Greetings!

I, too am a newbie, my wife and I having just purchased an 87 Syncro Westy.
This is my first VW to own (although my parents owned a 1974 camper -- bright
orange!) having been a Volvo person up to now.  I have a few questions
already...

1. Our van has the aftermarket Behr A/C.  It doesn't work at present.  While
having a stereo installed the installer noticed one of the fuses was missing
from the 4-fuse panel, which he replaced, but still no joy.  The compressor
will not engage.  Anyone have some good documentation on this system?  I have a
call into Behr in Texas, but I've not heard back from them yet.

2. The first thing I had to do was replace the rear brakes, as the left rear
had apparently locked up during the drive to Oregon from northern California.
Now I find I have no parking brake effectiveness at all...I _think_ I have the
rear brakes adjusted correctly, am I missing something obvious?  At present I'm
planning on having the local dealer align the wheels, so I may have them
re-adjust the brakes at that time unless someone has a magic solution for me.

3. The differential lock doesn't engage.  From what I've read here already, it
is usually a vacuum line failure, but if that's not it, I'm probably looking at
a rather expensive repair, right?  How useful is the locking diff for mostly
on-road use (i.e. winter driving, etc.)?  Also, I've read here that the
expected lifespan of the viscous coupling is only 80K miles...this rig has 130K
already...does that mean I'm looking at having to replace that too, or is the
80K only a guideline?

Thanks in advance for all your help...the archive has already been very useful.

Steve

'62 Volvo PV544
'87 Vanagon Syncro Westfalia
'98 BMW Z3
'00 Volvo Cross Country (another viscous coupling! Yikes!)