Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 11:46:51 PDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Shawn Wright" <SW@smus.bc.ca>
Subject: Re: joys of new ownership?
On 14 Jul 96 at 16:29, bomhag@hg.uleth.ca wrote:
> Hello watercoolers,
> 1) Because it was new to me, I had the van "tuned" up by my mechanic who does
> most work on my 1986 Volvo DL. It runs smoothly but I noticed that while
> riding really slow in 1st or 2nd gear, around a campground lets say, the van was
> really "herky jerky" or bouncy. It was really sensitive when I gave it a
> little gas or let it off. I didn't really notice this before the "tune up".
> Can anyone identify with this? Is there a solution?
Not sure about the 83-85 engines, but on mine this symptom was caused
mainly by a sticking throttle position switch. It is a small switch
under the throttle body which should close at idle and full throttle.
Check the Bentley manual for the exact description on your '84.
> 2) My fridge. Me and fridges don't get along. I had it serviced
by an RV
> outfit. They got it going on 110V and propane, and said everything was okay.
> You bet, on Thursday I got it going on 110V and things were nice and cold in
> the morning. Before we left I got it going on propane. Took a some doing
> which was a little disconcerting. I had been told not to run it on 12V while
> riding because it still draws a lot of current. "Turn on the propane and
> forget about it until you get home" was the advise I got from more than one
> person. When I got set up at camp fridge wasn't on. I wasn't out of propane
> because I got the stove going. I then went through the whole procedure of
> getting the fridge going again and sure enough it lit and stayed on all night.
> I discovered that the fridge would turn off when I was *driving* because when we
> got to the trail head of our hike it was off again! Obviously the pilot light
> was being snuffed out. Again, can anyone identify with this? Is
> there a solution?
Yes, don't run the propane on. My Dad does this with his truck &
camper, but I prefer not to risk a gas leak. I've run for 2 weeks
straight using gas at night, and 12v while driving with *no*
problems. (just make sure the van is level when you light the gas).
If the 12v isn't working check the fuse behind driver's seat on the
floor. I found that if the fridge was already cold, 12v could
maintain the frost on the fins while driving, even when 80-90 outside.
Shawn
'88 Westy 332k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 350k (Jenni)
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