Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 19:25:20 -0500
Reply-To: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Subject: Re: Just back from the mechanic, HELP!!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>Well the mechanic asked me to sit down and take out a pad of paper....
>
>The news wasn't good. The 82 I just bought, seems to have quite a few
problems. So here is the list.
>
>1. Fuel tank is crushed on top(someone put a jack under it??) the fuel
lines and filter are filthy.
The filter is a cinch to change, and how exactly does he know how filthy the
lines are, inside? Maybe they are, maybe not. Old, in any case.
If they do need changing, many listees will help you with that. The parts
are available from Vanagain.com, or the Busdepot.com .
Mechanic reccomends replacing the tank. Tank from the dealer is $500 plus
3 hours labour. I know places like BusDepot have tanks but they can't tell
me that anyone there personally has known anyone to install one and that
they were identical to the factory tank... any expierence out there??
Buy a replacement tank from a list vendor - I have not used it - but are you
sure you're gonna get a VW tank anyways from the dealer? And regardless, VW
doesn't hold advanced technology patents on gas tanks.
>2. Fuel pump, seems straight forward, mechanic only wants to use a Bosch,
However.
Fair enough
>
>3. Wheel bering, rear breaks and cylinders.
I don't know about the wheel bearings, but the brakes can be done mostly by
yourself - many of us do them - there's lots of help on the list for that.
>
>4. Shocks all round
Do those yourself. Once again, lots of help on the list - in any case,
unless they are really brutal, you may be able to wait on this. Just take a
gravol before a long trip :>)
>
>5. Tune-up with all new goodies.(2.5 hours labour, seems reallll long??)
Others can comment on this, as I don't know air-cooled engines.
>
>6. Left axle clicks when making right turns. Previous mechanic
disassembled, cleaned and repacked (instead of using the new joints I gave
him). This seems to be quite labour intensive at 2hrs a joint, but I do
have the parts.
This you can easily do yourself in an evening - or buy a reman axle, with 2
new boots and CV's - for about $150 CDN - (about $90 US) from Canadian Tire
or elsewhere.
>
>7. Cold start valve leaks??
\
Don't know.
>
>All told its $1000 for labour and between $500-$1000 for parts. I am VERY
tempted to use a $170 tank from the far east, but I would like to here from
someone who has had good success.
>
>
>Any thoughts on what I should do??
>
Hope this helps. Sounds like there is a lot of stuff that you can wait on.
Marshall Ruskin
