Date:         18 Jan 97 23:08:11 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Turner,Ronald L." <102660.66@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:      Copy of: Re: Tiny orange switch right of steering column below dash?


---------- Forwarded Message ----------

>From:	Turner,Ronald L., 102660,66
TO:	dan perdue, INTERNET:dperdue@metrolink.net
DATE:	1/18/97 11:12 PM

RE:	Copy of: Re: Tiny orange switch right of steering column below dash?

>Oh, no you are not being rude. I just don't know what's going on with this
>darn thing. Do you mean "Gas" as in propane or as in 87 octane unleaded? My
>van is a standard van with the heating system like on a VW Bug. There is no
>propane tank on it anywhere. I shouldn't be able to miss seeing the propane
>tank, right?
> I guess you can add me to the list of the ding dongs that don't know what
>the  green knob does.  I thought that the green knob was for the
>inoperative a/c unit.

AHH  HAAA!!!!   I knew it!....

Well, my friend, it looks as if you have just discovered your van has a gas
heater.
An Eberspacher BA6 gas heater, to be exact. I actually had to go out to a
junkyard and buy one and remove it off the van, because my van did not have that
option. People kill for these things.... You lucky dog!!  I will have to spend
quite a while installing it on my van since mine didn't come with it.  Gas as in
gasoline fired heater. There is no propane style tank - it taps gasoline right
out of the fuel line.  Look under your van. Do you see that the center heater
tube is covered by a large sheetmetal panel? Well, that's where the furnace is
located.  Look under your back seat. Do you see that hole vent thing towards the
right side of the van on that sloping part of the floor under the backseat?
Well, that is the recirculation vent for drawing the interior air back into the
gas heater. The switch that you were describing in your previous post was one of
the safety switches for the gas heater. It had nothing to do with your van
stalling out - I guess it was just a fluke that your van happened to start at
the same time you touched it. That switch is only for the gas heater. The green
TEMP knob on your dash is the gas heater switch and timer. When you push it in
and turn it you can hear the timer clicking away. The neat thing about a gas
heater is that you can use it while the engine is shut off, like while camping
or whatever. The gas heater is mounted in place of your center heater tube. They
are often called "heater boosters" because they take the pathetically heated air
that is coming out of the stock heater boxes, and a fan draws it into the gas
heater furnace, where a gasoline fired flame heats the air up even hotter, and
then it is forced up front to the dash vents. also the interior air in the van
(which is already warm) is recirculated back into the gas heater via that hole
behind the back seat I was talking about.  Good thing about gas heaters is that
the heat is "instant heat" - no more waiting for an hour for the van to get warm
on cold days.

have fun w/ your new find, and if you need any more tips like getting it going
and repair manual info, let me know - I can copy a few manuals I have for you.

chris