Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 01:18:20 -0500 (EST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <drew@interport.net>
Subject: Re: '90 Westy Fridge Service & Rust (long)
>The dirt at the back of the fridge was incredible. Our van is air
>conditioned, so I guess most of that dust gets sucked in when camped.
> It took 3/4 hour to clean the dirt off the fins, and controls
>afterwards.
You can sometimes cheat by putting the most powerful vacume cleaner you can
find attached to the drain tube that comes down under the fridge. This will
quickly vacume out a lot of debris and you won't have to remove the fridge.
>to inside the van as well. I bought some 3M Rubberized Undercoating
Rubberized undercoating is not as good as a more wax-based product. Rubber
over a long time gets cracks in it (look at the cracks in the sidewall of an
old tire). Wax will flow into any cracks that appear.
>After that repair was complete, I started working on the black
>accessory boxes. I removed all the boxes, and was *amazed* as to
>what I saw. Same as the fridge flue vent. Again, as the cabinets
>were still in place, I could see from the inside of the van that
>there was corrosion in place, but it was difficult to get to.
>Canadian models have the 110 volt plug down below, and that was easy
>to fix. The pressurized watermain was relatively easy to get at, but
>the fresh water tank fill was impossible to access from the inside of
>the van without removing the cabinets... and I wasn't going to do
>that! I was able to clean up the rust on the inside from the outside
>be feel and a small mirror. It was tedious work, but I believe that
>I have got it all (I hope!).
There is a reinforcing bar that goes lengthwise up the side of the vehicle
about half way the height of the fridge. This bar rusts from the inside out
and you cannot tell the damage easily just by looking at it. Also, the
insulation behind the fridge on the floor should be pulled away so that it
does not lie directly on the floor. It traps water in there and rusts the floor.
>Before reassembly, I cleaned up the foam gaskets from the black boxes
>with an old toothbrush, and put a dab of silicone sealer on each
>screw hole in the sheetmetal, and around the perimeter of the black
>boxes. I had purchased some stainless steel screws to replace the
>stock plated ones. I also silicone sealed around the perimter of
>the cutouts on the inside for all cutout except the fresh water one.
been there. done that.
>
>Conclusion. I think it is worth the exercise to do this. Thanks to
I agree. But only if your wife and kid and job allow you to spend your time
this way.
>Hope this helps,
>Harry.
>
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>Harry Yates, Burnaby, BC, Canada
>'90 Syncro Westfalia email:hyates@bcit.bc.ca
>'87 Golf Diesel WWW:http://www.bcit.bc.ca/~hyates
>
>
___________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY
drew@interport.net (main address for e-mail)
derekdrew@aol.com (alternate/backup, checked infrequently)
