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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16501 Location: Brookeville, MD
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Hounddogs Samba Member
Joined: December 06, 2019 Posts: 41 Location: Puget Sound, WA
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 8:33 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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2007
Took I-5 from Seattle to just north of San Francisco for a wedding in July, 2007. We were in our 1986 Adventurewagen with a rebuilt 2.1. It ran great, but the weather was really hot coming down Siskiyou Summit past Lake Shasta. Cruising along nicely doing 65-70 mph down that long grade the engine just flat quit. We coasted onto an off ramp to the only shade we could find and waited about 15 minutes. Cranked it over and she fired right up!
Temperature in Redding showed 112 F as we cruised past, windows open! 2,000 miles back home a week later via the Sierras without another hitch.
Figured a vapor lock in the fuel line from the heat caused it to quit. _________________ 85 Adventurewagen - FAS GenV inline VW 4 cylinder
86 Adventurewagen (Sold)
03 Eurovan (Sold)
83 Westfalia (Sold)
81 Westfalia (Burned up on the side of the freeway in 1986) |
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Microbusdeluxe Samba Member
Joined: July 26, 2003 Posts: 980 Location: Bellingham, WA
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Posted: Sat May 29, 2021 10:01 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Just back from 2 months, 10,000 miles. Western Washington- Eastern Oregon-Nevada-Utah-Arizona-New Mexico-Colorado-South Dakota-Wyoming-Idaho-Oregon-Home. Only issue was a scare from scrapping sound in brake drum, it was a small wooden stick. On the way home I developed a drive by shooting backfire when decelerating/engine braking downhill and no throttle. It's a Zetec so I'm open to thoughts and solutions. The whole trip was proof that hours of time and piles of money spent on maintenance pay off.
I'll do a trip report soon. _________________ '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! |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7465 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Sat May 29, 2021 11:52 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Sounds like a wonderful trip.
Unburned gas exploding in the exhaust creating a backfire: First, it's tons of fun! Second, one possibility is an exhaust leak providing O2 that burns any unburnt gas in the exhaust. This was common with 80s BMW motorcycles and an emissions control system called the Pulse Air System that flowed fresh air into the header to burn unburnt gases and often led to popping, but not gunfire sounding noises. Do you have a catifold or earlier manifold system? My original Zetec exhaust manifold developed cracks that may have contributed to pops and cracks. _________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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djkeev Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007 Posts: 32584 Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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Captain Pike Samba Member
Joined: December 30, 2003 Posts: 3341 Location: Talos IV, Piedmont Arizona
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2021 9:23 am Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Coast to coast on Dead Tour more times that I can count(20-30?). '89 thru '95. 1 time, bad fuel filter. _________________ LEARN TO SELF RESCUE
59 Panel bus, 1966 Single cab. 73' 181. 73 Westy. 91' H6 Vanagon 3.3L.
.....................All Current....................... |
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oasis Samba Member
Joined: December 12, 2002 Posts: 2168
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 8:57 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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oasis wrote: |
I have a trip planned to Maine sometime in May with Sinka. That should be 1,000 miles total. Fingers crossed. |
Welp, drove to Maine in May. Drove back last Friday/Saturday. Roughly 550 miles each way. No problems either way ... but I was lucky. Actually, on the trip there, we (my wife and I) were lucky.
I drove Sinka to FAS in Harpswell, Maine, for a few things to be installed, corrected, and looked over. It turned out it needed more. Much more.
I bought it with a new timing belt service freshly done. Unfortunately, whoever the clown was who did the service installed the tensioner backwards or inverted. The tensioner got dented but the major news was the brand new belt was mostly shredded by the time we arrived. We could've broken down anywhere with major problems -- even on the GW bridge like some poor sap we saw on the way.
My wife and I enjoyed Maine for several days, then flew back to Maryland. The injectors needed to be rebuilt. Once they were, there was enough pressure to reveal another problem -- the injector pump seal was leaking. It had to be ordered from Europe and waiting for that gasket took another couple of weeks or so. Here is the offending part:
I stopped off at Portland on my return trip.
Sinka drove like a champ on the return trip. _________________ Now: 2003 New Beetle Turbo S / 1990 Single Cab Transporter / 2014 Tiguan R-Line 4motion / 2013 Tiguan S / 2002 Golf GLS TDI
Past: 1974 Thing Acapulco / 2009 Eos Komfort / 1997 Jetta GT / 2002 Cabrio GLX / 2002 Passat GLS / 1971 Super Beetle / 1993 EuroVan MV Westfalia / 1981 Pickup LX / 1985 Vanagon / 1986 Jetta GLI |
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16CVs Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2004 Posts: 4024 Location: Redwood City, California
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:20 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Well not quite a 1000 miles but damn close at 974 Mi. We left out from the Bay Area and headed to our cheap Tahoe retreat , the In laws cabin in Kings beach. I missed my exit and ended up on 50 instead of 80 but I always enjoy a side trip.
