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Date:         Wed, 31 Mar 1999 22:54:57 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <inua@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <inua@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Subject:      Back Online

-- [ From: John Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --

Howdy Vanagoneers! Went offline for quite a spell (since January) while re- locating and have anxiously awaited this moment......Reconnected!!

There are tales to tell but first let me say it is good to be back with the Vanagon crowd.

My travels over the last couple of years have taken me from Alaska to Alabama and now to New Mexico. I expect to get back to Alaska eventually. My trusty steed for all that was first a 1985 GL and later (and currently ) a 1988 GL, the latter of which turned out not to be so trusty a steed in the beginning. And that is quite a story.

It began one day before I was to drive to New Mexico from Birmingham, Alabama. Had the Van in to my favorite Van guru, Roger Williams of Rogers Auto Repair in Bessemer, basically a suburb of Birmingham. Good man, Roger, and exellent mechanic on vanagons.

He had done a brake job for me, replaced steering rack boots, installed new O2 sensoe, new cat converter, new muffler and tail pipe. While it was in there, and just because I was about to leave on a long trip, I asked him to drain the tranny and put in new oil. When he did, there was all kinds of metal, not chunks but filings a plenty. He also told me the tranny fluid was so low, it was hard to measure. He also said it looked like the filler plug had never been removed -- ever. That was especially disturbing because I had just had it in to a Texaco Service center for servicing with oil change, filter, and tranny check. They signed the tranny off as having been checked .

Anyway, I had a whine in the transaxle, Roger had heard it, and after some discussion about the metal in the oil, the whine, and the low oil situation, I decided - at his recommendation - to have the tranny pulled and torn down . Sure enough, there were internal problems that were about to get big, but they were caught in time. This minimized my cost, and I got away with only having to install $179 worth of new parts. The teardown began a long series of frustrating episodes of waiting for parts, wrong parts being sent, parts being shipped with incomplete address and consequently being returned to the vendor and then being reshipped, delays by vendor like shipping by regular UPS instead of overnight as requested, and then part arriving to late on Friday for installation and having to wait until Monday because the Garage doesn't operate on Saturday, holding shipment on a whole order for 5 days because a single item in the order didn't happen to be in stock, thereby hanging the shipment up through a weekend because the piece aririved to the vendor so late ....I mean it went on and on.

Vendors reading this list....take note....and tighten up your collective acts. Communicate to make it plain, Service to the customer is the game. Remember the Golden Rule. The vendor that provides good service gets the gold.......over and over again.

OK, enough of my soapbox routine.

Roger finally got everything necessary, repaired the tranny, reinstalled it, lubed the CV's, and sent me packing. Tranny worked like a champ.

Ten miles from the shop I noticed water droplets on the real window( it was right after 6 pm. just good and dark) when a car behind me would shine his lights. How could that be---none on the front window...besides it's a perfectly clear night...not a cloud in the sky. I looked at the temp guage.. .low water light was not on. Temp needle did seem a trifle high. I could feel a little pinging detonation though when I went up a hill. Opened the heater all the way just in case.Pulled over at a gas station and boy...got a huge cloud of steam out of the rear vents.

Waited a while, then opened the hatch, couldn't see clearly...it was dark, but the expansion tank appeared empty. Left it for the night. Had it towed to Rogers next day...Sat. He found that the low water level sensor was out of the tank...threads appeared stripped. He put some tape on them, and threaded it back in the tank, Started the engine up. As soon as it began to warm up, the sensor blew right out of the tank. He inspected the tank threads, They seemed worn and stretched, so I ordered another tank with a new pressure cap, and new sensor. Installed it, refilled the system with coolant, started the engine, and as soon as the engine began to warm, the sensor was blown right out and with such force that the threads were stripped out backwards on the sensor.

Roger ordered another sensor, and at the same time mentioned the problem to Dan, at the Bus Depot. Dan said it sounds exactly like a thermostat problem. That was ordered as well. Sure enough, with the new sensor installed, new thermostat installed, it ran like a champ....and cooled better that it ever has.

Next day while at the drive up window at the bank....clouds of steam from the rear vents. Got out, lifted the hatch, and there was this little stream of coolant spewing out of a hose from the oil cooler to the water pump. It was spraying directly down on the exhaust pipe. Still had plenty of coolant. ..so I drove to Rogers. He and I checked...turns out it is a 4" molded hose available only from the VW dealer. It is 5/8" on one end and 3/8 inch on the other. $60 at the dealership. No way, man. So Roger, calling on his many years of experience in the auto repair business, scrounged up a Honda hose with the right bends in it, installed it, and there has been no problem since. I made my trip without further incident.

One thing, in response to operating tempurature, my machine ran consistantly with the temp needle just partially covering the upper side of the low level warning light. Hung right there the whole 1350 miles. That seems to be its spot.

Well, 'nuf said for now. A tale of crossing the Great Plains will come later.

In the mean time, any of you Vanagon owners live out Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Espanola I am looking for any good mechanics in the region. I am actually staying in the Espanola area for the time being.

John Rodgers "88 GL Driver in Espanola, NM


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