Vanagon knowledgeable techs are few and far between at VW dealerships but do exist.  We found one in Tacoma a few years ago that drives Vanagons.  He assisted me in changing our alternator in their parking lot after it died on I-5.  I would have payed for them to fix it but the Parts Dept. claimed they did not have one and could not get one until the next day.  This was at 11:30AM on a Monday morning.  I used the dealerships phone, made two calls and had one delivered to me in their parking lot with in two hours.

Mark in AK

----- Original Message -----
From: B Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009 9:50 am
Subject: Re: Your GoWesty Engine...how do you like it?
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

> >> Why would anyone take a Vanagon to a VW dealer any more? There
> are no
> techs there with experience on the Vanagon platform, they've all
> retired by
> now. There are SO many independents far more versed in care and
> repair of
> the Vanagon all over the country. <<
>
> My '03 EV MV was in the dealer for it's 60K mile service* right
> after I
> first bought it. It's still under warranty BTW. When I got there the
> mechanics were punching in and I saw this 60+ year old guy on his
> way in
> with his mechanics outfit. I asked the guy behind the counter if
> that guy
> worked on Vanagons and he said "Yeah, that's my dad, he loves
> working on
> those things.". At the time I was having the rough running problems
> thatnobdy could solve so I asked if I could bring it in there and
> if his dad
> could bring it back to factory specs, O2 settings, etc.  He said,
> "Oh, we
> don't have an ocilliscope anymore, we can't do that kind of work
> anyore." -
> Sigh.  Occasially I'll drive by there and there will be an old
> Vanagon in
> the repair lot. Who is still bringing their Vanagons to the dealer for
> service I'll never know...
>
> Bryan
>