Date:         Wed, 13 Dec 95 13:13:44 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         barwise@tuxedo.ENET.dec.com
Subject:      re: any EuroVans out there?  (and prob. to watch for)

To whoever asked about the existance of EuroVans "out there":

My '93 EV is just shy of 30K miles, and so far, so good (mostly).  The
noisy speedo is again silent without me doing anything
besides thinking kind thoughts and treating it well.  My previously-
reported power window getting stuck in the down position was not
resolved by the dealer (re-lubed).  Someone here reported a recall on the the 
windows, but the dealer denied that, saying there are recalls on Passats 
only.  I'd appreciate any further info on that.

My EV has auto trans (not my first choice, or second - at the time it was my
only choice).  Anyway, I have a problem to report that may not just be 
specific to autos.  I just fixed this today after wondering about it for
6 months.  In warmer weather I used to notice a drop or two of water appear
on the top of the shifter lever housing after a long drive.  I puzzled about 
that a lot but never took it apart to see where this was coming from.  Since 
the weather has turned much colder, it became very hard to move the shift 
lever upon initial start up of the day, i.e. coldest.  

This morning it was -5 F here in Central Mass, and was almost impossible to
shift out of Park.  I of course forced it and it almost sounded like ice 
breaking.  Took it apart and that's what it is.  Somehow water has entered
the rectangular box that the shift mechanism fits into, and the water has
just sat there for months, at least.  Lots of cleaning and lubing to do.
I'm guessing that the water has entered the box (which attaches to the
bottom of the EV) through the linkage hole.  If you see water drops
forming on or around your shift lever, take it apart, there's a swamp 
under there.  There was about a cup of rusty water in there!  Yuk.

About the Bentley:  I got a reply from Bentley too this week, like Ric.
Lots of apologies - no book.  I'm really starting to get nervous that I'll
need it before late next summer!  Whoever it was that was getting the VW 
shop book, can we ask you to look up things when we run into trouble?!!

rob
93 EV
87 Quantum GL5