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Date:         Mon, 25 May 1998 23:50:18 EDT
Reply-To:     Kim <Kim@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Kim <Kim@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Syncro Trip (Part 2)
Comments: cc: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In a message dated 5/24/98 9:05:08 PM, vw4x4@fyi.net writes:

> The starter isn't the problem. You are over heated. Check for vacuum >leaks. It took me a year to find this problem. There is a small white tube >that goes into the idle stablizer mount/hose (under it). It runs to the >fuel tank vaper canister. It was off.

No, it really is the starter (or as one other person posted, the solenoid on the starter). I have had this happen in the past on a beetle. I can hear the starter spin, but the engine never does. At any rate, after the first day, I only had the problem 1 more time (the first time I started the engine on Day 2). So heat wasn't really the problem. I gave the outside of the starter a tap with my wrench (in case the solenoid was simply sticking), and it has been happy since (phew!). I'll still replace it when I get back home.

On the other paw, I was pulling out of El Paso, Texas when the idiot light for the oil popped on. That seemed strange, although the tempature WAS very hot outdoors, and I had been pulling a couple of grades with the AC full on.

So, I pull into a Truck stop and check the oil dip stick. Nothing on it. I mean, really, nothing. I quadruple checked this, thinking the bright sunshine and clean oil was just making it hard for me to see the oil. But, no, it really had nothing on the dip stick. Add a quart (when I picked up the oil for my change before leaving LA, I had smartly picked up 4 extra quarts). After letting the oil seep into the engine a bit, I check the dip stick. A drop at the very end now showed up. I add another quart. After a bit of waiting, the oil level is now at the bottom mark. I start up the engine, sure enough the oil light goes out. After another 5 minutes (after shutting off the engine), I check again and the oil line is a bit below the bottom mark. Add another quart. And off we go again.

About a hundred miles later, I check the oil again (as I'm getting gas). Seems normal, though I see an oil spot under the car now (might be mine, might be someone elses) and I had been looking for those each time...Odd, well pick up another 5 quarts of oil and keep on trucking. Stop before we get to those nasty thunderstorms in Western Texas and call it a night. Inspect sunburn(!) from being out in the sun adding oil in the middle of the hottest part of the day.

Sidenote: Day 2 had me cruise through (without stopping) Tombstone AZ (tourist trap), and wind my way through Bisbee (cool town and not touristy at all), and then patrol the Mexican border for a while (beautiful Sunset) before heading back up to the Interstate (I-10) and a rest over.


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