I have a friend who bought a "salvaged" '90 GL which had a fire not near the
engine compartment, but with the electrical fan in the front pass. area.  A
feature not found on many air suckers.  I also had a close call with
auto-tranny fluid dripping on my headers and cat. (yeah I know, what
possessed me into buying an auto tranny?)

Marty Wallace wrote:

> I don't know that I would declare <1983.5 VW Vans a "fire trap", but I do
> think that their rate of engine fires is significantly higher than motor
> vehicles in general.  Additionally, the rate of air-cooled VW engine
> fires is << that of water-cooled VWs.  (Can anyone back me up or shoot me
> down on this?)
>
> If I had a choice (and, after looking at VW Campers for 10-15 years, I
> DID buy a water-cooled model - for many reasons), I would buy a
> water-cooled model.
>
> I would like to read others' opinions as well.
>
> Marty Wallace (1984 Westfalia)
> Chico, California
>
> ---mac stricklen <mac_stricklen@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Does this mean that air cooled vanagons have a significantly higher
> > engine fire rate?
> > If so does this mean that I should pass on the nicely restored and
> > overhauled-with-new-fuel-lines air-cooled that I've been looking at
> > because it's a fire trap?
> > Is there anything besides periodically replacing fuel lines and
> > carrying a fire extinguisher that I should do?
>
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