Hi

We recently moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia from Davis,
California. We had to leave our diesel Rabbit and pickup behind. I hated to
do it but had no choice. We still have too many vehicles according to my
wife.

We are looking to meet some new Vanagon folks around here. Are there any
Vanagon happenings going on in this area this year?

Our '82 Vanagon diesel survived the winter here just fine except for some
slow starts on very cold nights in the single digits. I only had to drive it
in the salt once and quickly washed it all off. I have noticed much more
smoke when it starts also but will be switching back to 20W-50 Castrol today
which may help. I have been using 10W-40 for the winter. The mileage is at
125,000 now and it runs and looks excellent. I do need some stock hubcaps to
make it look better.

The heater has also quit pumping out very much heat. I notice some gurgling
sounds coming from under the dash and wonder if this may have something to
do with changing the waterpump last fall in California. I have read or heard
that the cooling system may need to be bled after it has been drained some.
Is this difficult?

Many thanks in advance.

Jim Snyder
'82 Vanagon diesel
'99 Jetta TDI
'93 Toyota Celica
'86 Harley Davidson FLTC