As with anything, VW ownership has its problems, but what we like is that there always seems to be answers as well as helpful people providing them. The following are a few of our memorable episodes.

 1961 VW: Our Kombi had a 40 horsepower engine, and cost us $1,800 off the Tallahassee VW dealer's used car lot. Gas was 33 cents a gallon, and this van was getting over 30 mpg! We were traveling for a penny a mile with 40 horsepower. There was no gasoline gauge, the gas tank held 10 gallons, with an extra one gallon in reserve. The trick was to remember to fill up the tank before the reserve tank ran dry. There was a special crank/key to open the gas tank , but alas, sometimes it was left behind at the pump!

Often our van would refuse to start, even after getting new parts into all the necessary places. Finally, a tech school student from California, offered an idea: the engine was not sufficiently grounded! So, using a piece of 8 gauge copper wire to connect the motor to the body, this extra ground corrected this problem.

In 1965, on a weekend trip to Lake Sinclair the transmission blew out, leaving only 4th gear. Another auto would push us up to 20 mph, and off we'd go, up and down the Georgia hills . The trip back to Macon and the repair shop on Monday was just as hectic. Through the years the engine in this van was replaced four times. It had a rebuilt motor in it when purchased , and three more rebuilt motors were needed during the years it traveled over 200,000 miles. Our last replacement was in the early 1980's after the engine blew up one evening as we headed toward our camp down on the St. Marks River.

None of the earlier VW vans had a/c, and one of the nicest features in the '61 was the cool air vent above the split windshield, there was always plenty of cool air front and back, easily regulated. As you'll read later, we missed this feature in our future vans.

1973 VW VAN: Our next van had 65 horsepower and cost us $3,600. We spotted this van on the local Dodge used car lot, discovering it had belonged to someone we knew, we learned it had been traded in simply because his wife didn't like the blue/white color, and thought it too boxy. This engine was different, made by Porsche, and our favorite mechanic wanted no part of it. However, a genius in a VW shop in the nearby village of Woodville turned out to be exactly what we would need for the next 10 years.

We were disappointed in the air ventilation; it could not compare with the air vent system of our '61 VW van. Folks riding in the back seats needed more circulation, so our solution was to use a plastic hose meant to exhaust a clothes dryer; someone would just ease the hose a little way out a small opening in a window as we rolled down the road, and a good stream of air would blow through the hose into the van.

Once on a 400 mile trip to south Florida in 1977, the engine began to struggle, slowing down, losing power, almost dying, then gradually gaining speed again. Finally in Fort Myers, after this nervewracking trip, a call back to our Woodville expert brought fix-it instructions for the local VW shop. The push rod in the gas pump had "hammered" shorter, therefore rattled and gave poor gas flow at times. A new case hardened push rod was installed for $25, and the problem never occurred again.

1980 VAN: This van had a 67 horsepower engine, and cost us $5,400. Again we lucked into a good deal when we bought this van. The owners and their teenage sons had outgrown it. They told us that the only real trouble they'd had with this van was on a trip to Michigan, when the engine backfired, and then would not start and keep running. When the tow-truck came to the rescue, its driver calmly opened up the motor compartment, and pushed the hoses back into place. So once in a while when the '80 VW would backfire, and then not start, we'd just go back there and push those hoses back on....always worked.

Bad luck caught up with us in 1989, when during a routine tuneup at a shop specializing in foreign car repair, a course of events occurred which severely damaged the engine. After much delay and lame excuses, the manager finally admitted that a mechanic had dropped a bolt in on top of Piston No. 4, and the engine would not turn over. After working on the van another day, it was proclaimed repaired and ready for the road. Normal town driving produced terrible engine smoke, and now it was admitted that when finally the bolt came out, the results of it passing out into the exhaust system had broken the rings on that piston.

It took 2 weeks to get our van repaired, and to convince this shop to assume reasonable financial responsibility for the work. We always felt that although the final repairs were correct, there was a hint of sabotage involved in the final product, as the trip we made soon after was fraught with breakdowns. Problems continued until the motor was really scanned for ill-connected or loose wires.....And yes, we changed repair shops!

We learned the previous owners, a Naples couple, had gotten the camper for a trip to New Hampshire, but when they returned to the "tropics," where parked vehicles get very hot, the van's a/c didn't seem to cool efficiently. We solved that problem with a large piece of thick Styrofoam cut to fit into the pop top opening inside the van. (We older native Floridians grew up finding ways to stay cool.) The Styrofoam serves as a heat barrier between the plastic camper top and the interior of the van. It is easily removed and replaced when needed.

We loved the fact that at long last, we had an air conditioned van! So, when the a/c compressor went out after about 75,000 miles we hurried to replace it. The original equipment had worked well when we traveled cross country through the desert, the a/c often ran everyday for at least 4 or 5 hours.

On one of our trips out west, near Mt. Rushmore, the engine began misfiring. A local auto parts store directed us to a local mechanic where he and his staff recognized what was happening. Static charges building up and discharging, were causing the VW computer to go haywire! The solution: a $95 harness which let the electricity flow the correct way only....This problem never occurred again.

Every so often, the electric door locks on this van would not work properly, and finally they ceased to work at all. A mechanic at a VW used car lot demonstrated how to pull the fuse circuit panel out of the dashboard, and then it was apparent that a 25 amp fuse was improperly installed. Straightening out the fuse blades and reinstalling the fuse solved that problem.

HELP NEEDED! It's so hot down here in Florida that the cooling fan for our VW Camper's refrigerator keeps running, even though it is not in use. This is automatic, and runs the van's battery down when we're not traveling. Anyone know how to disconnect this fan? Send suggestions to our e-mail address!