Date:         Sun, 16 Jun 1996 23:00:54 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Remuse@aol.com
Subject:      First road trip

I put a few hundred miles on the 81 this weekend going to a lake in the N.
Ga. mountains which was both an opportunity to break the rebuild in and the
longest trip by far.

What a gas! This thing is unbelievably in it's element on winding two lane
roads. I really had no idea that it would be so nimble for such a large
vehicle. Temps were never a problem in this 35 to 55 mph range done mostly in
second for both power and braking in the hills. BTW, that little four doesn't
offer much braking does it?

On the highway segments I moved along easily at 55 to 65 and the temperature
found it's way up to 240 to 250*. It was interesting to hit a low spot over a
creek or other cool area and see the temp swing 10* momentarily. It was about
85 to 90* outside. How do these things survive in Az etc?

Gas mileage was around 13 mpg. That's Chevy Suburban country; that should
improve shouldn't it?

Oil consumption seemed to be about zilch although at each stop there were
some drips off the engine carrier. This stuff tended apparently to vaporize
into a fine mist that covered the back of the vehicle which combined with
dust to make a nice mess. Since the top of the heater boxes were oily I'm
guessing that the valve covers are at least some of the problem. I'll
permatex them but should I use new gaskets or will the sligthtly used but now
"wet" ones work fine?

Oh yeah, and as I was leaving the little town, I began hearing a rattling
from the right side of the vehicle.The further I got out into the country the
worse it seemed to get and I start wondering if this is what the dreaded CV
joints sound like. Worse at slow speeds and over rough roads. I make the only
rational decision which is to chalk it up to further vanagon hell and ignore
it until I get back home when I notice that it seems to be coming from the
front wheel rather than the rear. I pull over and fiddle with the wheel cover
just to see if it's loose and damned if the little hub cap hadn't come loose,
probably on a dirt road, and it was rattling around inside the wheel cover.
Pounded it back on and that was the end of that problem. These vanagons do
like to toy with you.

Weston