I think what we have here is a lack of understanding. Yes, I have seen stupid questions posted here, and have posted a few myself. What some folks need to understand is that not all our lives are the same. If you are a Vanagon expert in the business, are retired or independently wealthy and don't work, or are single and have no kids, be tolerant of the poor slob with kids, a wife, and working 60+ hours a week who is yeah, asking a question without researching it first. This person may be lucky to get an hour or two during the week to work on their Vanagon. Maybe they shouldn't own a Vanagon and buy a Honda or Toyota mini van. I remember about a year ago a person asking how to remove the window crank. I laughed to myself, thinking here is guy who should NOT own a Vanagon, but I didn't publicly (or privately) rip him a new a**hole either. You know the annoying rear brake clips/springs on Vanagons? Those started back in the Bay window days, but were dropped on later Bays, only to return later, maybe with the Vanagon, I'm not sure. Back when I had a Bay and was on the type2 list, I asked a question about why mine was missing those clips. I immediately got a response from a listee telling me that I was an idiot who had no business working on brakes. I also got a response from Sean Bartnik telling me not to worry, my year Bay didn't have them. Not only did I do a successful brake job, not long after I replaced the entire front suspension, including the beam, on a '77 Bay all by myself. I am grateful to the more experienced listees who offer their assistance here, as I have been helped by many of them. But I have also searched way back in the archives and have found that long, long ago a few of the current experts asked some pretty simple questions themselves. I even saw one message where ************* (most of you know who I am talking about) admitted it took him TWO YEARS to find a vacumm leak. In closing, I sold my Vanagon about 3 weeks ago, and I am deeply regretting it. I'm still here because I just can't let go. Happy Holidays everyone! Jeff 

>re Ben's comment......... 
>that's funny, I used to think a year or 3 ago that this group was populated 
>by a lot of very clueless vanagon owners ( like ....'ah, it runs lousy, 
>where do I start ? ) ( when they don't even know what a distributor is, 
>say ) ........ 

Oh, by the way, the guy I sold my Vanagon to did not know what an ECU is, so you all may be hearing from him!!