Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2023 11:11:45 -0400
Reply-To: Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Weird going-ons!
In-Reply-To: <EFEBC773-738E-4160-9348-751D5896DCB3@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Thanks for the replies. The connection with other owners is alleviating my
discouragement.
My van is a 1982 air-cooled, manual transmission. It was converted to a
1994 Subaru 2.2 by the previous owner. It's an oddball with lots of hack
underneath to make it water-cooled (no spare tire tray, radiator *maybe*
from Subaru donor car, steel exhaust pipes for coolant lines, cut out grill
in front)
Its name is MODESTO. But it's a hard-working beast. It's done Montreal-Los
Angeles EIGHT TIMES. With no problems.
I'm having to accept that the brakes need a full rehab: Hoses, seals,
calipers, fluid... When I bought this van I lived in Los Angeles, and had
a driveway/carport, so no problem was so big that I couldn't deal with it
eventually. But now, since my daughter was born 4 years ago, I'm in
Montreal, and there's very little space to lay up a vehicle. If I can get
to it soon enough I'll move it up north to our family place, and remove all
the brake parts, bring them back to Montreal, and rebuild them in my back
shed. But there's no garage up there in St. Sauveur QUE. The van will be
outside, and thus I'll be working outside. Weather changes fast here.
(before that happens)
I have to start with new radiator/hoses/thermostat/prestone in the 1998
Subaru, so I have at least one car that moves.
This is a challenging time. I've had my van since 2009 and it's brought us
to some incredibly special places. My daughter loves it. Our dog loved it.
I LOVE IT (always loved VW vans since my childhood in Tahoe riding in bay
window busses)
But it's getting hard to hold onto it. The steepening curve of van-issues
vs. the dropping curve of my time and available concentration. When those
lines cross, the van might have to go.
Appeciate you all very much
Love,
vinnie
I finished renovating a 120 year-old wood cornice yesterday. 28' up. I
spent four 10/hr. days in a boom lift\. It was gnarly, and we're in a
heatwave ("feels like 105 degrees")
On Wed, Sep 6, 2023 at 8:20 PM OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@comcast.net> wrote:
> What Year Van ?
>
> > On 6 Sep , 2023, at 11:55 AM, Vincent Dow <ianvincentdow@GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hey y’all
> > So I’ve been getting a brake warning light the last couple weeks , when I
> > push the brake pedal . At first it wasn’t every instance, but now it is.
> > I was down in Maine when this first appeared. I checked my reservoir and
> it
> > looked okay.
> > Braking feels normal,
> > I last did my brakes 2016, but my van doesn’t get 3,000 miles a year.
> More
> > like 1,000/year in the last four years.
> >
> > Now today I started seeing the seat belt warning light come on too (my
> Belt
> > was done up)
> > Do brake warning and seatbelt warning share a relay or some such thing?
> >
> > My other car, a 1998 Subaru legacy, is laid up in the country waiting
> for a
> > new radiator, so I’m having to drive the van for my job. Sucks. Traffic,
> > lots of hills in Montréal.
> >
> > I want to inspect my front and rear brakes, once my job is done tonight.
> > I’m painting/restoring an architectural cornice and I have a boom lift
> > rented - so I do long days. No time to get close to my van until this is
> > wrapped.
> > Thanks, if you have any ideas. When I get some free time I want to clean
> > the grounds as I hear that can cause a lot of gremlins,
> >
> > Vinnie
>
>
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