I've become a good Vanagon mechanic. I couldn't afford to keep my '87 Vanagon if I had to pay a mechanic at $140 per hour, or more, to repair my van. Most of the work I've done is relatively easy--replaced cv axles, replaced brake and clutch master cylinders, bled clutch and brakes, replaced transmission seal, rebuilt fuel injection system, etc. I found special tools that made replacing the transmission axle seal super easy. My primary vehicle, a Honda Element, is supremely reliable. Good to see you put your Westfalia back on the road.
There's no way I could keep this vehicle on the road if I wasn't the primary mechanic too. It's great to get back on the road without too much of major expense, this time.
I have got the same rims on my Vanagon. But mine is a Diesel. So no ignition. 12 years with no breakdowns so far. Knock on wood. Greetings from Germany. 😊
The simplicity of design of the VWs is amazing. A testament to German design. I would always start a trip in my Beattle and tune it along the way and have it running better by the end of the trip. You can not say that of a modern car. The fall and winter in the Bugs and Vans was always a challenge though even with a gas heater, which only seemed to work 50 percent of the time and created your own James Bond smoke screen when running badly!
I drove a 1939 GMC truck as a daily driver for some years. 3/4 ton flatbed long wheelbase. I had this one girlfriend who was really good at helping me line up the trans splines, when we would swap the trans out in the ft yard. I was always hoping for that one good non synchro tranny. Eventually I had to stick a 235 Chevy 6 in it, the stock GMC engine rattled out. Stuck with 6 volt of course. @55mph on the hiway it was terrifying, only 1 friend would ride in it doing that. You could scream as loud as you wanted and we couldnt hear each other out on the road, great old truck. It caught on fire at a gas station once and all the wiring burnt up. It was like an hour to re wire all of it. Simple as a tractor.
Back in the 60s & early 70s I had 3 VWs so got proficient at working on them. Thanks to John Muir's famous book. When I needed a van I bought a Chevy. Cast iron V8 & 3 on the tree. I kept various friends VWs running. Only one person asked why I drove a Chevy when I worked on VWs. When my roommates VW Kombi blew up I towed him home with the trusty Chevy. Loads of fun.
Haha. Congrats. That's a good feeling when you get your vanagon running well. I too split my time between cycling and vanagon wrenching. I'm in the middle of replacing the ball joints both upper and lower; after a good gravel ride of course.
That's fixed. Might as well throw the new part on though and keep the second hand one as the spare. YOLO etc. Feels like old vehicles are less reliable sometimes but at least you don't have to put up with touchscreens, lane assist, stop start, and all that kind of nonsense.
A friend had a 1966 bug 6 volt..We replaced the voltage regulator and the instructions said “use a piece of coat hanger wire and short the pos and neg terminals once to polarize the regulator”….😂
' i Once owned one. old white VW Bus 1977 , it was old but good or Ok. but service station added too much oil so it blew half way cross south dakota to college. the tow charge paid with its title. wish cud of had fixed and kept. other friend, burned out hippy to the home on the range east of Spearfish.
All right! So a bad ignition control module? Looks like you just changed the plugs and the cap too. I don't think the ignition voltage runs particularly hot on the older VW engines so the spark plug wires don't tend to burn out, but if there is any cracking or stiffness/aging due to age of the wire insulation, you might want to change those too. My first car was a '70 VW Bug. Did all the typical stuff when I rebuilt it, went from a 1600 to a 1800 (replace/upsize the pistons/cylinders), replaced the vacuum advanced for a Bosch centrifugal advance distributor, and header/extractor exhaust. Actually pretty easy and fun to work on, but back then the car was relatively new. It's much more of a PITA when the car is twenty+ years old.
I would consider mounting a spare ECM on the firewall next to the existing ECM. I had a Ford Tempo that failed three ignition modules. After the third failure I purchased a new Honda Civic Sedan and haven't owned a Ford since.
Naive questions. 1) Air cooled engines - are you running synthetic motor oil? 2) Does your vehicle have a catalytic converter - do you have to use antique engine motor oil? 3) How did you get so many comments in just 2 hours?
I sold my ‘69 Karnann Ghia just before pandemic hit, as I wanted a car that could climb steeper hills and didn’t leak oil constantly. But I really miss the purr of an air-cooled engine!
