- There was a pin hole in the drivers side front dust cap where it mounts to the drum and the speedo cable runs through. As I drove around, the pin hole was slinging axle grease inside the chrome center cap and eventually the entire wheel itself. The chrome cap became saturated with grease and departed the bus at some point. I retraced my route and was unable to find it. I took the wheel off and cleaned it up. I plugged the hole in the dust cap and haven't had an issue since.
- For the first few trips in the bus there was smoke coming from the engine compartment. It was running just fine (nice and cool) and I checked all the lines and tried to determine where it was coming from. It wasn't localized to any particular area. It seemed like the whole engine was sort of wafting a little hazy smoke that didn't smell like anything dangerous like burning oil or gas. The engine was in the bus when I had it painted and the shop, although they covered it from the back, neglected to cover the side vents and there was dust and over spray in the engine compartment. I wrote the smoke issue off as paint burning off the new muffler (which it was) and the engine until I got a generator light and some wicked noise coming from the rear a couple blocks from home one night. I thought it was my engine, with it's unknown history, dieing. For those of you that have been following my little blog here, you'll remember that on initial start up I heard a funny whirring noise when I first installed the power plant. After I limping the van home, I opened the deck lid and smoke was pouring out of the top of the generator. It turns out that noise was the bearings in the generator crapping out. I had a spare alternator from my buggy and I installed that the next day. Then all traces of smoke were gone and the engine is running even cooler than it was.
- Last week the bus saw rain for the first time. I expected a few leaks because I still have a ton of interior work to do. What I didn't expect was my brand new window seals in the front to leak. Both are leaking in the lower outside corners. I guess I didn't use enough sealant in conjunction with the new seals. I plan to try and stuff some more sealant around the edges with the windows still in. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to pull them back out and start from scratch.
- The problem that worries me the most at this point is a noise that is coming from the right rear wheel. It's a sort of "clunkity clunk" sound that is only evident when I'm driving less than ten miles per hour with the trany out of gear. It's hard to tell if it's there when isn't in gear because of engine noise. In checked and re-torqued the lugs on the wheel and also the axle nut but neither seems to have helped. The problem doesn't seem to be getting worse but it still eludes me as to why it's making the noise. Stuff like this drives me nuts. I hate it when gremlins like this pop up because it could be something minor or something potentially catastrophic. I have one more lead to follow up this weekend that may be the cause of my sound. Last week , I noticed that I have a brake return spring that seems to have no home. I'm thinking that I forgot to put it on when I installed the brakes. If that's not the problem it has to be the reduction box which will cost a couple hundred bucks to rebuild.
In the mean time, I'm quickly learning to be patient as a VW bus driver. Not only because it's a slow moving vehicle but also because it attracts attention everywhere it goes. Kids break their necks to see it as I pass down the road. People shoot peace signs at me. Women flash me. OK not really, but I do get smiles from everyone and it's a blast to drive. I stopped to get gas the other day and no less than three people approached me to say how cool my bus looks or tell me stories about the one they used to have.
