The danger appears after they fail. No fail, no danger I guess. I have
seen 3 fail on 3 different tanks. All about the same way. Owner found
tank empty when preparing for a trip. Filled tank at usual place. Later
found tank  hissing or smelled strong propane smell when parked even
with supply valve off. A.S. valve leaking past o-ring inside autostop
assembly. The worst one was a friends 84  Wolfy. I took it for a fill
and needed 2.5 gals, empty. Seeped some after propane guy filled it.
Stopped a few miles later and cloud of propane hissing out. Danger? Only
if a spark occurred. I parked it in an isolated spot very near by and
waited for the whole tank to escape, which it did faster and faster.
What if the leak had stayed very small until the van was parked in the
garage along with the gas water heater?

Mark

Old Volks Home wrote:

> My 84 Westy has the "so-called" dangerous Auto-Stop Valve.  Never a
> filling
> problem since I purchased the vehicle in May 1997.  And I have an NOS
> Auto-Stop Valve stashed away in case a problem does develop (and no,
> it is
> not for sale).
>
> Auto Stop Valves were intro'd sometime during the 1984 model year.
> The even
> safer valve mechanism was intro'd early in the 1989 model year and of
> course, equipped on all replacement tank assemblies.
>
> Replacement Tank Assemblies are available from Bus Depot @ $289.95,
> less the
> list discount, their number 253070601D.  No affiliation, etc....
> --
> Jim Thompson
> 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
> 73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise"
> 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
> oldvolkshome@gmail.com
> http://www.oldvolkshome.com
> **********************************
> On 8/2/06, Geo & Kathleen Hahn <ahwahnee@cybertrails.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Mike Rouby wrote:
>>
>> >I believe some mid-year waterboxers use manual as well.  Not sure the
>> cutoff year.
>> >
>>
>> FWIW... my May 1984 Westy has the manual.
>>
>> Geo H
>
>