Date:         Wed, 9 Jul 1997 22:06:12 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ronclay@ldd.net (Ron Clayton)
Subject:      various Vanagon talesŠ

Hello All:

I've been following several threads on the list having to do  with  FI
control units, Vanagon safty, crash worthiness, etc. and, electric door
locks, locks, locks=8A  I had a hair raising but reasuring experinece of the
second kind today which promts me to throw in my two cents worth on all
three topics.

=46irst: the control unit:  Recently I offerd to send a listee one I have
that was removed from my '84 some years ago.  As I said, it may or may not
be good but given the price of a new one ane that I'll just give this one
to anyone interested, it's worth a try, =8Aseems a shame to just pitch it
when it could be good.

Second: the crash, I got caught in one of those bumper car events on the
freeway in St. Louis today in my '91 GL. You know the kind, 5:pm 65mph,
nose in someone's tail pipe and then some idiot up the line puts on their
brakes?
=46irst time I ever really had to stand on mine (new pads up front).Later
model Vanagons just hunker down and stop. Right - now. No sliding, no
swaying, no needum abs.  Unfortunatly, the Woman behind me hadn't the same
control of her Chevy. I expected to be looking for a new tailgate et. al.
instead I'll be needing the fiberglass bumper and that's all. No body
pannal damage at all,
and fortunatly the responsible party is insured and cooperative.

=46inally, the door locks.  that's why I was in St. Louis, to get mine fixed=
..
another listee complained of electric door locks that cycled endlessly
when first unlocked.  Mine had been doing the same thing for a week.  It
turned out to be a break in the white wire that lets the system know a lock
has been unlocked.  Since all locks work together it could be a bit tricky
to track down but I should think that a methodical continuity check would
eventually turn up the break.