Date:         Fri, 16 May 1997 10:21:47 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         KENYON FAIREY <kfairey@oit.umass.edu>
Subject:      Re: very poor recall work (long)

Randy -

Again the gas line leak appears! There has been some discussion on this on the
list in the past - but I will repeat as it seems relevant.

I have owned 3 Westies and ALL have had this problem. The first was an '80 that
sprung the leak in about '89-'90. Cost me about $150 for parts and labor. My
first '91 sprung the leak shortly after I bought it in '95 - it had only 10k
miles and had not been driven much. I just bought another '91 with 28k miles.
I asked the dealer to check for the possibility of this leak - he did and he
fixed it prior to the sale so I didn't have to pay for it the third time
round.

Cost: the first repair in '89 was done at an "independent" foreign car shop
and they charged me $150 parts and labor (they even charged for refilling the
tank - after they had drained it!). The second was done at my VW dealership
(the usually high priced guys) and they charged $125 in '95. As I recall the
parts are about $32+. The major cost is dropping the tank to reach all the
cross over pipes and hoses.

This does seem to be a reoccuring problem as the hoses get "tired". You can
postpone the repair by not filling your tank completely, as this is in the
overflow system. But I like to run with a full tank on a trip - and I don't
like the smell of gas if I goof!

Did your guys cause it . . . I would guess not, but its too bad they didn't
notice that the hoses/fittings were brittle and about to go when they were
in the area. I would rather have them tell me "this is about to go and since
we have the tank dropped already, it will cost you $35 for the parts and almost
no labot to fix it now" then to put it back and have it go after. Probably was
about to happen anyway - on that they are right!


Randy wrote (edited down):
> 
> Well, today I picked up the Van from the dealer today, about a month ago,
> they performed  the recall on my 86 GL, (replaced fuel tank, idol
> controller, ect. and re-attached the AC vents to the roof). 

> gas tank leaking when it's full to the top (never had this problem before,
> but appeared the same day I picked it up the first time) They said the
> sending unit in/on the fuel tank is leaking, my response: "fix it! It
> wasn't broke when I brought it to you" their response: "it's leaking from
> the tubes that come out of the top of it. It wasn't part of the recall they
> didn't do anything to make it leak, it's just old" Well, I proceeded to

> Randy Newell
> 86 GL 142K 
> rnewell@epower.net
> 


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