Dear Snarky, she's underpowered and her head leaks, but she's the one
I love the most.................
Miguel

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
  - Thomas A. Edison

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 11:59 AM, Arkady Mirvis <arkadymirvis@gmail.com> wrote:
> Tom had it right. But why do all we Vanagonauts are busy and worry? German
> quality sucks since the end of Beetle era.
> I wish the handtwisting, neckgrabbing Americans are enjoying doing to Toyota
> will be applied to german made cars which for a long time are far
> qualitywise behind cars of Japan in Consumer Reports. As a lifelong
> manufacturing engineer I invite to get a closer look and compare japanese
> quality to the german one and see how far inferior the latter one is. German
> cars are high maintenance vehicles.  I've seen japanese cars where rubber
> parts look new after 25-30 years. In my 87 Westy all bellows are cracked.
> Pay attention to JAPANESE electrical work.
> Vanagon became a joke. Underpowered, head leaking the coolant, window motors
> failing, wires in harness door-body breaking, famous fire starting fitting
> breaking, rotting exhaust ..... and on and on. Continental original tires
> developed serious cracks on shoulders after 8,000 miles. I thought that the
> spare which didn't see the sun will be better. It was almost same condition.
> The rubber ages before the eyes! Nothing to brag about.   Ark.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom Hargrave" <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 1:25 PM
> Subject: Now Preventative Maintenance, Was Do U carry spare ECU?
>
>
> I quit carrying spares & tool boxes over 20 years ago. I decided I was
> "failing to plan" which kind of leads to "planning to fail". Also, I've
> driven 40,000 - 55,000 miles / year over the past 10 years, most of these
> miles in what most would consider old cars.
>
> But there is a method to my madness. I'm under the hood of my cars a lot.
> Also, I replace items like belts & hoses & coolant & brake fluid & brakes &
> tires when they should be serviced & not when they fail. Then I throw these
> old parts out because there is no need for a old spare unless the one on the
> car is about to fail. One other note - I replace belts & hoses with good
> parts, not the cheap $4.00 crap from the local McParts store. I believe the
> last Gates Green Stripe V belt I bought cost me $18.00 from NAPA while the
> "supposedly" identical belt from a AutoZone or Advance Auto was in the $4.00
> range.
>
> I also inspect starters & alternators for brush wear. And I replace or
> inspect other accessory items when they rack up a lot of miles.
>
> Your ECU should fall in the inspect & repair / replace category. Disassemble
> it once every 10K miles & look at the wear stripe in the carbon. If it shows
> a lot of wear then relocate the wiper BEFORE IT FAILS. If you don't do this
> then you are "planning to fail" like I used to do 20 something years ago.
>
> This may seem like a lot of work but it's nice to know that you can take off
> on a long trip in a vehicle with over 200,000 miles on the clock and expect
> to arrive at the other end with no issues.
>
> I have had some road failures but with one exception, none were in my
> control and none could be fixed on the side of the road or with tools you'd
> usually carry in a toolbox. The one exception was the alternator in my 87
> Mercedes 300SDL - the rear bearing locked up. But even with the alternator,
> I borrowed what I needed from AutoZone.
>
>
> Tom
> www.kegkits.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
> miguel pacheco
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 6:35 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Do U carry spare ECU?
>
> Jim, in your case, not having the part you needed in a breakdown, would make
> a far more interesting story. How about it, has it ever happened?
> You carry far more than I do, and I'm pretty well equipped.
> Miguel
>
> I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
>  - Thomas A. Edison
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 10:50 PM, Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Yep,spare 1.9 ECU (replaced one in Adrian, TX off I-40 several years
>> ago coming back from Tennessee to SoCal). Plus a starter (replaced
>> that on another trip coming back from Tennessee to So Cal 3 yrs ago),
>> extra hard start relay (I have this installed on all VWs I own and
>> just installed one on the 914 this past week), alternator (replaced
>> that about 8 years ago in Turlock, CA rest stop - only 20 minutes to
>> do that!), two distributors, water pump, thermostat w/O-Ring, AFM,
>> master cylinder, accel cable, ignition switch (electrical part [gave
>> one away to Bev at the Buses By The Bridge event a few years ago] and
>> lock cylinder), fuel pump (replaced that a couple of years ago on a
>> Jerome Jamboree trip in the middle of 100+ degree heat under an
>> overpass on I-10 about 25 miles east of Quartzsite, AZ), fuel filters
>> (both square pre filter and cannister filter), fuel pressure
>> regulator, plugs, rotor, cap, hall unit, ICU,  spark plug wire set,
>> coolant ECU sensor, assorted FI connectors w/pigtails, 2 meters of 7mm
>> fuel hose, 2 meters of 3.5mm vacuum hose, lotsa appropriate clamps,
>> assorted bulbs and the list goes on and on and on....Very well
>> equipped multi-drawer toolbox that would normally go on top of a
>> roll-away - this sits on the floor directly behind the passenger seat.
>> When you live full time in a Westy, it's best to be prepared for most
>> contingencies :)
>> --
>> Jim Thompson
>> 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
>> 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
>> 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
>> 75 914 1.8 (No Name Yet)
>> Full Timing Since March 1999
>> oldvolkshome@gmail.com
>> http://www.oldvolkshome.com
>> ***********************************
>> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 8:59 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On the weekend I got a call from a friend in trouble. He had taken a
>>> group of people up to a lake a few hours from home, using his 86 GL
>>> as a tour bus. Everything went fine and they made it up the 5000'
>>> mountain without incident. After unloading he decided to park in a
>>> different spot and the van would crank fine but not start.
>>>
>>> He checked for spark, ouch, a-ok.
>>> He had just filled the tank, so plenty of gas, bad fuel?
>>> He bought some starting fluid and it fired right up and quickly died,
>>> each time he sprayed.
>>> He changed the fuel filter, no joy.
>>> He pulled the injectors from one side, no fuel spraying, aha!
>>> Pulled a fuel line loose, cranked, plenty of flow.
>>> He pinched the return line shut, cranked, still no spray at injectors
>>> but a new leak showed in a line.
>>> Bought an injector noid light, noid light blinked during cranking.
>>> I told him the ECU could still be at fault, strong enough injector
>>> pulses to blink the noid light but not enough juice to fire the
>>> injectors?
>>> AAA called, made it home by tow truck.
>>> Installed his spare ECU from his Westy under bench storage, fired right
>>> up!
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>
>