On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 8:47 PM, al sinclair <alvanagon@gmail.com> wrote:

> Our 81 vanagon had smelly little visitors living behind the dash  ... the smell is astonishingly potent.

> The "heater" in the front has never warmed, let alone heated, for the years
> since we got the van, but the hot-air outlet between/behind the front seats
> works well. (81 = aircooled engine.) The heater fan works fine, but blows
> only cold, so presumably there's a blockage somewhere in the front part of
> the airduct, either above the spare wheel or perhaps in the inlet into the
> heater.....

> The wipers are s-l-o-w. Is a new wiper motor the answer? Or does the whole
> wiper mechanism get aged? �The van doesn't have any significant rust, but
> maybe there are rubber parts that swell and should be replaced?

The smell may be residing, in part, in what's left of the sealing foam
on flaps in the heat exchange box. Since you're getting cold air up
front, but heat elsewhere, sounds like a heat exchange box rebuild is
needed. Since you're pulling the dash, if you have an old school 12V
charge, and are savvy with electrial stuff, you can hook up the
charger to the fan and check how well the flaps seal. I bet they need
new foam though.

Given what may be a potential mouse issue, wear a mask when pulling
things apart and cleaning etc.

Wipers could be slow due to electrical inefficiencies, (alt., slipping
alt belt, grounds and general wiring condition etc.) or wear in wiper
linkage. Carefully wiggle wipers at shaft from outside vehicle. Any
play? I rebuilt my linkages entirely when I had the dash off. I found
that the relay arm bushings were actually in good shape. Wear was seen
at wiper shaft bushings, and at arms (can't recall right term) that
connect the relay rods to the wiper shaft assembly.

Neil.

-- 
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines