But Don, most (I guess) of our vanagons don't have those kind of
issues. When I have fixed something, it has stayed fixed. I have two
old cars, both vanagons, and of course stuff comes up that needs to be
replaced. That's going to happen on any car. Does the AC give me
problems from time to time? Yep, but every four years or so is all it
bothers me.

It seems that the problem is your vanagon, seriously. You should sell
it and buy another one, I'll be you'll be a whole lot happier with it.
Don't get me wrong, there have been times that a window motor needed
replacing at the same time that the steering rack needed replacing, but
that's different from having Jaguar or Land Rover type issues that you
just simply can't stay on top of to keep the car running. Been there,
done that. Sold it, cut my losses and started over.

If you bought into a cheap one and have it on the upward path to
drivability, they you must just continue with the faith that once you
get it to a certain level, it will stay there for a reasonable amount
of time. But if you paid full price and are still having problems, I'd
thinking about changing mounts.

Just my .02.

Jim

On Apr 29, 2005, at 11:22 AM, Don Williams wrote:

> You people are such a trip!!  You choose (as I) to drive a very strange
> vehicle, which I applaud.   I intend to be buried in it, but I can
> barely
> keep the drive train functioning, and I work on the vehicle almost
> every
> day.  The thought of trying to keep power door locks, power windows
> and air
> conditioning functional is overwhelming---I would have to have the work
> farmed out for sure.  My wife is already so pissed at me over my
> priorities
> that power door lock maintenance would push me over the edge.    I
> took out
> my air conditioning (for which I was criticized) and I drive an 85
> westy,
> which doesn't have power locks and windows.  I just don't have the
> physical
> strength to keep all those luxuries going.  If you do, go for it, but
> I  myself would trash a few of those items that seem to be high
> maintenance, and put that time into the engine, transaxle, CV joints,
> wheel
> bearings, brakes and fuel injection system.  You can always cripple
> home
> with your power windows jammed; you can't get home with an engine that
> won't start.
> Don
>