Date:         Sat, 1 Oct 1994 23:00:37 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jjc@bga.com (John Clavin)
Subject:      question of oil level

>Anyone want to theorize all the bad things that could happen if
>you add TOO MUCH oil to your vanagon/bus?
>
>/martha

Theorize?  Why, I remember it well ...

It was the first week of August 1993 and we had just left southern
California that morning.  We were moving to Texas and our 85 Vanagon 
was loaded with everything we needed for a vacation, everything we
needed to live on for a month, everything we didn't trust with the 
movers, and everything else we couldn't figure out what do with until
the last minute and then just decided to take along anyway.  The over-
flow filled the Honda my wife drove in trail, as my daughter, her 
tranquilized cat, and I started across the desert through Palm
Springs.  

I had carefully prepared the Vanagon for this trip over a period of
weeks.  Everything that could have gone wrong was carefully checked.
I did a complete tune-up, changed the oil, checked the manual trans,
examined and replaced all hoses as required, found several suspicious 
electrical connections, installed new brake pads, topped off the air 
conditioner, repacked the CV joints, filled ... well, you get the idea.

It was HOT.  By 10 am it was already 100 degrees as we climbed the
long hills across the desert.  The second stage fan came on several
times (unusual for my normal driving pattern) and I took to turning 
off the a/c on long grades.  By noon we made it to Blythe and stopped 
for lunch in the 110 degree heat.

Now my normal inclination would have been to check the oil at this
point.  But, I didn't.  As it turned out, it was probably still
up to the mark where I topped it off the night before.  But we had
the tranked cat along and had to get her water, etc, and get out of
heat, etc, and get lunch, etc, ... so I forgot.

Onward into the heat.  Ponderously, across the desert until we arrived
in Phoenix during rush hour.  By now I am having alternating mood
swings about the Vanagon.  I have driven it more at 100+ temperatures
in this one day than ever before in its 150000 mile lifetime.  It 
appeared to be holding up, except the second stage fan was coming on 
more and more.  What about the rebuilt heads?  Will the head gasket
hold up?  Am I burning more oil than usual?  Is the coolant level
still OK?

As we reached the point where I-10 turns and heads south towards 
Tucson, traffic ground to a halt.  It was rush hour and the freeway
was under construction.  We crept forward ever so slowly in the heat
as I watched my temperature gauge creep ever so slowly upwards.  
Finally, as the radiator fan began to cycle into high speed almost
continuously, I decided I needed to either get going at speed again 
or pull off to cool down.  I waved to my wife in the car behind to 
start working towards the right-hand lanes.  As we approached a turn-
off, the traffic suddenly opened up and I saw the opportunity to get 
going again.  I quickly took off down the road watching my temp gauge.
Peering into the rear view mirror, I saw my wife trapped in the turn-
lanes and headed into the bowels of south Phoenix.

Hours later, after numerous phone call messages relayed through my
wife's family in Texas, we were able agree on a rendezvous point.
Some rest stop south of Casa Grande, I think.  The travel plan for
the day had been blown, so we agree to push into Tucson and get 
something to eat while deciding whether or not to call it a day. 
 
We headed south towards a dark and ominous horizon.  As we proceeded,
the wind picked up and the tumbleweeds started to move.  Soon, we can
see lightning ahead, and the wind gusts are starting to jerk the van 
around.  No problem, we'll just tough it through to Tucson.  However, 
in the next few minutes we almost didn't know what hit us.  The sky 
opened up and dropped massive sheets of water propelled by white-
knuckle wind gusts at the Vanagon.  Traffic on the freeway slowed as 
the road flooded.  I could hardly see the road in the darkness of the 
storm.  The windshield flooded with water faster than the wipers could
handle it.  Then, then! ...the oil pressure warning light comes on!

(Remember the oil?  Martha started this thread by asking about oil.)

(To Be Continued)