I have never seen 80 mph in 4 years of Vanagonning...

Pete

'87 Westy "Joe's Van"
'79 Westy  "Aardvark"
'77 Westy "Barnacle Bus"

 

> Hello to everyone,
> 
> So I just took my 88 Auto Wolfsburg van that I purchased in January from
> upstate NY on it�s first long trip. I drove from Long Beach Long Island just
> past Middletown NY, basically a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive. The week before I
> attempted this trip and uncovered a damaged coolant pipe that forced a
> coolant blowout 30 miles away from Long Beach which cost me $85 dollars in
> Flatbed fees and $200 dollars in mechanic and parts fees. So this trip was a
> trial test of the van�s ability to take a nice drive. I am happy to say it
> made there and back without a problem doing at max 80mph on the highway.
> 
> A couple of issues though,... I suspect that the speedometer may be 5mph
> higher than actual speed is this normal? It has the stock size tires with
> alloy wheels.
> 
> The ability to climb hills is weak, at best I can get her to do 45-55mph on
> any kind of relative incline, steep or not, is this normal? It seems to hang
> at around 3,000 rpm no higher, and giving it more gas seems not to do very
> much. On super steep hills in the countryside it did pretty well at lower
> speeds, and the transmission seems to shift pretty smooth, I was just
> wondering if others experienced this speed issue on rural route/highway
> hills at high speed?
> 
> Next, when I reached my location after driving for 3 hours I am about to
> pull in, and all of sudden it stalls! I put it in park, and turns over no
> problem and continue to drive for another 5 minutes to my location without
> issue. What happened here? The O2 sensor is new, could I have an AFM
> problem?
> 
> Last thing, a few weeks ago I wrote in about the accelerator pedal feeling
> as though it was falling off, well I checked it and the previous owner had
> tried to epoxy something to it.  I took the lists suggestion and used some
> screws and bolted it down to the floor and that worked but while driving it
> seemed to me that pedal was hard to push down at times, does a cable or
> something need to be greased? Or lubricated with oil? It just does not feel
> smooth feeling when pressing down on the accelerator compared to modern
> cars. It this something I need to get used to?
> 
> Thanks for your feedback in advance!
> 
> Regards to all,
> 
> Rob