Date:         Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:26:19 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Randy Newell" <rnewell@epower.net>
Subject:      Rain problem and Upper control bushing question

Hey all! 	
Hope everyone is having a good day. Well at least tomorrow is Friday :) I
have several questions. I still have the runnability problem, but have made
the important connection to solving this mystery. Over the weekend, I took
her (my still nameless 86GL. anyone have any ideas for a good name? I was
going to use "Betty" (after my late Grandmother) but I see that's taken) to
one of those "Touch-less" automatic washes (which by the way did a VERY
impressive job, she was VERY dirty from all of the traveling and the box
shape of the Vanagon seems to be what they molded the sprayers to fit. Even
the undercarriage was squeaky clean ) to see the problem return after.
Started thinking about it, and ever time this has happened, the van was
wet. OK I can deal with this, I think to myself :) this morning on the
commute to work the sky just opened up, maybe about .5" in 20-30 min. The
van chugs a few times and died. (first time this has happened after it was
running for more then 5 minutes. But then there was enough water at one
time that I had the "waterfall" effect on the front windshield when
stopping. I pull over, get into the back ( I just love being able to get to
the engine without getting out and getting soaked :) the wires, cap, and
rotor are all dry. there is some water on the driver side around the coil
and the control unit (not sure if that's what it, so some of you more
experienced people can correct me if I'm wrong) BUT they aren't wet. The
only electrical thing that is wet is the wires to the o2 sensor. I wiped
every thing down but it eventually recovered because what ever was wet
dried out on its own, not because I found the culprit. My question is, can
the o2 sensor wires getting wet farther out (where I spliced the generic
together) would this cause the problem? I couldn't reach the splices
without going to the outside. Also, can I clean all the contacts and spray
them WD-40 to make them more water resistant? I have had some good luck
doing this to fix similar problems with my domestic cars. 

I just got my new upper control arm bushings, looked at the Bentley last
night. Was surprised to find a pretty good description of the procedure. My
questions are, is there a work around for the spot weld to keep them from
turning? I don't have a welder, but I at least have a grinder to get the
old ones out. Also do you really need a press to get the new ones in or can
you maybe use a suitable piece of wood and a hammer?

While I'm at it, does anyone know where to get one of those tools that you
use to adjust the rear brakes down. Trying to get the drums off to change
wheel cylinders proved to be a frustrating experience, that can't be done
with a screwdriver. 

TIA
Randy Newell
rnewell@epower.net