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Date:         Fri, 12 Jun 1998 09:31:46 -0700
Reply-To:     Björn <bratjen@DIRECT.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Björn <bratjen@DIRECT.CA>
Subject:      Re: I swear I put it back on....
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

At 09:05 AM 12/06/98 -0400, Anthony L. Mourkas wrote: >Went to check the oil this morning, and the cap on the oil filler tube >was not attached!!! Luckily I found it down by the fan and rectified the >situation. > I sure hope it was the cap only. Without the tube there would be little oil left in the engine which would indeed affect performance....

>Question - Other than possibly allowing foreign matter into the motor, >would the lack of an oil filler tube cap adversely affect engine >performance in any way? Just curious..... > It does not affect performance if you don't get any water or other items into the oil or loose to much of it.

Relevant story:

One day my spouse drove up to me in her Diesel Vanagon (I was picking up children from school), jumped out with terror on her face: "My car is burning!". Indeed there was some smoke coming from the back, but it did not look like the one caused by fire. Upon checking I found that the oil filler cap had come off. Oil was splattered all over the place and had caused the smoking from the contact with exhaust parts. I put the cap on, checked the oil and said, "It's okay, you can drive it again." (totally cool, what a hero...). This was first met with disbelief but I could finally convince her that it was indeed okay. The mistake I had made was that I had given the van to the local VW dealer for an oil change. Usually I do it myself. They had not put the cap on tight enough. In the end they gave the car a good clean to get the oil of the rear hatch and gave me a half-hearted apology. Lesson: Don't be lazy, do it yourself (and maybe do a final inspection on your work, Tony).

Björn Ratjen

Mill Bay, B.C.

1987 Syncro Est Alia (self camperized) 1995 Passat TD (1982 Vanagon Diesel) 1979 VW Bus (self- camperized)


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