Hi...I have a 1983 Diesel....I was told by the PO that I needed to pull it out all the way...about 2 inches and let the engine warm up for at least one minute push in half way...wait another minute and put in all the way....I met a man in Canada that said it should be done all the time even in warm weather...so I am consistant about that ...note it doesn't come out very
easily...pushes in much easier..........Susan B.  83 diesel 'Harold' 86,000 and running great.........

Donna Stewart wrote:

> It's the "cold start knob" - I'm told it changes the amount of fuel or timing of fuel as it goes into injector to help the engine going when it's cold.  Mine's busted - went to the dealer and cable is expensive (don't remember how much), but I live in California so I haven't needed it all winter.  I think in a Rabbit it came out about 2 inches - hard to remember back that far!
>
> Donna, 1982 Diesel, run the commute with her this morning
>
> >>> "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@CORNHUSKER.NET> 01/08/01 02:37PM >>>
> I think you did brake the cable mine only comes out about an inch and is
> very stiff. Does anyone out there know exactly what the knob does and where
> to get a replacement cable? And yes your suggestions helped alot and I
> cannot believe that anyone could charge $45.00 to do that. It only took my
> wife and I 10 minutes to get it in, and it hasn't fallen out yet :-)).
> Fred
> 1982 Vanagon Westy Diesel "Sammy"
> 1984 GMC Suburban Diesel 4 X 4 " The Beast"
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Michael E. Pidcoe" <pidcoe@sprintmail.com>
> To: "Frederick M. Wasserstein" <vwvan@cornhusker.net>
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 4:28 PM
> Subject: Diesel question
>
> > Hi Fred,
> > My '82 Diesel's choke (for lack of a better name) knob used to only pull
> > out about an inch or so from the dash and was very stiff.  Today it
> > pulled about two and a half inches out and was quite smooth.  I popped
> > the engine lid open an after a little searching, found where it attaches
> > and expected to see it broken or something.  It looked OK.  I pushed it
> > in and checked the location of the lever where it attaches and then
> > pulled it back out.  The lever seems to moving the same distance as the
> > cable pulls.
> > My question is this.  Do you think that the cable was just stuck?  I
> > have only had the van for a few weeks and I assumed that the one inch
> > pull was normal.  Now that I see what it is tugging on, I am thinking
> > that it must have been stuck or something.
> > Thanks,
> > Mike Pidcoe
> > '82 Diesel (Hanagon-Blue)
> > '86 syncro (suby powered - very very soon)
> >
> > PS.  Did my side window installation tips help at all?