> So what's the "unhealthiest" thing(s) you've done, as
> regards your Vanagon, to keep it running, get it running, come to
> peace with it,  make amends with it, or just "Keep The Love Alive"?

> Tasted every fluid on board, sometimes intentionally (to ID a
> puddle), sometimes unintentionally (blorp! drip right in the
> mouth!), including the grand old master of disgusting tasting
> automotive fluids, 90 weight gear oil from the differential.

I'll bet I tasted a fluid you didn't.  Driving in my '77 Westy through
Nowhere, West Virginia some years ago, I felt a thump and pulled over on the
interstate ... to find that the tread on my Continental tire had peeled off
and been left somewhere down the road. (It was a retread, unbeknownst to
me.)  The tire was still holding air - it just had no tread section at all,
and looked like a racing slick!   It was about at that point that I also
noticed some liquid dripping from the engine compartment. It was clear, so
it couldn't be oil (as a bus owner I knew very well what dripping oil looked
like). Couldn't be water either, since this Westy was aircooled. So, like an
idiot, I touched my finger to it and tasted it.

It was battery acid.  Turns out that before bouncing merrily down the road
behind me, the tread from my tire had punctured the bottom of my bus, the
battery tray, and the bottom of the battery itself.  Mmm-mmm good!!

We pop-started my bus and drove a mile down the shoulder of the road on our
new racing slick to a nearby exit, figuring it was a safer place to change a
tire and hoping there was somewhere nearby that sold batteries. Lo and
behold, right at the end of the exit ramp was a store called Battery
Warehouse!

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # :  1-866-BUS-DEPOT