Ah, yes...John Muir. That was my bible back around 1980 when I had a bug and a '68 bus, then a '78 AC Westy (burned - he should have mentioned injector hoses ;-) and had no aircooled experience. He was a great writer, and the guide was a good read as a book, as well as a technical manual info and general "here is what a vehicle is and what it does" guide. A great into to anyone just getting into wrenching on any vehicle.

Keith Hughes
'86 Westy GenV Turbo (Marvin)

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Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2019 10:57:01 -0400
From: Steven Johnson <sjohnso2000@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon Reliability & Philosophy

I think a read of the Idiot Guide by John Muir should be added to this.
I'm sure that's
how many of us on the list started getting into VW's in the first place.
Although the
younger members of this list may not have even heard of it. Those were
the days
when knowledge of working on a car much less a VW were far a few between.
No quick
answers and access to parts. But the philosophy of that book made for me
not being
afraid to get my hands dirty and dig into the mechanicals and repair work.
Now you
can go to Google or YouTube and practically have the answer handed to you.
So these
days there is no excuse for not getting things repaired by yourself or at
least, understanding
what is wrong. Of course, the mystical electronics of modern vehicles of
which our vanagon's
are on the low end of still can have many problems that need to be properly
diagnosed. Experience
is a huge advantage. So the average Joe/Jane may be able to get so far
with diagnosis but
lack of experience can baffle many.

Enough rambling...

Steven
91 Westy