Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 00:31:21 EST
Reply-To: JordanVw@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: JordanVw@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Sunroof owners (attn!)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
In a message dated 98-11-25 21:30:42 EST, keen@POLARIS.DIGITAL-GALAXY.NET
writes:
<< Does it operate correctly? Opens fully, closes fine and completely?
Does it grind and/or is it hard to move?
Does it leak?
And...do bus/vanagons roofs vent? (open so the rear lifts to allow
ventilation..) Or are they open/close only?
Have you (or anyone else..) ever worked on it, to your knowledge? What
was done?
>>
youre talking to a sunroof junkie.. :<)
i've owned 3 Vanagons with the huge factory steel sliding sunroofs (an '83.5,
and 2 '84's - my other '84 sunroof van is for sale, if anyone's interested)
and hadnt had a problem w/ any of them leaking. the main thing is to keep the
drains clean, and dont park your van under like pine trees, w/ small needles
that will clog the drains. the vanagon sunroof is approx 3 foot 6 inches
square...a BIG sunroof... :<) sunroofs were offered on US model Vanagons until
'87 - though, '86 and '87 are rare to have sunroofs, and there was no a/c
option in '86-'87 for the sunroof models. The sunroof operates by a hand
crank, kinda over the drivers head - off center so you can add a center a/c
duct if you wanted a/c. (my '84 wolfy has both a factory sunroof, and a/c)
the sunroof vanagons, had a double metal roof that the sunroof slides back
into. it takes QUITE a few turns, to open it fully, and when you close it,
you have to remember to look and see if its closed all the way, sometimes it
will feel like its shut, but will need one final turn to get the back to pop
back up with the rest of the roofline, and fully close. its not hard to
crank, maybe slightly more, than a small sedan sunroof, since youre cranking
something more than twice the size, but its fairly easy... ive never had a
sunroof cable break, i usually lube the cable and tracks once a year w/ white
grease, and make sure the drains are clean. then again, im not cranking that
thing all the way open and closed each day, either.
The vanagon/bus steel sunroofs do not have the "vent" feature, where the rear
pops up, but just crank the sunroof open a few inches, and it'll allow a
small amount of air to enter.. ive replaced the exterior seal - the cloth
lined gasket thing.. it was easy, it just glues on.
chris
'84 Vanagon Wolfsburg Sunroof with a/c
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