Date:         Wed, 21 Jun 1995 13:39:56 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Gerald Skerbitz <gsker@lenti>
Subject:      djenkins@foxboro.com (Drew Jenkins)

(Please reply to Drew)

>Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 13:11:58 -0400
>From: djenkins@foxboro.com (Drew Jenkins)
>To: vanagon@lenti
>Subject: Unfortunate incident

Yesterday, my wife was driving the Vanagon when the alternator
light went on. She stopped to buy some groceries and then started 
home. The light was still on at this point. Since she was only 3 miles
from home at the time, she thought she could "make it". 

The reason the light was on was the alternator-water pump fan belt 
had broken. So she got 2 miles down the road when the temp light
started flashing and then coolant started spewing all over the engine.

A few water hoses had burst. 

We had it towed to the VW dealer and he said it also needs a new water 
pump. I think the water pump is what may have caused the fan belt to 
break in the first place. The fan belts were all replaced about a year
ago, so I don't think one would break without cause.

The point of this posting is not to elicit sympathy, I know I'll get 
none from the air cooled guys ;-), but to make sure everyone informs
other drivers of their vehicle to *STOP* if dash board lights come on.

I hadn't stressed this enough to my wife and now we are paying the 
price. I hope the short time driving did not cause major damage to
the engine. Oh well, live & learn.

I already kidded her that because she didn't immediately stop, we 
now may *need* that 3.2 Porsche engine :-). 

Drew Jenkins  86 Syncro
djenkins@foxboro.com