STOLEN: 1986 Westfalia Camper (Gold) in Alameda, CA **FOUND**

[VicVan]

[dobryan]

So glad you have it back.
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[eghall]

@absacate if it were a rare tank, sure, repair is an option. I am assuming you're referencing to filling the tank with c02 and welding it shut. In this case not worth it with a reasonable replacement for 175 bucks. it would take longer and be more trouble than a simple swap. 210 with seals and such. plus now it has no dents, yet.

If you have a novel solution please describe so i can archive that for road fixes.

BTW, Amy is my fantastic wife who reported it on vanalert. i am Eddie, or e.g.

Thanks!

[vanis13]

[Abscate]

[Microbusdeluxe]

So sorry to hear about these scumbags punching a hole in your gas tank.
_________________
'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!

[eghall]

@microbusdeluxe they drilled a 3/8" hole through the bottom of the gas tank to steal my gas, ruining the tank.

@msTaboo thanks. yes, i had a locking gas cap but they overcame that (was original keyed to the rest of the car), then still decided to drill the tank.

Just got replacement tank from buslab yesterday, so im installing that today. i am on the hunt for another original gas cap i can re-key, if anyone out there has one(nothing on classifieds i could find).

[MsTaboo]

[Microbusdeluxe]

What does this mean? "of course they drilled the gas tank" Thanks
_________________
'69 Squareback RIP
'65 21 window deluxe sold before the price spike, damn it.
'70 rhd bay now a taxi in South Sudan
'81 Westy sold
'89 hightop Westy Joker syncro 16" now with Bostig!

[eghall]

@cmayna thanks for the kind words. good to have her back, slightly worse for the wear but i'll count myself lucky, i know i am.

@vanis13 that is good info. i have to look into my setup. IIRC i used the ECM interface for the ej22 but am reconsidering for obvious reasons. set it and forget it would have saved my skin last time, i am not keen to repeat this experience again. lesson learned. Not knowing if my hand-built machine its on fire somewhere or being parted out was hard, very hard.

@schnippzle thats a fancy tracker system. thanks for details. i did something more basic, but now have satellite connectivity and backup system.

also for what its worth the fuel pump circuit method is more effective in my experience, since after the scumbags tripped the kill switch and it 'broke down' it had them thinking it was a malfunction, so they added a gallon of oil to the motor, a gallon of trans fluid (auto) and tried to spray start fluid (and disconnect the MAF) into it to no avail, so i am a believer in this approach over the no start circuit, which puts them in your wiring right away. they only got 16 miles on the clock before the twitchy fingers saved my bacon, so hoping for good outcome in terms of mechanicals. of course they drilled the gas tank, so until i get a new one from BL i cant test. this will take time.

[Abscate]

[vanis13]

[fxr]

You only need one relay for the fuel pump ground switching. Coil is powered from the 'key in' circuit, grounded by a momentary switch to trigger it, but also by the switched contact in the relay, with the NO contact permanently grounded. That switched contact also grounds the fuel pump.

This always arms the kill switch when the key is removed.
_________________
Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300

[vanis13]

[Schnippzle]

[vanis13]

[cmayna]

Aha! So I was right!

When I installed my kill switch, I had to deal with deciding on the switch's location as being convenient or way outa the way, making me too lazy to flip it.

Finally found a good spot. Now, even at home or at a store, or whereever, it get's flipped. And yes, I also have a tracker.

Again, Very glad you folks got yours back.
_________________
'90 Westy / automatic.
If I'm not working on the camper or my '50 Chebbie truck, I'm either fishing with the wife or smoking Salmon.


Craig

[eghall]

Yes, the vehicle had a kill switch. No i didn't have it killed when i parked last. That's why we didn't say it had one, because they did not overcome it. I typically used it only if i'm in a sketch area or a trailhead, turns out home is now a sketch area. The thieves inadvertently turned it on, as it is similar to some setups on the forums here and easy to turn on if you don't know what it is.

So it worked, kinda, since it didn't move after they did that and likely the reason i found it.

Sorry if it caused confusion, my wife posted to vanalert since i was out of town at the time. Abel, if it helps feel free to update it, or let me know how.

[vanis13]

[Californio]

Now if we could just do something about the thousands of tweakers and crazies living in the encampments. I'm from Oakland, still own a house there, and dread the idea of going back. Yes, I have a kill switch but of course the cat is just hanging there waiting to be stolen...distressing when it happens to your city...