I made a little side trip to OutWesty to pick up some stuff, Dave was too busy driving his DMC and just left my stuff outside (I need to remember to pay him)
Over the weekend we paid our penance and cleaned up the grounds and loaded 10 bags of pine needles in the van and on Monday morning we headed home, traffic was crazy with 3 accidents on the way home. I was able to enjoy the fruits of my labor and enjoyed my In Dash A/C coming through Sacramento, We stopped off and saw our new Grand Daughter.
Once home unloaded the pine needles and loaded up the van with a Delivery for the fine folks at Go Westy. We arrive there at about 11;30 and pulled the bed and slept in the parking lot, just about 7:45 the vans started rolling in. We had a quick Breakfast and dropped our load and headed home.
The van ran like a champ, didn't miss a beat. 3.5 tanks of gas and some quality wheel time. I spend a lot of time to preventive maintenance so I rarely have a problem.
I tried to make it an even 1000 mi, but My wife and I had to get to work.
Stacy _________________ 1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread. |
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bobbyblack Samba Member
Joined: May 21, 2015 Posts: 4348 Location: United States, Iowa
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:27 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Well, we're home; NE Iowa to Denver, Ft Colin's, Estes Park, RedRocks, more Denver, and back home: 2140 miles. No drips, no quirks, no flattened fauna. _________________ '87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch |
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clamay Samba Member
Joined: September 24, 2014 Posts: 113 Location: PNW
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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:08 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Early May --- Mount Vernon, Seattle, Bend, Boise, Salt Lake City, St. George, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Page, Moab, Durango, Pagosa Springs, Steamboat Springs, Jackson, Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Bozeman, Coeur d' Alene, North Cascades, Mount Vernon.
3 weeks, 4500 miles, 18.0 MPG, no issues except a small drip of oil from my drivers side valve cover, it went away after two days. Great trip. 91 Carat, 2.2l GW engine with GW EFI (25K miles), auto trans., peloquin TBD, Maxxis Bravo tires 27x8.5. _________________ 91 Carat, automatic, GW 2.2, GW EFI, Peloquin TBD
When you come to a fork in the road, take it. --Yogi Berra |
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Paulbeard Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2015 Posts: 2604 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:55 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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1,517 miles in three days (Seattle -> Butte -> Kalispell -> Glacier National Park -> Seattle) @ 21.7 mpg. Worst mileage was using premium. Best was what I beat it like a rented mule.
Mileage discrepancy excludes incidental trips to find services or recover from nav mishaps, etc.
No repairs, but some mandatory rest periods when the starter was in-op. In every case but the last, it worked after a rest/cool-off period but the very last, that didn't help. And it was actually cooled off due to the vicious crosswinds at Ellensburg WA. The starter (what I was concerned with) was 104°F, no hotter than if I left it in the sun (94° in shade today). So I'll be looking into that. Some champion in a yellow box truck helped push it up on a slight slope and I was able to roll start and get on my way.
Symptoms: a quick gas and go seemed fine, but anything longer than that meant a cool off period. A quick search at a rest area brought up some old posts about "heat soaked" motors but after that most recent incident, I don't think that's it. Never seen this before this trip.
This makes me think it might be a duff starter which would be disappointing, as it was a Bosch TDi to replace the OG one just a couple of years ago. _________________ Currently -> Frida: 87 Tizian Red (mostly) Vanagon GL Westfalia w/ 2.0L ABA conversion
Formerly -> Steward of a 73 Super Beetle (Beater) and 67 Beetle 1300 (Little Max) both names by POs
dhaavers
Last edited by Paulbeard on Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jonny-G Samba Member
Joined: November 03, 2020 Posts: 7
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:00 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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1,900 miles!! Daughter graduated college and asked if we could take a road trip - of course!! Tacoma to Bend. Then to Alvord desert and hot springs ( omg I hate washboard. Think I need a compressor to air down). Fresh front T3 sway bar was amazing. Fresh front brakes were stinking on some down hills, scared me but probably breaking in. Then to Jordan valley, to Joseph, to John Day, back to Bend, then back to Tacoma on the hottest day of heat wave last Monday. Worried about overheating but did awesome. I learned to drive with windows open again like from the days before a/c, which is great. No actual issues at all. Amazing. We only saw 11 other VW busses T1-T4s (T1 was en route for a big project). Fridge started to really stink - maybe ammonia leak - time to remove. I was worried about shaking something loose on the washboard - have to drive soo slow.
