We took our VW Vanagon on its final camping trip this past week/weekend. It did such a good job all the way up. About 20 miles outside of Mqt. the coolant light started flickering. "uh-oh," we both said. We pulled off the road and checked the oil and coolant. Topped them both off with the remaining liquids we had in the van and trucked-on. We camped all weekend and left thinking the top-off did the trick. Almost to Munising we see the light come on again! Repeat above. this time I fished through my wallet to find the number of a guy we met at Buses By the Beach Boo! last fall. Found it! Sweet! I call and leave a message. We're in a "bad area" so the call gets dropped about 5 times before we got to a "stable" signal area. He gives us a few suggestions and says, "good luck". we tried to no availe his suggestions and decided it was getting late enough that we may be able to make it the rest of the way home, or at least to TC where my brother could pick us up.As the night temperature dropped we made it further and further with our fingers crossed and hopes high.
HOME, sweet home finally 10 hours later!
Fast forward to next day.
As we are preparing to go run our back-from-vacation errands, the blue car (our other more reliable vehicle) doesn't turn over. We give it a jump and it starts to smoke b/c our jumpers suck (sorry for the language). We drove the van to Meijer and lunch, then back home. We laid down for a rest with the girls then tried to jump it with our new heavy-duty cables. It works?! Woo-hoo! Oh crap! "What's that?" I said to Christian...
Coolant, boiling coolant oozing from every inch of the belly of our baby...oil is milky. It's a gonner.
So sad!
6 comments:
Oh, Jodi! I'm so sorry to hear that your VW van died!! :( Ours (albeit a bit newer than yours!) is still going. It's the van that stays home with the kids & me when Matt is at work, so he rarely drives it. The last couple times he drove it, he said, "Have you checked the oil lately?" because he said it sounded like it needed oil. (Very loud)
Last night, we put oil and coolant in it, and I couldn't believe the difference in how the EuroVan sounded!! I guess I just had it in my head that the thing always sounded that loud. I will have to pay better attention so I don't end up blowing the engine!
Well, I'm sorry to hear your bad news. :( I hope you can find a satsifactory second vehicle for your family!
Amy :)
Well... That's how things go. She was a good girl. We rode her hard and enjoyed every mile. When she finally spilled her life juice on the cement, I guess it was her telling us she loved us but had to leave. I'm very tired and incoherant.
I hope she's happy, where ever she is now. May she rest in peace.
AW DAMN! now it'll be even harder to convince you guys to come visit with out the wheels.
Amy, coolant and oil were regular checkers on ours too. so far we're trying it out as a one-car family. The goal being by the end of next summer to be a NO car family, at least till seminary is done:) We'll see.
Nick, she never would have made it to CA anyhow...she was too old and too fragile. Plus I'm pretty sure they call social services if you hitch hike across america with your two babies. we'll still come visit...we're trying to save some dough for it:)
Several years have passed and wonder if you did really get rid of the van. I am a 2 time owner of Vanagons. The first time I didn't get the engine rebuilt, I sold it when I saw signs and sure enough the buyer reported to me that a few months after he bought it he had to rebuild the motor. My current 87 I bought with 110k, the motor had been rebuilt at 90k so it was fresh, and, here in California the shops use upgraded parts that are better during the rebuild. I'm now at 190k 7 years later. For a vehicle that I paid 3500 for I have gotten an amazing amount of use. There is nothing like a vanagon, I have a custom rack on top, I can move or haul anything, whenever we buy appliances, wood, etc, the van can haul it. Drywall lays flat in the back. I've driven to Colorado and back 3 times and we're always going to the mountains around here. I've also spent more than a few nights in this thing in front of our house when my wife lost her temper with me. I've paid for a new radiator and hoses and a few other things but when I consider the many other cars that have come and gone while I've owned this van as my second vehicle I'm amazed. It just keeps running. But now the compression is starting to give a little and there's a nagging oil leak and I need a little body work and a paint and the interior needs a new carpet and the driver side electric window is permanently hoisted up with a stick. I think I'm like a lot of vanagon owners who have taken for granted the years of service and have to face the fact that this van is irreplaceable and deserves to be cared for even if it is "the camper" or the "the weekender". We just sold our Jetta so the Vanagon will be my full time vehicle until we get another little car, I think I'll call the mechanic and get to know him again. He has a soft spot for Vanagons also and has a VW shop in Laguna Canyon that cannot be beat.
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