It just goes to show that even when you do everything by the book and think you've covered all your bases something you never would have thought of comes up to bite you in the ass. This past weekend our entire family went camping for the first time (outside the yard) in the camper. I did a full tune up, rebuilt the fuel pump as I wasn't comfortable with it's condition, set the valves, basically everything I could think of that could possibly come back on me.
I get within 7 km of the camp site (about 13km up a gravel road and in the middle of nowhere) and the bus dies. The second vehicle in our group catches up and quickly my family are on their way to the campsite. That's the good news as the weather was questionable. I investigate while waiting for my wife to return to help me out or pick me up. Four guys on quads, one an old VW guy, show up and we find that the dizzy isn't turning. The rough road combined with an ever so slightly under tightened dizzy clamp allowed the dizzy to wiggle up so it wasn't making contact with the drive gear. Easy fix and the bus is running just as my wife shows up (with camera in hand).
I fire up the bus and although running a bit rough is running to the point where I'm comfortable to drive it the remaining 7km (of which the last 3 are downhill) to the campsite where we are staying for the next 10 days. Well I make it about 3km and it doesn't seem right. Again the road is rough so I can't hear much of anything engine sound wise. I stop immediately go to the engine compartment to see
SMOKE
I also notice that the nicely painted engine tin on the number 1,2 side is discoloured. THIS ISN'T GOOD.
Turns out the smoke is a spark plug wire that has gotten hot enough to melt down. I'm thinking WTF is causing this as I was only going about 30 mph the whole trip and not working the motor hard at all. The culprit you ask?
The previous owner of the bus decided it a good idea to install sound deadening material above the engine, and around the fuel tank. Apparently he didn't bother to use anything to make sure it couldn't move. A piece about 12\" x 18\" had fallen off the top of the tank and was sitting up against the back of the Doghouse. No air =no cooling = hot frickin motor = who knows.
The bus is currently still at the campsite being enjoyed by my family and here I sit back at home contemplating options. Come Friday I'll be returning to camp, hopefully with ideas and parts to get my baby home. First step is compression and timing (just to rule out the obvious). Next step figuring out how to get her to a location I can either push, pull, or drag her home. Any thoughts? Ideas I haven't thought about?
Needless to say it's looking like the GCVWS is out of the question for me this year again (second year in a row) as well as many other camping trips planned.
So much for an enjoyable summer, it's back to the grind to pay for more new stuff.
