Date:         Fri, 12 Jul 1996 15:52:27 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright" <SW@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: general parts questions

On 12 Jul 96 at 17:05, Mike wrote:
>         As I will be leaving on my 2 week trek shortly and have started
> gathering things I'll hopefully not need to use but will bring anyhow, I
> need some clarification on whats what. You may tell by what Im about to ask
> that I dont have a very extensive mechanical knowledge but damn am I ever
> willing to suck it all up and become the human learning sponge.
>         `So then...it was suggested, and other poeple take them in their
> 'travel supply kits' from what Ive read around here , to bring some extra
> 'points', and 'rotors' when I hit the road. I have NO IDEA what these are,
> so could someone enlighten me a bit?
>         My Bentley should be here on monday so hopefully it'll clarify alot
> of my curiosities, but till then any help would be appreciated.
> 
Points don't apply since the w/c engines don't have them, and 
I don't think the a/c vanagon do either. I'd say replace your 
dist. cap & rotor before leaving if you can (or haven't done so in 
the last 20k or so). If it were me, I'd check the looks of the 
rotor & cap and buy new ones anyway - replace if they're worn, keep 
for spares if they look ok. A worn cap / rotor will show lots of 
pitting on the contacts. It's 5 minute job tops.

Also - check carefully all the fuel line junctions from the tank 
back. My '88 had a leak at the coupler just ahead of the engine, 
which was hard to spot, but could have meant disaster. If the clamps 
look rusty (and are the factory crimp-on type) replace with stainless 
screw-on clamps. If you can move the clamp *at all* on the hose, then 
it's too loose.

Shawn
'88 Westy 332k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 350k (Jenni)