Date:         Fri, 7 May 1999 09:01:55 -0400
Reply-To:     L&A Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@SYMPATICO.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         L&A Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@SYMPATICO.CA>
Subject:      The Mouse that ate our Vanagon
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Man vs. Mouse:

After sitting for three months in a friends back yard, our Vanagon
started on the first attempt (no black smoke, no hydraulic valve lifter
noise ... but ... NO IDLE).

Yesterday, I found THE NEST.

The entire space behind the rear right tail light was packed with
grass/string/feathers/bits of wire. The little bu**ers had eaten through
8 of the 11 wires connecting the Idle Stabilizer Relay and 5 of the
eaten wires were white. Which white wire goes to which post?!!! Out came
the Bentley. Each wire was identified by checking continuity to the Idle
Valve wires and the Power Steering switch wires (fortunately, this was
enough because the next white wire to test was the Temp II from the
AFM). Now using three hands (my wife helped) each wire was soldered back
together and heat shrinked. We plugged the relay back in, reconnected
the battery, started the engine and IT IDLED ... even better that it
used to (perhaps the mice have been eating these wires for longer that
three months). I shudder to think what a VW dealer would have done/cost
if we gave the van to them to fix.
Glad to be back,
Larry and Avery