     mcr@SANDELMAN.CA
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Richardson <mcr@SANDELMAN.CA>
Subject:      spring checklist
In-Reply-To:  <2de2c.77bfc203.422e74e9@aol.com>

Hi, I'm a new Westfalia ('91) owner as of last summer.  We live in Ottawa.
We put our van (we call him "Jed") away last November in our carport.

(In some some sense, this is the first vehicle we've owned, since my wife and
son have lived car free urban lives for the 25 years of our adult life.)

A tarp over one side, and the back to keep the snow drifts away.
It got cold much sooner than I thought last year, and it I didn't get the
batteries removed as soon as I wanted, but they did get removed and stored
in the basement by Jan 1.  I'm told that keeping them from freeze/thawing
will lengthen their life.  I'm told that even though they are disconnected,
that they likely need a charge in the spring, or I should plan on jump
starting Jed.

Should I swap the house/starter battery each year?  Will that contribute to
even wear of them, or will it just mean I have two equally worn (and equally
dead) batteries in the future?

I imagine that the tires will need air after sitting all winter; should they
be rotated? Aligned?

I'm told to expect rust to fall from the brake pads due to it sitting still
for months... it hasn't been a damp winter (in Ottawa, 2 months of -30C,
where we normally get 2 days of that, and rain in february)...  Is there some
mitigation that I should do?

I've been told to wire-scape bits of rust off the bottom of the door and
cover those parts with vaseline.

The 12V plug on the dashboard never worked, and I've yet to figure out how to
get the glove compartment drawer out to get in to fix it.  The 12V plug under
the passenger seat never work well (physically worn out),  and then it seems
to have failed last fall... I've ordered new plugs (and USB ones too) online,
but I have to get the passenger seat off to get in there, which will be my
project at the end of March.  We won't actually drive Jed anywhere until the
snow and salt are all gone in mid-April.

Obviously there is coolant and oil to check.
Is there some other non-obvious thing that I don't know about?
Probably there is a FAQ I've missed :-)

--
]               Never tell me the odds!                 | ipv6 mesh networks [
]   Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works        | network architect  [
]     mcr@sandelman.ca  http://www.sandelman.ca/        |   ruby on rails    [