One less Vanagon mechanic (soon)

[Red Ryder]

Yep. A reliable Vanagon shop in Placerville (CA) where we had Scarlett serviced changed hands. New owner decided to work only on newer vehicles. So we moved to Washington…
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“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[Outback Kampers]

"These vehicles are complex, they're unreliable, and they're hard to work on."

C'mon...I chose to spend many years working on them because they are the opposite of all that. (I only wish I have bought a lift years ago.)
Craig, maybe you need a different mechanic.
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Karl Mullendore
1990 Syncro 16" sunroof Reimo highroof conversion
1990 Westy Multivan 112i automatic
1992 LT31 Karmann Distance Wide 'La Tortuga'
2014 Touareg X TDI

[jlrftype7]

"""""Do not disparage flat Earthers, there are a lot of us all around the globe, and we are not putting up with it."""
I thought this was pretty funny, while hanging on to Earth for dear life since I sailed off the edge a long time ago....
Now I'll wait for someone to paste the Kansas Album Cover that says it all....
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[calsurf]

[zerotofifty]

There is only one shop near me that will do smog test on my 1980 Triumph, a job I am not allowed to do myself!!! I bring in my factory work shop book so they can understand where all the smog parts go. They do it cheerfully and are nice, but one of these days they will be gone, then what???

One other smog shop that claims to do older cars would not do it, which is fine by me cause them fools thought it was a Fiat (even though it clearly says Triumph on the body)
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Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[SCM]

[kourt]

I'll post a blurb from my Eurovan DIY Wheel Alignment thread in the Eurovans forum:

Following my installation of new ball joints and bushings this month on all four corners of my 2001 Eurovan Winnebago Camper, I optimistically started calling around the good shops in Austin for an alignment.

What I got was a bunch of NOs. The one shop that accepted my appointment changed their mind once I arrived.

Shop manager: "We don't have the specs for that van. We can't align it."

Kourt: [I know he's lying and at this point I am pretty sure I won't be leaving my van here, but I still try] "I printed out the specs and the adjustment procedures from the VW manuals and left them on the front passenger seat. Also, you aligned this van two years ago on your Hunter rack, which has specs for all vehicles."

Shop manager: [frowning because I caught him in a lie] "Let me go talk to my tech." [steps outside, mumbling] "Sorry sir, my tech won't touch it. Call suchandsuch and ask them..."

...and suchandsuch shop also declined.

This was a basic repair job for a 2001 Eurovan.

I'm with Abscate on this: asking shops to work on Vanagons is not just a big ask--it's wishful thinking that will result in disappointment.

kourt
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2001 Eurovan Winnebago Camper

[Abscate]

Treat any shop that will work on your car like a friend. Bring the your oil change business, business with some margin.

I was commuting between upstate and Long Island during Covid while the Dr Mrs worked the shifts of Hell. My fuel line work on my AWD Volvo pooped the bed, and I thought it was headed for LKQ heaven. One mile from home , a Euro garage dropped my tank and replumbed for 4 hours labour. I’ve been shuffling work to them since. I did get a nice compliment from John who said I love working on cars with new hardware and lots of antiseize!
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[hans j]

[livethevanlife]

This was very well said.

[Wildthings]

[Abscate]

[riceye]

That's a shame. I agree that qualified help in fringe locales may dwindle.

Looks like Auto Stop is still open on E Main. I've frequently seen Vanagons in their lot when in town. We visit annually and a few years back had an issue with a sealing plug in a transaxle output flange popping out visiting friends in Cashmere, WA. Made it back to Bozeman and made the repair in my daughter/son-in-law's driveway. I needed a new plug ($3 part) but didn't want to wait on shipping. Randy had them on hand and didn't gouge me on the price. I have not needed to have them actually work on my rig, but I guess I would feel rather comfortable if needed. I hope they will continue to offer service.

Did I read a while back that Larry in Livingston is no longer servicing Vanagons?
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'87 Westy Weekender - daily driver on salt-free roads

There's gonna be some changes made.

“I find that things usually go well right up until the moment they don't.” - Ahwahnee

"Quality isn't method. It's the goal toward which the method is aimed." - Socrates, later quoted by R.M. Pirsig

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[4Gears4Tires]

I dunno if he missed the joke or was trying to continue the joke.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[zerotofifty]

chill out xevin, good grief.
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Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[Phishman068]

There will continue to be less and less folks willing to touch these, and when you find a mechanic that will- You should absolutely do everything you can to keep them. That means buying parts through them (unless they ask you to source the parts) instead of sourcing the parts yourself to "save money", working with their timeline flexibly, etc etc etc.

These vehicles are complex, they're unreliable, and they're hard to work on.
They are NOT the same as other similar aged vehicles.

The number one reason mechanics won't work on them before- CUSTOMERS.
So, don't treat this like dropping off your jeep to the dealer, it's simply not the same.

There's also plenty of bad parts out there that are the only option. If you ask the mechanic to replace your syncro fuel tank sender for instance and the only option is a JP group one, know that you're either paying them for HOURS of calibrating it, or you're getting it back inaccurate. It's absolutely not fair to expect them to do that repair at a flat rate, and when you complain that it's not right, especially if you sourced the part- the part isn't the problem, the mechanic isn't the problem, You, and you're expectations are.
You Gota have modern expectations for what they can possibly do for your non modern vehicle.
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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936

"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry."

[4Gears4Tires]

A video series I'm watching of a couple biking from Patagonia to Alaska mentioned "meeting a french couple in their old 4x4 VW van." I was excited. Then the shot cut to the door of a T4. I was disappointed and I said to my girlfriend, "that's a T4, that's not old!" And then I realized that yeah, that's probably 25 years old.

[Wildthings]

Our local independent VW/Subaru shop wouldn't work on Vanagons, except for longtime customers, 30 years ago. Having owned our 91 since it was new and having experienced all kinds of water leaks and other problems almost from day one, and found parts to be extremely expensive and very often unavailable I didn't expect to be able to keep a Vanagon running for very long between poor reliability and high cost. With my wife driving around 35K miles each year I figured it would get it's visit to the crusher in six years or so from new.

In my opinion the internet and it's search engines, along with companies that sell better than OEM parts, like SS cooling pipes, really saved the Vanagon.

[jslmc1]

Im spoiled with No Name, but at least you have Import Palace nearby? They did the rear main on my Vanagon in 2003 still going strong!