Hi all,

I lurked on this list for a whole year before buying my Vanagon, and
when I first took it to a Vanagon-knowledgeable mechanic for it's first
batch of repairs, I asked about a timing belt.  I am not ashamed to
announce that!  The honest mechanic educated me, and now I know.  I was
ignorant, but not stupid.  There is a difference.  Stupid would be
ignoring a potential big preventitive maintenance issue because you were
too embarrassed to ask about it.    Now, in other areas of my life I
have made decisions that can be qualified as stupid, but they are off
topic.

Michael