Date:         18 May 96 16:03:31 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Linda J. Bartnik" <76065.3075@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:      hot weather driving

Hello all,
As summer draws closer and temps today are in the low 90s, my mind turns to
keeping my bus cool (relatively).

I just took it for a test drive today, some steady cruising, some hills, some
stop-and-go.  Got back to do the dipstick test ('78) and dipstick was hot enough
to be uncomfortable but I could still hold it in my hand without passing it back
and forth between hands.  Not too bad, I guess.

I've started running 20W-50 oil to help keep the engine temp down as well as to
hopefully cut down on oil consumption.  I think my new valve cover gaskets will
significantly cut down that consumption as I can only find a couple drips
underneath now where I used to find a small puddle right under -- you guessed it
-- the left side valve cover gasket.  Cross your fingers.

Parking brake now holds the bus on steep hills which is good for me as for a
week I'm using my bus as a pizza delivery vehicle and some folks around here
have STEEP driveways.  Had to park at the bottom of some of them last night
because the bus just kept rolling back, no matter how hard I pulled on that damn
handle.  Holds good now.

That's about it for now.  Sometimes working on my bus can be a pain, but I like
how she treats me after I treat her nice.  

Sean