TheSamba.com :: View topic - Miami to Alaska Road Trip www.marcandeliana.com

Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:54 pm

KILLERWATT wrote: Dead 1 wrote: Mechanic in Miami :roll: When I think of Miami I dont think of air cooled VW's :shock: For $3,400 you could get a brand new engine. Get the proplems fixed on the west coast were aircooled's are not such a rarity. Have a safe trip.

You should really rethink Miami then. There's plenty of us down here and we drive our air cooled VWs all year long thank you. Sweeping generalizations of an entire city based on one mechanic is bullshit.

Goody for you :shock:

Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:16 am

I just read the new posts on your website. I'm glad you're moving again. That trip reminds me of when I was a kid. We camped every year on Flathead Lake.
Yeah, dump the points and condensor as soon as you can. Electronic ignition is the way to go.
Good luck!

Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:21 am

All the REAL help offerd these folks is awesome.I just hope they take you up on it and get Valentina right, so they can really enjoy the rest of the journey.the bus brotherhood is powerful and amazing indeed,you guys make me smile :P

Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:23 am

is this seriously the road trip in the history of thesamba?

i am so jealous of these two!

Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:07 am

VWBUSchick wrote: Wildthings wrote: Particularly at higher elevation your shouldn't need anything but regular. If you hear audible light pinging or heavier knocking then you need higher octane gas. Have never run anything but regular myself.

Can't imagine what someone could have done to a bus engine in the way of a tune up that would have cost $3400. :x

The $3400 also included breaks, and boots (I believe that is what its called) and other things...I had hoped that after all that money the bus would be running smoothly. I am very frustrated!

It does take a lot of money to resurrect one of these things. When I got my first bus 20 years ago it took me about $5000 to get it going A-1, seemed like an awful lot at the time. The next 200,000 miles have been pretty cheap though, probably only about $500 a year on the average for mechanical repairs.

If you are running points be sure to run the correct points lube. In thirty five years of driving I have had only one set of points fail prematurely on my own rigs and that set I had forgotten to lubricate. There are also two different qualities of Bosch points available. Both the point lube and the better Bosch points can be had from an email vendor like German Supply.

Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:45 pm

I am in my motor $3500 and the rest is at $2200 for interior/exterior stuff not counting the painting I am doing now. But for me labor is free!

I hate points but do keep a set in the dash for backup...petronix have failed on me.

Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:42 pm

Bump.
It looks like their troubles may have been squared away here in Missoula. Let's hope for the best.

Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:57 pm

whc03grady wrote: Bump.
It looks like their troubles may have been squared away here in Missoula. Let's hope for the best.
:( Link no worky! :(

Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:15 pm

greenbus pilot wrote:
:( Link no worky! :(

http://marcandeliana.com/marcandeliana/Blog_Main/Entries/2008/7/15_Mucking_around_Missoula.html

Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:41 am

They made it to Calgary and are running good again. :lol:

Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:47 pm

Kudos to all that helped these folks.What was the final fix anayway :?:

Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:42 pm

Sounds like a number of things - mostly on the ignition side. The last doctor seems as though he actually might have gone through a check list top to bottom instead of just patching individual symtoms(sp). I'd have a pertronix elec. ing. for starters.
Hoping all the best - I like to see smiles through all those big windows!

Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:49 pm

Hello everyone, greetings from Alberta, Canada!

Well as far as the last engine fix in Missoula ... they didn't find a single obvious cause for the ignition problem, but several engine settings were WAY off, including:

• The fuel/air mixture was apparently way off, with the engine running far too rich. The exhaust measured 8% CO, where it was supposed to be closer to 3.5%. They fixed it.
• The air mass sensor sweep arm was non-functional, so they had to repair that before they could even adjust the fuel/air mixture.
•There was a semi-loose ground wire on the fuel pump, which could cause some intermittent problems.
•The Dwell was set at 39; they re-adjusted to 49. The engine timing was also re-adjusted.
•The new points were lacking lubrication, so they placed a drop of oil on them.

Our Westy is currently traveling well and we are over 5,500 miles ... currently in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada! Cheers from the road!

Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:34 pm

Hello,
Like to heard you continue your trip to Alaska. If you have time don't miss the Dempster Hwy in NWT before heading to Alaska. Last year we did the trip thur Dempster hwy and Alaska with our 77 westy , it was a wonderful trip.

Jeff

Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:36 pm

FYI, Valentina is running great! ;o) We are still posting on a daily basis in our blog-- ENJOY!! http://www.marcandeliana.com

Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:08 pm

Made it to Alaska! Sittin' pretty in Anchorage at the moment! All is well!

Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:26 pm

I have been following your great trip. Congratulations on reaching Alaska. I know you just got there; after your visit are you planning to drive back home? Same route?

Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:44 pm

We'll take a different route on the way home .... ferrying it along the inside passage of Alaska to Prince Rupert, then Vancouver, Seattle, all the way down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Diego, then through the southwest states and back to Florida. We may even travel into Mexico and Central America if time and $$ allow!

Fri Aug 01, 2008 3:24 pm

Wow !! What a great trip !!

Being a vet here are a couple local spots you might want to check out:

http://wwccoc.org/ Right on Hwy 1 (PCH) at Newland in Huntington Beach, and http://www.lagunabeach.com/pmmc/index.html Up Laguna Canyon Road about 5 miles off of PCH.

Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:08 am

You mentioned (from your blog) the heat not reaching your interior of the bus. This is most likely due to the spring inside of your heater control levers being broken. The good thing is it's an easy fix.