Date:         Mon, 20 Oct 1997 13:40:38 -0400
Reply-To:     JLDilworth@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From:         John Dilworth <JLDilworth@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Syncro controls?

I'd appreciate a little info from some of you syncro owners.

Yesterday I test drove an '86 westy syncro, which I'm probably going to buy,
but I'm not completely clear on how the 4WD is supposed to work.  A few
things about it seem a little quirky, and it doesn't have a manual for the
syncro stuff. I don't have any previous experience with syncros, other than a
short drive once in a '90 owned by a neighbor.

When I first got into the '86 the knob for the locking differential was
pulled out. My reaction was "oh, someone left the differential locked".  It
turns out it works backwards from what I expected -- you push it in to
engage.  Do I remember the '90 being different from the '86?

In any case, the real question here concerns the fact that when you disengage
the lock by pulling out the knob, it sometimes took quite a while -- say 5 or
6 seconds -- before the lock would actually release.  Should I suspect a
vacuum leak somewhere, or this normal?  Why does it release immediately
sometimes and not others?

There are 3 green indicator lights above the knob, that apparently are to
tell you when  various locks are engaged.  The one for the rear differential
works fine when you push in the knob, but the other two never seem to light
up.  I'm assuming the front one is for a front differential lock, which I
understand no U.S. models have anyway. The center one I'm guessing is to tell
me when the front drive is being automatically engaged.  Am I right about
that?

During the test drive I took it to a very steep, rather soft dirt embankment
that it did a very good job of scaling, but in thinking about it later I
realized that the middle green light didn't go on.  It very well could just
be a problem with the light itself, but it made me wonder how to really
confirm that the front wheell drive is working?  I imagine if I went back up
the hill a few more times I'd be able to tell by the feel, but at this point
just having the rear differential locked is already such a different feel for
me, that I'm  not completely certain that it was indeed in 4 wheel drive.  Is
there any easy way to determine if it really is working?

Thanks in advance for any info on this.

John Dilworth
'83 Westy
'86 Westy Syncro hopefully