Date:         Thu, 11 Apr 96 09:29:49 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mancuso <Mancuso@etown.k12.pa.us>
Subject:      This could happen to you....(a little long)

..if you're as dumb as I am.

I'm driving down to Johns Hopkins to class yesterday (between Baltimore 
and Washington--I live in York, PA, a two hour drive), and the alternator 
and OXS lights begin to flicker. I stare at them increduluosly for about 
20 miles, thinking, "Why both? This must be a strange electrical problem. 
It just doesn't make sense." and etc.
About 25 miles down the road, as I'm looking at the lights, they go off. 
Instantly. Both of them.
So I just chalk it up to the whims of the VW gods. But as I approach the 
campus, the lights come back on again. I check the belt, and it's fine 
(old, but fine).
I go to class, and come back out again at 8pm. I start up the van, and 
get the same lights. I decide to just drive for home to PA and see what 
happens. It's dark now so I have to use the headlights. I figure if the 
alternator is really bad, my lights will fade relatively quickly.
After a half hour, I see no change. So I turn on the stereo and crank it 
up, and figure I'll look at this strange problem tomorrow.
I make it around the Baltimore beltway and get on 83 North to PA.
My first strange indication of trouble: a few miles from the PA line, I'm 
using cruise control and I try to change lanes. When I put the turn 
signal on, the cruise cuts out. I experiment with this for a minute. 
Hmmmm. That's odd.
Then, I notice that the turn signal no longer blinks. And the hazard 
switch won't blink either. and then the lights begin to turn really dim 
(stop laughing). So I turn off the stereo I've been blasting and turn 
down the instrument panel lights (like that'll really do anything). I 
think "If I can just make it home, I'll work on it in the morning."
I notice several interesting things at this point. the water temp gauge 
reads really low. So does the gas gauge. As the power goes down, so do 
the gauges. Oddly, the tachometer also goes down (I didn't know the tach 
was electrical; I thought it was mechanical, like the speedometer).
I notice I've unconsciously begun to go faster, as if by driving 70 mph 
I'll recharge a dying system.
Then, it happens: a few hundred yards before the PA border, I lose all 
pwer of mobility. The van just got too tired to go on. "Dave, you go on 
without me. I've just...got...to ....rest.."
So I turn on the cell phone (lucky it has its own battery) and called AAA 
(that bone of contention among list members). I volunteered to push the 
van across the state line if it would be a problem (there was much 
discussion of this in the background--but I think it was because they 
weren't sure exactly where I was, and couldn't understand that I was 
right _at_ the state line).
In about 25 minutes, the tow truck arrived. I used the time to check 
connections, etc. They tow truck guy jumped it, but still the lights were 
on.
We loaded up the van and started for home. The tow truck was great. It 
had a double cab, and I had the back all to myself (the guy's girfriend, 
or maybe his administrative assistant, rode in the front). It felt like I 
was in the limousine of tow trucks. It pulled the van like a toy (he said 
it had a diesel 450 in it, or something like that. I didn't tell him the 
displacement of the Vanagon, to save further embarassment). When we 
pulled up to my house, my wife freaked, because of course I hadn't 
thought to call her and tell her what was up (this big truck with yellow 
flashing lights pulls up to your house with your husband's van--where is 
he?).
So now Kalypso is home resting comfortably, and I'm looking for a new 
alternator. The only question I have is why did the OXS light come on as 
well? Seems a bit fishy to me, and the Bentley manual doesn't tie them 
together. Unless a short somewhere else has drained the system and caused 
these lights to go on.
I'll get the alternator, but test the system as per Bentley before 
replacement, I guess.

Thanks for reading,
Dave


==========================

Dave Mancuso
Mancuso@etown.k12.pa.us
Mancuso@aol.com (Checked rarely)

"I guess we'll just have to burn that bridge when we get to it..."


'87 Westy (Kalypso)