At 02:44 PM 8/27/2008 -0400, pickle vanagon wrote:
>When you say the upper end of the flue/intake system, do you mean
>the part that is up at the whole the the body of the van?

Yes.  The leak could be anywhere in the flue/combustion-chamber/drain
system, but to get the fridge out and back in again you have to mess
with and put stress on the upper end.  But make sure your drain plug
is tight before you start taking things apart!

>   I don't believe I have any o-rings there at all.  I don't
> remember any from when I took it apart and put it back together.

You won't see them unless you go looking.  The two corrugated tubes
of the intake/flue each have a large O-ring where they enter the
aluminum top fitting, sealing them to the fitting.  Pull the fitting
off, clean the inside if needed, seal and/or replace the rings if
they're not in perfect shape.

>  Where are these o-rings?  And can you clarify for me what you mean
> by the inner and outer fittings?  I'm having trouble picturing it
> right now (and, unfortunately, it

Inner fitting is aluminum with two coaxial holes; the inner one is
broomstick-sized, very convenient for aligning.  The outer fitting
attaches with three machine screws;  IIRC it's a fairly simple plate,
probably aluminum, and it sandwiches the rubber base/gasket.  In
principle I don't see why it should care whether it seals to the body
or not, but in practice I've found it to work better.  Out of
superstition I even sealed the intake/uptake separator plate to the
flue, which I'm rationally sure has no bearing on the
situation.  Likewise with the need to closely align the fitting
before securing it -- it may be that that's really an O-ring issue;
although it's also important to not put a lot of stress on the screws
because they'll pull the threads out of the aluminum fitting.

David

--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation"