Hi Guys,
What an adventure this turned out to be ! I must start my story by giving a heartfelt big THANKYOU to all the fellow Syncronoughts that came to my rescue, especially LES, ALF, ANDY, YURIK etc etc...I really appreciated the interest and wonderful assistance given to me during the course of the 2 week episode trying to get back to Denmark in WA from Melbourne, where I had purchased {site unseen} the Syncro previously owned by Werner, a respected member of the club before his demise last July.
I arrived at Werners home as arranged at 6pm on Tuesday 24th March after flying from Perth the day before, and spending the day exploring Melbourne before meeting Alice, Werners widow who was in a hurry to go out for the evening, therefore I hardly had time to see what I had bought before driving away. Before I even turned the corner I noticed that the temperature light was flashing indicating low coolant level!
However I switched off the engine to check the level, which was OK and upon restarting the engine the light stayed off ! After purchasing food and water etc I set off towards Geelong but after travelling about 30km the ehgine started to falter and "miss" I turned into a side road where it just stopped. The van would not restart !
Having phoned Alice for the name of any garage that might know the van, it turned out that she was attending a meeting of the Syncro Club and Brian gave me the nane and address of a fellow at the meeting, Lloyd of Volkswerk Melbourne. I paid $200 for a low loader to take me to the rear of Lloyds garage arriving at Midnight.
In the morning Lloyd made me a coffee and pronounced the fuel pump required replacement. Three hours later and $450 spent I set off, and 5 mins later stopped to read my map. The van wouldent start ! I telephoned Lloyd who sent his son over, fuel OK spark OK ! He fiddled with the air flow meter, it reluctantly started and I limped back to Lloyd, who after reinspecting it said the oxygen sensor should be replaced. $250 spent and I set off again.
I made it quite a way this time and felt that the problems were now in the past [little did I know].
Everything seemed OK and I was getting used to the temperature light flashing when I first started up, but would extinguish the second time I started ? Until Saturday when it started dying {like fuel starvation} but in fact kept going. I made it to Handhorf the German settlement in the evening and enjoyed several steins of German beer!
On the Sunday I telephoned Les for help and he rung back with the address of Alf in Adelaide and after getting very lost I arrived at Alf,s place. Alf quickly diagnosed a problem with one fuel injector sucking in air, he made a repair with a grommit and suggested I replace all the grommits as soon as possible, and I set off again.
After about 275km the same problem occurred and the following day I arrived at a small town called "Iron Knob" to purchase fuel ! The van wouldn't start ! After many phone calls and more assistance from Les I ordered the grommitts, fuel filter, distributer, spark plugs, rotor arm, plug leads, and the infamous wiring harness to cure "Vanagon Syndrome" ! I Was told it would take until Thursday when the parcel would arrive on the coach from Adelaide. Meanwhile Andy who lives in Ceduna (on my way home} arranged to send me a spare air flow meter in case it was required.
I settled down to wait and on the Wednesday both the leisure and starting batteries were flat, but a friendly local guy took them home to charge them up. I also found out from Les that there was a good VW Mechanic in a nearby town called Whyella.
Much excitement on Thursday afternoon when the coach pulled in but my parcel was not on the bus !! Turned out it went directly to Wyella?
I got my batteries back , put them on the van, and it started first time !!! I drove the 50km to Whyella and it stalled and would not start just 2km from the garage. A friendly local guy gave me a tow to the garage where I met Ian Mellville an excellent mechanic and a lovely guy! The time was now after 5pm but he started to inspect the van, and would you believe it he started the engine !! and put it on the car hoist ! At about 6pm he gave me a beer and we soon made friends and shared beers until 9pm, when Ian went home and I settled down in the van still on the car hoist
Friday morning Ian found an intermitten connection and fixed it, replaced the grommitts on the fuel injectors,tested the injectors were working OK, replaced the plug leads, rerouted the fuel line as it appeared to have a kink in it, and we both went on a 50km drive where it performed perfectly. Ian gave me two bottles of Fuel injector cleaner and the total cost was only $120 !! I set off again.
The van was faultless {except for the flashing temp light which would not go off} I arrived at Ceduna and arranged to meet Andy the next day.
Met Andy and his wife Ruth and returned his air flow meter and Andy inspected the cooling system which all was OK and he suggested that I clean the pins in the sensor switch on the header tank when I got home. Incidently Andy asked if I had put water in the cooling system and I told him yes about a cupfull, but forgot to tell him it was bottled water, and not the local tap water ! I set off again.
Enjoyed a trouble free journey and after Norseman I elected to travel to Hyden on a 300km unmade road towards Perth. Upon reaching the bitumen I decided to inspect the van and found a flat rear tyre !! Upon jacking up the van I found that there was no wheel spanner !**##!
The place was very remote so I decided to do the sensible thing and make a cup of tea ! Presently I spied a Farmer spraying his field in the distance and waved to him, He came over and offered to help after he had finished spraying just one more hectare !
When he eventually got to me with his truck and trailor, he pointed out the tyre was not completely flat, and started up a compressor that was on his trailer! It appeared to stay up, and he pointed out that Hyden the nearest town was about 35km away ! I made haste and soon arrived at the local tyre repair shop where they found a small piece of metal in the tyre and made a repair. I set off again.
Reached Perth late Monday night {two weeks since leaving home} and spent the night in a park. On Tuesday I went to see Yurik, who kindly gave me lunch and advice much appreciated. I was able to recommend the route that I had taken as Yurik is about to travel over East soon.
I eventually got home Tuesday night having had an experience that I will never forget (especially 3 days in Iron Knob !!} I can now appreciate what a lovely Syncro I have purchased, and look back on the wonderful sense of belonging to a friendly club. Thank you all.
