What is the real problem with warm up? Is it that you want heat faster,
(in Houston?) or is it not drivable until it warms up? The only thing
that can be defective to prevent proper warm up is the thermostat,
unless something in the plumbing is incorrect. If it is an operational
issue, than some troubleshooting has to be done to make it right.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Taobythesea@aol.com [mailto:Taobythesea@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 9:24 PM
To: dhaynes@optonline.net; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: How Long Does it Take Your Van to Warm up? Cont.

Dennis and all,
I guess I will have to replace the harness one day with the proper one,
but this thing
has all kinds of swapped parts.  Imagine a fire going for about 5
minutes, and all that
is not metal or steel just melting.  The wiring, hoses, coolant
reservoir, expansion tank,
thermostat housing...I mean I have a three-page receipt of all these
parts!  We basically
found the only salvagable van in Houston and bought it.  It happened to
be a 1984.  (Btw,
to the fellow that asked, the ECU came from the 1984 "donor van" and is
currently
mounted in the engine bay underneath the cabinet, near the left turn
signal).
The new parts were the starter, alternator, water pump, power-steering
pump, battery,
etc. and a $422.21 ac compressor (hey, its Houston! ;-)  I think the
distributor came
from the 84, and we were able to use the same injectors.  I put this van
in the shop on
6/16/04 and didn't get it back until 8/19/04.  I told them to take their
time and do it right,
and boy did they!  I am proud of my mechanics, Shippers Foreign Auto on
Canino Rd.
Blake Boerker kept my 77 Karmann Ghia going, my 84 Scirroco, and my
sisters old
Rabbit (don't remember the year?).  He literally begged me not to get
this van, but I didn't
listen.  Nearly $7,000 later it runs like a champ, but TAKES TOO DAMN
LONG TO WARM
UP ;-)  I'm sure we will fix this too eventually.  Btw, this is my daily
driver so I HAVE to
keep it going.
I have been trying to keep from going to Blake, and save some money
since I was layed-off
last month...I'm just not that mechanically inclined.  I'm going to try
and raise the idle,
and set the timing and see what happens.  I will probably have to go see
Blake before I try
and take off to Minnesota in a little over three weeks!  I am moving my
wife and two dogs
up :-(
thanks for the info!
james in Houston