89 2.2 wbx nwcr rebuild, peloquin, T3 sway bar, konis, 15 gw wheels 215/65/15 Michelin agilis _________________ 89 westy, 2.2 wbx, peloquin, 100Ah lifepo4 |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7465 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:01 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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^^^ Hey, hey! It's been awhile. Sounds like quite a bit of driving to really nice places in three days. Sorry to hear about the grumpy starter. _________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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jimf909 Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2014 Posts: 7465 Location: WA/ID
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Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Maybe Kalispell has it in for Vanagon starters...
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755771
Paulbeard wrote: |
1,517 miles in three days (Seattle -> Butte -> Kalispell -> Glacier National Park -> Seattle) @ 21.7 mpg. Worst mileage was using premium. Best was what I beat it like a rented mule.
No repairs, but some mandatory rest periods when the starter was in-op. In every case but the last, it worked after a rest/cool-off period but the very last, that didn't help. And it was actually cooled off due to the vicious crosswinds at Ellensburg WA. The starter (what I was concerned with) was 104°F, no hotter than if I left it in the sun (94° in shade today). So I'll be looking into that. Some champion in a yellow box truck helped push it up on a slight slope and I was able to roll start and get on my way.
Symptoms: a quick gas and go seemed fine, but anything longer than that meant a cool off period. A quick search at a rest area brought up some old posts about "heat soaked" motors but after that most recent incident, I don't think that's it. Never seen this before this trip.
This makes me think it might be a duff starter which would be disappointing, as it was a Bosch TDi to replace the OG one just a couple of years ago. |
_________________ - Jim
Abscate wrote: |
Do not get killed, do not kill others.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.
Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro). |
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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 3019 Location: MD
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:25 am Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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Paulbeard wrote: |
Symptoms: a quick gas and go seemed fine, but anything longer than that meant a cool off period. |
I struggled with exactly this for a year. New $74 starter off Amazon fixed it immediately. I also added a ground strap from starter directly to the chassis. _________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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Paulbeard Samba Member
Joined: July 10, 2015 Posts: 2604 Location: Seattle
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:54 am Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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4Gears4Tires wrote: |
I struggled with exactly this for a year. New $74 starter off Amazon fixed it immediately. I also added a ground strap from starter directly to the chassis. |
Well, snap (swap in your own salty language here). Pretty confident it is well-grounded, as the last person to touch it was my shop when they swapped in a new-ish trans. But I will of course verify.
Things I know/have checked:
battery is good (topped up by solar as well from the alternator)
starter switch was swapped out w my spare (I know you keep one in your glove box, unless you are smarter than me and went with pushbutton). No difference.
It's not purely heat, as the last episode seems to prove.
everything else works, as roll starting worked fine.
It all looks increasingly like a duff TDi starter, a Bosch reman which isn't that old and not that over-used. Waiting for the vendor to help me find out when I got it so I can pursue any warranty options. A truly rebuilt one (per Abscate) would be best, if I can find the last remaining craftsman who does that.
This kinda messed up my adventure, first time I have been able to truly get away and had to turn back almost before it started. I counted on being able resupply myself in the field so didn't bring a lot of supplies. And my phone carrier's slim presence in Montana meant I was out of service more than in
making a call to AAA problematic.
No start this morning so I'll test the continuity across the solenoid later. Also a fuel leak from the tank side of the fuel pump and some grease on one of the belts. And both rear indicators stopped working (I have seen one or the other but never both at once). So a couple of things to see to.
EDIT: well, the solenoid passed the continuity test so I tried the spare ignition switch that I had tried on the road and it fired right up. Did I forget to reset the kill switch while under highway hypnosis?
I swore the next time one of these failed I was going with a push button switch so I guess I have to trawl the archives and see what my options are. I see a lot of mention of relays but y'all talk too fast for me. The spare and the one in place are both the same, I think, made in Taiwan. Curses upon whoever decided to weaken or underspec the part that fails in these. _________________ Currently -> Frida: 87 Tizian Red (mostly) Vanagon GL Westfalia w/ 2.0L ABA conversion
Formerly -> Steward of a 73 Super Beetle (Beater) and 67 Beetle 1300 (Little Max) both names by POs
dhaavers |
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blyhigh Samba Member
Joined: April 13, 2006 Posts: 121 Location: The Beaver State of Mind
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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8062 miles. Cape Cod to the Oregon Coast and back. Pic at Carhenge NE |
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Vanuber Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2020 Posts: 411 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2021 12:36 pm Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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blyhigh wrote: |
8062 miles. Cape Cod to the Oregon Coast and back. |
That's impressive! Are you running the stock engine? _________________ '85 Westfalia 1.9L
'72 BMW R75/5
'71 BMW R75/5
'02 Subaru Forester 2.5L |
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blyhigh Samba Member
Joined: April 13, 2006 Posts: 121 Location: The Beaver State of Mind
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Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Poll: Long drive, did you make it? 1,000+ miles |
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GW 2.4 |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16501 Location: Brookeville, MD
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