Tony
What an adventure this turned out to be ! I must start my story by giving a heartfelt big THANKYOU to all the fellow Syncronoughts that came to my rescue, especially LES, ALF, ANDY, YURIK etc etc...I really appreciated the interest and wonderful assistance given to me during the course of the 2 week episode trying to get back to Denmark in WA from Melbourne, where I had purchased {site unseen} the Syncro previously owned by Werner, a respected member of the club before his demise last July.
I arrived at Werners home as arranged at 6pm on Tuesday 24th March after flying from Perth the day before, and spending the day exploring Melbourne before meeting Alice, Werners widow who was in a hurry to go out for the evening, therefore I hardly had time to see what I had bought before driving away. Before I even turned the corner I noticed that the temperature light was flashing indicating low coolant level!
However I switched off the engine to check the level, which was OK and upon restarting the engine the light stayed off ! After purchasing food and water etc I set off towards Geelong but after travelling about 30km the ehgine started to falter and "miss" I turned into a side road where it just stopped. The van would not restart !
Having phoned Alice for the name of any garage that might know the van, it turned out that she was attending a meeting of the Syncro Club and Brian gave me the nane and address of a fellow at the meeting, Lloyd of Volkswerk Melbourne. I paid $200 for a low loader to take me to the rear of Lloyds garage arriving at Midnight.
In the morning Lloyd made me a coffee and pronounced the fuel pump required replacement. Three hours later and $450 spent I set off, and 5 mins later stopped to read my map. The van wouldent start ! I telephoned Lloyd who sent his son over, fuel OK spark OK ! He fiddled with the air flow meter, it reluctantly started and I limped back to Lloyd, who after reinspecting it said the oxygen sensor should be replaced. $250 spent and I set off again.
I made it quite a way this time and felt that the problems were now in the past [little did I know].
Everything seemed OK and I was getting used to the temperature light flashing when I first started up, but would extinguish the second time I started ? Until Saturday when it started dying {like fuel starvation} but in fact kept going. I made it to Handhorf the German settlement in the evening and enjoyed several steins of German beer!
On the Sunday I telephoned Les for help and he rung back with the address of Alf in Adelaide and after getting very lost I arrived at Alf,s place. Alf quickly diagnosed a problem with one fuel injector sucking in air, he made a repair with a grommit and suggested I replace all the grommits as soon as possible, and I set off again.
After about 275km the same problem occurred and the following day I arrived at a small town called "Iron Knob" to purchase fuel ! The van wouldn't start ! After many phone calls and more assistance from Les I ordered the grommitts, fuel filter, distributer, spark plugs, rotor arm, plug leads, and the infamous wiring harness to cure "Vanagon Syndrome" ! I Was told it would take until Thursday when the parcel would arrive on the coach from Adelaide. Meanwhile Andy who lives in Ceduna (on my way home} arranged to send me a spare air flow meter in case it was required.
I settled down to wait and on the Wednesday both the leisure and starting batteries were flat, but a friendly local guy took them home to charge them up. I also found out from Les that there was a good VW Mechanic in a nearby town called Whyella.
Much excitement on Thursday afternoon when the coach pulled in but my parcel was not on the bus !! Turned out it went directly to Wyella?
I got my batteries back , put them on the van, and it started first time !!! I drove the 50km to Whyella and it stalled and would not start just 2km from the garage. A friendly local guy gave me a tow to the garage where I met Ian Mellville an excellent mechanic and a lovely guy! The time was now after 5pm but he started to inspect the van, and would you believe it he started the engine !! and put it on the car hoist ! At about 6pm he gave me a beer and we soon made friends and shared beers until 9pm, when Ian went home and I settled down in the van still on the car hoist
Friday morning Ian found an intermitten connection and fixed it, replaced the grommitts on the fuel injectors,tested the injectors were working OK, replaced the plug leads, rerouted the fuel line as it appeared to have a kink in it, and we both went on a 50km drive where it performed perfectly. Ian gave me two bottles of Fuel injector cleaner and the total cost was only $120 !! I set off again.
The van was faultless {except for the flashing temp light which would not go off} I arrived at Ceduna and arranged to meet Andy the next day.
Met Andy and his wife Ruth and returned his air flow meter and Andy inspected the cooling system which all was OK and he suggested that I clean the pins in the sensor switch on the header tank when I got home. Incidently Andy asked if I had put water in the cooling system and I told him yes about a cupfull, but forgot to tell him it was bottled water, and not the local tap water ! I set off again.
Enjoyed a trouble free journey and after Norseman I elected to travel to Hyden on a 300km unmade road towards Perth. Upon reaching the bitumen I decided to inspect the van and found a flat rear tyre !! Upon jacking up the van I found that there was no wheel spanner !**##!
The place was very remote so I decided to do the sensible thing and make a cup of tea ! Presently I spied a Farmer spraying his field in the distance and waved to him, He came over and offered to help after he had finished spraying just one more hectare !
When he eventually got to me with his truck and trailor, he pointed out the tyre was not completely flat, and started up a compressor that was on his trailer! It appeared to stay up, and he pointed out that Hyden the nearest town was about 35km away ! I made haste and soon arrived at the local tyre repair shop where they found a small piece of metal in the tyre and made a repair. I set off again.
Reached Perth late Monday night {two weeks since leaving home} and spent the night in a park. On Tuesday I went to see Yurik, who kindly gave me lunch and advice much appreciated. I was able to recommend the route that I had taken as Yurik is about to travel over East soon.
I eventually got home Tuesday night having had an experience that I will never forget (especially 3 days in Iron Knob !!} I can now appreciate what a lovely Syncro I have purchased, and look back on the wonderful sense of belonging to a friendly club. Thank you all.
Tony