my picks at the moment are auto trans or CV joint/s.

nothing like actual inspection though.

I've talked to people about a van or car problem for hours ..
and when I finally saw the vehicle.....I knew more about what was going with
in 5 minutes  than I did talking to them all that time.
 Hands on inspection.  I run them in the air for these kinds of problems
usually, unless it's real obvious with it just jacked up well.

scott

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Milo" <dellaone@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 4:09 PM
Subject: Re: Bad things come in threes, and two of them are/were in the
Vanagon.

> Except for the rubber smell, I would suspect a CV joint about to commit
> suicide.
>
> Dave Milo
>
> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Robert Fisher
> <garciasghostvw@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I told my wife she jinxed me... the van sprung a leak from the front
>> radiator feed hose; I patched it, and that held until I could get a pair
>> of
>> hoses in from Van Cafe and replace both radiator hoses. Then a piece of
>> plastic got caught in the impeller of the dishwasher drain pump. That's
>> four
>> hours of my life I'll never get back. That's when my wife said "These
>> things
>> come in threes; I wonder what's next?" I told her to hush, but apparently
>> the damage was done.
>>
>> Today she was driving the van into town and it began to feel to her like
>> it
>> was slowing down on its own (from about 60-ish), It picked back up, then
>> slowed down again. It began to vibrate badly so she started to pull over.
>> It
>> made a loud "whap whap whap whap" sound (not metallic) and as she went to
>> apply the brake it felt to her like it locked up- it made a screech she
>> associated with a tire noise (not a chirp like a drive train). She
>> smelled
>> something burning, which she took to be rubber but she's not sure. She
>> turned the engine off and called me. She thought she'd lost a tire or a
>> belt
>> but that's not the case.
>>
>> She wasn't far enough off the road so she started it back up and it
>> wouldn't
>> move. She gave it a little gas and it caught or released and moved
>> forward
>> enough to get farther onto the shoulder.
>>
>> Getting an accurate description of something like this from my wife is
>> something like asking a blind man to describe a Pollock. It's just not
>> the
>> way her brain is built.
>>
>> When I arrived thirty minutes later I thought I caught a lingering burnt
>> rubber smell (in my experience burnt brakes have a very distinctive smell
>> that lingers; I checked all four rims and they were not hot, but one
>> seemed
>> slightly warmer than the others). The belts and tires were fine. I had
>> her
>> start it and it ran normally. She was able to move it forward and back
>> under
>> power a bit as space allowed. I tried pushing it with the engine off in
>> neutral and something caught and it wouldn't move for a moment and then I
>> was able to "push it past it", so to speak. It moved a bit in reverse and
>> caught then released again.
>>
>> I had it towed home. I'm about to go out and put it up in the air. I'm
>> going
>> to check rear/e-brakes, (auto) tranny and differential, to start.
>>
>> When I worked on the hoses I only lifted the front. I set the e-brake for
>> probably the first time in months last week and again a few days ago, but
>> detected no problems, and I've driven it more than 100 miles in the last
>> few
>> days, I would think. I did a four-wheel brake job a little over two years
>> ago and haven't had any issues. I rebuilt the tranny in January 2010 and
>> haven't had any issues with it, but I didn't do anything to the diff at
>> the
>> time.
>>
>> I'm hoping it's the brakes, if it's one of those three, but I don't know
>> if
>> I'm gonna be that lucky.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> --
>> Cya,
>> Robert
>>
>> '87 & '86 Auto GLs
>>