My sentiments exactly.  Your bro needs a whack in the sack IMO.
Michael in San Antonio
91GL Weekender AT 2.1L 'Gringo'
73 Beetle

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:45 PM, Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@gmail.com>wrote:

> --snip--
> as for air flow causing 02 sensors to get too cool while driving ...
> well, first, speaking of heated or non-heated 02 sensors ?
> and secondly ..
> there are countless cars and car designs where the 02 sensor is exposed to
> air flow, and they don't have problems, so I'm a little skeptical on that
> one.
>
> Scott
>
> --snip
>
> >Often the
> > first
> > signs of a bad or weak sensor is fast idle during cold weather or just
> > after
> > highway travel. The test! Cycle the ignition switch of floor the
> > accelerator. If either clears up the problem for a short while, O2 sensor
> > is
> > the issue. Note that the O2 sensors originally had a heat shield or
> > insulation on them.
> >
> > Dennis
> --snip--
>
> I was driving back to SoCal from AZ after Thanksgiving, and we got into
> rain/sleet going into Flag. Now we use our wipers so rarely here that you
> basically have to look at them as "disposable" in the sense that they won't
> survive from the end of one "rainy season" through the summer to the next
> rainy season. You use them 3-4 times and then you have to pitch 'em. Add
> the
> local feral cats into the equation and the wipers just generally aren't in
> great shape.
>
> I replaced my wiper blades in Cottonwood but forgot to pull the wiper arms
> and reset them. We were just about into Flag when a semi blew by and
> totally
> dislocated my driver's wiper arm (again). I got out and relocated it but it
> didn't hold, so I stopped under a canopy at a gas station there in Flag. My
> brother was bitching and grumbling about how I was never going to get
> anything to fix it with at that time of the evening when I pulled out the
> 1/4" drive, a pick and a razor knife, put a socket on the drive and took
> care of it. He couldn't believe it worked. Now I hadn't done that
> particular
> thing before but I remembered it from the list and knew I had the stuff to
> do it; as I said I was going to do it in my Dad's driveway but just forgot.
>
> So off we go to Williams to blow the kid's minds on the Polar Express.
> Major
> Mommy and Daddy points, plus it started to snow like crazy right as we got
> to the "North Pole" where Santa got on the train. It couldn't have been
> better if we'd custom ordered it.
>
> We decided not to eat dinner in Williams because we were afraid of getting
> snowed in. The snow was very wet and coming down hard, and though I like my
> tires they're all-seasons and I wasn't prepared for that kind of driving,
> and we wanted to get to Laughlin that night.
> After maybe twenty minutes of driving the engine started bogging down badly
> and it eventually died. I was rolling dead in the slow lane with idiots
> flying past me like there isn't any weather at all, thinking about how fun
> this is going to be dealing with this in a snowstorm at night in the middle
> of nowhere with three hungry kids, etc. I turned the key back, which of
> course killed the lights (scaring the crap out of everybody), and managed
> to
> crank the engine on again. Now my brother's bitching and grumbling again
> about "this damn van" and generally crying doom and despair.
> It ran for a few minutes and died. Cranked it up, ran for a little less
> time
> and died; rinse and repeat. At this point the snow was turning more to rain
> so I found a wide spot in the road (Ash Fork?) with a funky little diner
> and
> pulled off. I thought about it over a couple of cups of decent coffee and a
> pretty good bacon cheeseburger, and when we left I found another gas
> station
> canopy, pulled under it, got out, disconnected the O2 sensor (three wire,
> no
> shield) and drove the rest of the way to Laughlin and home without a hitch.
> I had some fun chuckling at my brother, but of course he wasn't going to
> give me the satisfaction of letting on that he was impressed or relieved or
> anything.
>
> Now of course as far as I know the sensor was about to die anyway (it was
> on
> the van when I got it and I put some 15K on it I guess), but it had been
> running normally until we had been in the rain/sleet/snow for that hour or
> so of driving time; in fact it had been running normally until the temps
> dropped and we starting getting the heavy snow after we left Williams. I
> checked the connector when I unplugged it and it was dry, and when I
> finally
> pulled the sensor it was relatively clean and the threads weren't corroded
> or anything, but that shield is missing.
>
> Of course an anecdote does not evidence make, but it's interesting how
> often
> Dennis' little caveats seem to nail it when things go wrong. I dunno if
> I'll
> ever have that happen again, but they put a shield on the sensor for a
> reason, presumably, so I'd like to make or get one and put it on mine.
>
> Two other things: I was driving home from Mammoth on 395 and I had been
> distracted from my normal dash-glancing by some guy that appeared to be
> driving his semi half-asleep. When I looked down after several minutes I
> saw
> the battery light and the temp needle was climbing. I knew exactly what had
> happened, instantly. I pulled off and two of the three belts were shredded
> and the third was badly damaged. It took me longer to unload and reload the
> camping stuff in the back (and to talk to the helpful CHP officer) than it
> did to replace the belts.
> Another time that I was in Laughlin the van started running badly after
> warming up... I thought I knew what that was, and after perusing the
> archives that I had on the laptop (thanks Wesley!), I ordered a Temp II
> sensor (at a Checker's, of all places), got it the next morning and
> replaced
> it by the side of Lake Mohave while my wife and kids were swimming.
>
> That right there amounts to a whole bunch of time, money, worry and
> headaches (and at least one blown engine) avoided just from being on this
> list for seven years or whatever it's been now, and it doesn't account for
> everything by a long stretch. I don't see how anybody can support this
> particular habit without this list, other sites like the Samba
> notwithstanding. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it
> definitely takes an international community to own a Vanagon. : )
>
> Cya (and thanks),
> Robert
>