http://www.prpeak.com/articles/2010/11/29/multimedia/video/doc4c62e5f80d228504902172.txt
On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 6:26 PM Eric Caron <ericcaron96@comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I host a VW bus campout each year.
>
> This message came to me today.
> Guess who saved the day? And guess what he did to the van that got it
> running?
>
> I thought I share.
>
> Eric
>
> Hi Eric and Heidi:
>
> Thanks again for a great West River Westies weekend. Hard to believe we’ve
> had Wiffle since 1994 and only started coming down to Townsend a handful of
> years ago. Better late than never!
>
> After reading your recent Wrap Up, I thought I’d share a little about our
> Vanagon adventure.
>
> Wiffle is a faded yellow ’84 Westy (hence the nickname bestowed on it
> several years ago at West River by the regulars from Northampton for its
> uncanny resemblance to a Wiffle Ball bat). It’s an understatement to say
> it’s been a little balky the last several years.
>
> We had to have it towed to a shop after it came out of storage in early
> spring. It started on the first turn of the key but then had no further
> interest in starting. It took not one, but two visits to the shop before it
> finally seemed to be back in good health, fortunately just in time for West
> River Westies. Unfortunately, it refused to start again on the Wednesday of
> what we have taken to calling Vanagonpalooza week.
>
> Because it was cranking strong (and because I’m mechanically clueless), I
> thought maybe I’d just been flooding it, so I gave it another shot on
> Thursday. After predictably running the battery down, we successfully
> jumped it and thought we were set for West River.
>
> Alas, it failed to start again on Friday morning.
>
> At lunchtime Friday, I tried for a Hail Mary and, lo and behold, the bus
> fired up. We decided it was meant to be and so with Wiffle running, we
> decided to risk it and drive both the VW and our car to Townsend. The
> thought was, if Wiffle gave up the ghost, we’d just offload everything into
> the car, have the bus towed to the shop, pitch our tent at Bald Mountain,
> and enjoy the weekend.
>
> The good news is that Wiffle purred like a kitten on the entire 100-mile
> drive, and we had a great weekend – despite the West River water level. ;-)
>
> The bad news is that when we packed up to leave on Sunday morning and I
> hopped nervously behind the wheel, the bus cranked and cranked but was back
> to showing no interest in starting.
>
> The best news is the West River Westies community saved the day!
>
> We were minutes from calling for a tow when a fellow in the huge RV next
> to us, hearing the fruitless cranking, wandered over and offered to take a
> look. It didn’t take him more than five minutes to ferret out the problem –
> a faulty temperature sensor. Don’t ask me what he did in the engine bay
> (remember, I’m mechanically inept), but when he sent me back to the
> driver’s seat and told me to try again, Wiffle fired right up. It purred
> the entire two-hour drive home.
>
> It turns out the fellow from our neighboring RV with the magic touch was
> Dennis Haynes of Dennis’ VW Service in Bohemia, NY. He gave us a business
> card with the slogan, “I can fix what others can’t!”
>
> As they say, “It’s not bragging if it’s true.”
>
