Date:         Sun, 14 Jul 1996 15:27:40 MST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         bomhag@hg.uleth.ca
Subject:      joys of new ownership?

Hello watercoolers,

I just finished my first "overnighter" in my recently purchased '84 Westfalia.
It was a great success!  We were going to camp in Waterton Park but at the 
park gate found that all sites were full ... surprise, surprise.  Not to fear
we headed to another campground, knowing that if it was full we could
pull over and set up at the side of the road.  (You can't do that with a tent
trailer!)  Anyways we found a great spot at the Belly River Campground, very
quiet and peaceful.  Yesterday we went back into the park and hiked the Rowe 
Lakes trail.  I can definitely recommend this hike.  "Wow" was on our lips most
of the day.  Clear and warm weather certainly added to the appeal of our day's 
experience.

Anyway, I would like to ask for some advise on 2 things about my van.

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? 

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?

Arie
'84 Westfalia
'86 Volvo DL

PS.  For the benefit of this newbie, is "Westy" short for Westfalia?