Date:         Fri, 7 Apr 1995 09:30:55 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Terry Tan <terrytan@ritz.mordor.com>
Subject:      Re: 85 Vanagon starts hard

> 
> >On Thu, 6 Apr 95 18:51:14 CDT Chris Getschow said:
> >>My '85 Vanagon has trouble getting started.  Here's the scenario:
> ><snip>
> >>depressing the accelerator when the engine catches and then driving away
> >>immediately.  The engine runs rough for a couple minutes while I'm driving
> >>(in a low gear) but then runs smoothly thereafter. I can smell gas when I'm
> >>backing out of the driveway.
> >>first or second try.  The second is that there's something screwed up in the
> >>FI system that's causing the starting mixture to be richer the colder it gets
> >
> >i think you are onto the culprit, but have some "facts" wrong ... imho it's
> >the coolant temp sensor gone bad or the wiring/ground associated with it.
> 
> Uhm,  any seroius coolant losses, didn't one member mention leaks into the 
> cylinder barrels due to poor O-rings as causing rough startup and idle until 
> the H2O left the scene.   tim s.   
> 
You guys thought you have problems. After readind your threads at least I
can say I am not alone.
It is sad that a beautiful and functional vehicle like the Vanagon should
have been plagued with so much problems. Wonder what happened to those
VW experts during the beetle days.

My waterboxer leaked coolant around 30k miles on one side. Had to pay for 
the repairs since it was out of the warranty period.
The dealerships are mostly equipped to replaced the bad parts. They really
dont have the time or desire to find out why the repair was needed.

My worst problem is the hydraulic clutch system and leaking pushrod tubes.

	1st clutch replaced at 20K miles
        2nd clutch replaced at 32K miles
        3rd clutch replaced at 43K miles
All these work was done at a dealership with no reimbursement from vw
Clutches it seems are not covered by warranty. They think its the way we
drive that is causing this problem. All that bull just to avoid having to
admit that there is a fault somewhere.

>From my own analysis I think there is something  in the hydraulics
that is not working right.

vehicle will shift smoothly when cold but when riding for 
say half an hour or so it gets difficult to shift the gears. This is
an indication that somewhere in the hydraulics some kind of expansion has
occurred reducing the clutch travel.
I never really found out. Because of these problems I mothballed the van
after 54K miless. It has been sitting in the garage for the last three years.
I like to hear from others having similar problems.
						TT