Date:         Wed, 2 Jul 1997 23:37:44 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "The Bus Depot" <list@busdepot.com>
Subject:      1st vacation in new Westy tomorrow (& A/C problems today)

Well, Evon and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for our first
somewhat-extended trip (about 8 hours each way) in our '89 Westy since I
bought it a couple of months back.  We're going to the Great Blue Heron
Music Festival in Jamestown, NY (near Erie, Pa), which I highly recommend
for anyone out that way.  (See my previous post.)  The van seems to be
running fine, although there is a *very* slight "chugging" below 3000 rpm
that I haven't been able to identify.  Barely perceptable at all, and
doesn't seem to be worsening, so I'm hoping it will be alright. I'm
guessing it may be fuel injection related, but as yet it's so minor that it
would be nearly impossible to find.   As a whole, this van has been
extremely reliable (on short trips) since I got it, so I think it'll be
just fine.  (It better be, as we do a lot of traveling in our Westy during
the summer!)  Still, the first long trip in a "new" bus is always just
slightly scary, since you never know just what you're dealing with...

The only thing that still isn't working is the air conditioning.  Remember,
this was a flood vehicle, so it was submerged in water up to the floor for
a few weeks.  The P.O. replaced virtually everything underneath (brakes,
wheel components, even trans), but never did the A/C (most of which is
underside).  I first took the van to a local garage that has the proper A/C
repair equipment about six weeks ago, and have been bringing it there
weekly ever since. :-(    First the compressor was bad, so I got another
one.  Then the expansion valve was clogged, so I ordered a new one.  Then
the evaporator turned out to be bad, so I ordered a new one from VW.  Once
that went in, they charged it up and there turned out to be a pinhole in
the condensor.  Fortunately it was in an accessable spot, so I brought it
to a local welder.  Well, after 2 hours of evacuating the system they still
couldn't get enough freon out of the condensor for the weld to work, so the
condensor had to come out to be welded.  Which brought us to the next
problem - both lines going into it were frozen solid.  They finally got
them loose, but half the threads are shot on the connections, so now that I
got the condensor welded, I'm not sure if there's enough left to thread the
lines onto.  Tomorrow morning the condensor goes back in (if the lines will
still thread into it), and we find out if there are more pinholes or other
problems.  We're rapidly running out of parts to replace, so sooner or
later the system will have to work!   Funny how a "minor" accessory like
A/C can become such a pain in the neck.  Like I said, the van has been
extremely reliable other than that, but this darn A/C is going to end up
costing $$$$$ to fix.  If I'd known before I started I might have just
lived without it. 

Anyway, enough bitching.  If anyone tries to reach The Bus Depot after noon
tomorrow, I'll be on a badly needed vacation until Monday morning.  And if
you see a blue '89 Westy with an older-style chrome bumper on the back
(and, most likely, the windows open!), that'll be us.

-Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com