Random little things I learned about my Eurovan Weekender

[Endopotential]

Just thought I'd start a collection of random tidbits that don't quite merit a thread of their own.

Westfalia lettering on the poptop
This was really fading and cracking on my 2002, and I thought it was just a matter of peeling off some decals. It turned out to be more like tenacious paint, rather than vinyl and adhesive. Or am I wrong about this?

Careful with your under-seat house battery
I installed some new terminals to allow me to easily add some additional wires. I was quite proud of myself, but as soon as I slid the driver's seat back into position there was a puff of smoke. Turns out that the new battery terminals sat up just a tad higher than the stock ones, and the cross bar on the seat shortcuited them when pulled back in place. Just glad I didn't burn my butt off.

Removing the rear bench seat
Just to save the next person some time - I stared at things a while before I understood how it's bolted down. The front two 19mm bolts are easily seen. But you have to slide the bench forward to see the rear two bolts hidden below the railing frame. Take these rear ones off first, as you'll need the front ones in place to hold the bench in position initially.

[Abscate]

Let me know if you ever figure out why the passenger side bed frame has the structure on it that isn’t in the driver side.
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.ssS!

[shirk]

Good info. I want to remove the rear seat to steam clean and deep clean our 01 Weekender soon.

[dborell]

FYI The rear seat can be removed without unbolting it....in case you didn't know.


And it's a decal....I purchased a new decal many years ago for my 03

[Endopotential]

Took me a while to figure out what you were talking about.

If you look on the inside surface of each seat rail, there's a small metal tab that you push outwards. This retracts the locking triangle. Push that metal tab on both seat rails, while pushing forward on the whole seat assembly (you have to be a bit of an acrobat to accomplish this!). Voila, the rear bench seat slides off the whole mounting rail completely.

@Abscate - not sure what you mean by the bed frame assembly being asymmetric. The top or the bottom bed? It all looks pretty much the same to me on my 2002 Weekender.

[Abscate]

On the passenger side , looking under the bed with the tailgate up, there is a boxed rectangular section in the frame. Not preset in the driver side. Doesn’t seem to provide access anywhere

Function unknown, this will not stand
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

Something you'll learn about your late model EV is that there's no way to open the rear hatch from the inside. '93 models had a inside latch to do this, but your van doesn't have it. Seems like an oversight.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Endopotential]

Good thing I've got 3 other doors to escape from the zombies.

Worse comes to worst, I'll jump out of the poptop windows

[Zeitgeist 13]

I remedied this issue with a little help from Rube Goldberg

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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?