The fridge in the Westy is really a remarkably simple piece of
engineering. There isn't a lot that can go wrong. I'd begin with
verifying whether it works, by plugging it into the AC lines for 24
hours. If that works, then the issue may simply be when it is running
on propane. There can be a couple of things to check here. Does it HAVE
propane? Simple, but sometimes overlooked.Check to make sure the stove
works (and not just get gas out of it..try boiling a pot of water.) If
that is sucessful then we go onward.

Cleaning the combustion chamber is probably the next task. The
combustion chamber accumulates a surprising amount of ash over time. To
get at the combustion chamber you'd need to pull the fridge (you'd need
to do that anyway if you were replacing it.) There may be spiders in
the chamber, or something else. There could also be spiders in the
vents (if the intake and exhaust vents are blocked, the propane won't
work either...) Blocked vents won't prevent the fridge from working on
AC, which is why that's a good test first.

On Jan 20, 2005, at 4:03 AM, rockin' robyn wrote:
> I'm planning to buy an '87 Westy from my neighbour this weekend.  The
> only concern I have about the vehicle is that the refrigerator doesn't
> work and my neighbour said it has never worked in the 8 years he owned
> the van.  I would like to have a working fridge, but where would I find
> one?  I've tried searching the 'net and I can only find parts, not the
> whole fridge.  Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
>