In  30 years of Alaska living never did I put chains on any of my vehicles. Only once did I ever put studded tires on my vehicle. And  only once did I ever own a 4 wheel drive vehicle......and it was a Jeep Wagoneer LTD. And even then I wouldn't have except I needed it on a job I had at a remote location for about a year. Once the job was finished, I didn't really need it then. Once I was back on the main highway system in Alaska I could have sold it but didn't. Didn't really need it's 4-wheel abilities nor the cost of 4-wheel drive maintenance. But I just drove it to rust --er, dust. When it died, I bought my 85GL Vanagon. The first winter with it I discovered I had to have studded tires on the thing in winter. On the day of the first ice-over I was going up a slight grade, and the rear broke free and spun me out in the middle of the highway while on my  way to Anchorage. My '68 Bus never did that.  Gave no warning, Really caught me by surprise. Turned around and went straight to the local Goodyear store. Bought a set of studded all-weather radials, never had a problem after that. As soon as roads cleared in spring, off they came and the regular tires were put back on. The method worked for me.

Oil pan heaters, block heaters or tank heaters were a must. Some people used battery warmers as well. I never did but the life of the battery would probably have been increased had I done so.

Starter on the 85GL protested every time I started it up in winter. Loud squeal. Even with all the preheating. I guess it just never got enough heat, sticking out in the cold underneath. After the engine was thoroughly warmed, I could shut down and re-start and it was fine. But after shutting down and getting cold-soaked overnight, it would protest. Never had any serious winter cold related problems. Heaters workd really well, and if the rear one was not blocked by feet or a box on the floor or whatever, it really would put out the heat and made the real difference in the comfort level on really cold days.

John Rodgers
88GL Driver

Brad Spear wrote:

I never had a tank heater in my '87 Syncro in the four years that I had it
and never had any trouble starting except when it got down to-35.  It still
started but didn't want to.  You will need to run a 3w-30 in the winter.
Just about anything else is like molasses and 20w-50 is like paste.

The last couple of winters have been pretty mild, only two or so days where
the high was below zero here in the Twin Cities metro area.

Saint Cloud has a VW dealership, we had a swap meet up there a few months
ago.  Jerry Coffin, JAC Auto Repair, Ramsey, MN, is a good one to go to,
He's not that far from Saint Cloud.

Let me know if you need any more info.

Brad Spear
'72 Westy
Burnsville, Minnesota

In a message dated 9/16/00 7:12:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
CTONLINE@WEBTV.NET writes:

<< John,
 First things first.
 You better think of installing a tank heater, or at least a lower hose
 heater, so the VW will want to start, in the sub zero temps.
 Get a grill cover made to keep your tootsies toasty.
 Purchase some 5W oil to run in the winter, or at least some 5W20.
 Oil turns into molassis up there real quick. The roads up there are
 cleaned up faster than you can imagine, so chains aren't really nessary,
 and I don't think you can run them anyway unless it's a emergency
 (Getting un-stuck, then take them off)
 Why in the heck would anyone want to move to the "Land of Eternal Cold"
 anyway?

 Hasta,

 Terry

 85 GL >>