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Date:         Tue, 16 Aug 1994 23:42:24 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dakhlia@wuecona.wustl.edu (Sami Dakhlia)
Subject:      Re: Help with engine rebuild '87 [W] Vanagon

> I need some guidance on a problem with my recently purchased '87 >camper Van. I was not very careful at getting the Van inspected before I >purchased it from a dealer in Santa Rosa, CA that deals exclusively with >VW camper vans. What I have discovered since January is that this van

I'm no legal expert, but my impression is that lemon laws do not apply to used cars. Also I don't know how much you paid for this van, but if it's excessive, you can always try to contact the Better Business Bureau.

I'm more confident about the following statement: $5000 for rebuilding the engine is *way* too much and If I were you, I'd look for a more honest mechanic.

There may be yet another alternative: resell this van and buy a nicer one. There *are* nice ones out there, especially in CA. That's where I bought my '75 camper 3 years ago. I paid $3000, which is on the high side for a bus that old, but it was in great condition. So far, I have only had few and minor problems with it.

Unscrupulous mechanics, however, have been a bigger problem. The first week I owned the bus, the red panic light went on: low oil pressure! The next mechanic confirmed this ("Yeah, I've been working on those suckers for 40 years, and yup, you got low oil pressure, blabla") and offered to replace the engine for a lot of money. Since I was broke, I decided to wait and started to read Muir's compleat idiot book. Taught myself how to check the oil pressure and checked it: Perfectly fine! The problem was electrical.

Anyway, I'm diverging... Those were my 2 cents, you'll certainly get other opinions from the list. Good luck!

Sami

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