Date:         Tue, 20 Apr 1999 09:17:07 -0600
Reply-To:     tonyd <tonyd@CANDESA.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         tonyd <tonyd@CANDESA.COM>
Organization: candesa
Subject:      Fire ruins my day...
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Well fellow dubbers,

My vanagon is no more. Saturday evening it
caught on fire. Not quite sure what caused it. I
was driving, and had gotten about a half mile
from my house, when I experienced some serious
hesitation in 4th gear. I put it up into 3rd,
and it picked back up, but as I approached the
stoplight, and put in the clutch, it died
completely. So, with the momentum I had left, I
coasted into Taco Bell's parking lot, and out of
the way of traffic. As soon as I stopped, smoke
engulfed the bus. I ran around back to discover
flames coming out of the license plate cover,
and drops of fire dripping onto the ground
underneath. I popped the hatch, and  scrambled
to get all of my stuff out of the van. Running
into Taco Bell screaming like a maniac for the
fire extinguisher, I waited while the MINIMUM
WAGE IDIOT, WALKS!!! to get the extinguisher. As
I was trying to contain the blaze, the van tried
to start itself, and was lurching itself towards
the parked cars. People began flying out of the
place to move their cars. Luckily the fire dept.
showed up and pulled the ground off. I didn't
dare lift the deck lid before that, in fear of
the whole thing going up in my face. Anyway,
after 20 minutes of soaking the engine and the
interior of my van, I assessed the damages; The
engine is fried. All the wiring is fried. The
poor computer is nothing but left over micro
chips. The right rear plastic molding melted
into oblivion, not to mention anything else that
was plastic in that area (tail light cover, rear
park light cover, vent, etc.) The outside right
rear of the van is charred. The interior
sustained heavy water damage: There was water
half filling the gauges, glove box and door step
up areas. The upholstery is soaked and wreaks of
barbeque. Really though, the damage didn't pass
the engine compartment, and the rest of the van
(outside of the water damage) is untouched. In
fact, from one side, you wouldn't know. So, I
wait for the insurance to show up and reimburse
me. Here are some questions for the list; What
would it cost me to replace the engine, the
wiring (all wiring in the engine compartment,
and make sure everything works front to back)
and paint the rear (or whole) of the bus? What
about water damage (smell, etc.) I would just
like to know in case I want (or they let me) to
keep the bus after I get the money. Also, any
thoughts on what may have caused this to happen.
I'm thinking fuel line problem.

This has been an unfortunate loss for us. The
bus ran perfectly (I thought) and everything
worked. It had served us well on many a trouble
free trip. We will be sad to let it go if we
have to. Please check your fuel lines and hoses
regularly. I'm lucky it was me driving and not
the wife and kids.

Thank you all for your input over the past year.
I will remain on the list however, because I
believe in it and will soon replace this bus
with another. After 8 VW's this is my first
fire, and it hasn't soured me a bit.

TonyD
'87 GL (barbeque style)

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