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Hello Eurovan fans,

My 3rd Norcold (since '97), which I had to purchase, here in Maine,
since #1 (D.O.A. from Winnebago-VW) and #2 died (just after the
guarantee ran out!), is going to Auburn, ME, for a few days. I'm
going with it.

We've never had trouble with our "single vent" Dometic in the '81
Vanagon Camper, still going strong, and pulling my piano to concerts
in its matching 5x8 Haulmark trailer with a ramp/remote control
winch. Ditto for the Dometic in the Aliner trailer and the one in our
travel trailer, which stays "put" in Searsport Shores, Maine - 100
miles North of Wiscasset, our home. (We can't pull a 32 foot Salem
trailer, so had it delivered!)

Anyway, I have to prove that the coils are failing again ... and,
yes, this is a "single vent" type, but the flame never goes out, not
even on the mountains around Flagstaff AZ, which is beyond the 4000
ft. level. Mostly, it's on sea level, here in New England.

Last week it cost me $92.00 in labour + sitting in the waiting room
for AN ENTIRE DAY while the refrigerator was pulled in/out for 4
hours at a time ... scratching the metal frame on every withdrawal,
followed by "it works, here!". Of course, it takes overnight to show
that there's blockage in the coil system, so the gas flame stayed on
... it ran fine for the 2 hours of driving back home ... and then
died overnight, as I knew it would.

As we've had things "disappear" (clothing, appliances, tools,
utensils) from our Vanagon Camper on trips through TX and MD, I
decided to 'live in the upper berth' for 1-2 days, in their parking
lot ... in order to get Norcold honoring their guarantee, for last
October's installation. That means another "after the Season" (cold
weather installation, doesn't it, and proofing #4 - or new coils -
next Summer, since Maine doesn't really have a Spring).

If I drive, or the dealership pulls the Norcold #3163 in/out, it
"shakes up" the system, so runs for a few hours. Driving, it's fine.
Parked, it's DEAD-DEAD-DEAD in about 6-8 hours' time.

Thus, I'm getting the gas-oil mixture for the little 350w Honda
generator (placed outside), my laptops, cell 'phone for E-Mail, etc.
etc. for a 1-2 day "stay" with the Eurovan while #3 shows it's
another Norcold lemon. (When working, it can explode soda pop cans on
12v DC, which is why I check it every 2 hours, turning it on/off and
using a thermometer inside, when driving all day long.)

I level with a Stanley gauge (which shouldn't be necessary), that has
bubbles for 90 degrees + 45 degress, also. Meanwhile, our Dometics,
going back 20 years, work in DC/AC/propane modes, with any fuss.

If #4 (since April '97) fails, can a Dometic be fitted to the
Eurovan? I really think the problem is LACK OF QUALITY CONTROL at
Norcold, since my 3 refrigerators came from 3 sources (2 were VW for
Winnebago and this is a Winnebago-RV dealership which sells Rialtas,
in Maine).

Once I get the Norcold problem solved, then the vehicle which took 13
months ('97 to '98) to prep, will be "finished". Winnebago dribbled
in non-fitting bug screens, twice, the 2nd set a year late, but
prepaid. Ditto for the Add-a-Room features and the rest of their
things, like the roof rack & pod, but ... I liked the design, so
stuck with it. We have to drive 245 miles to NH for service, from
Maine, so that came to 1300 miles and a lot of "lost time" for my
one-person Pianola roll business. Except for the Norcold, the Camper
was "put together" after all that time.

The VW part of the Eurovan Camper was, of course, fine. Have had VWs
- plus a '27 Franklin - since '54 (as a teenager) - so know most of
the good/bad models. Had 5 Type IIs before the Vanagon, for example.
[Like air-cooled engines, really, which explains the Franklin.]

Am sure the "aren't you sure you didn't do this/that?" routine will
start again, after it's dead-on-a-gas-flame while I sleep in the
vehicle. This is not scenic Maine, but a crossroads where you can
view a Rite-Aid, a couple of gas stations and watch the industrial
trucks head for the mountains. (I could be camping on asphalt in
Emeryville CA of the 'Fifties, really!)

If that gets a Norcold which works, I guess it will be worth it.

Hoping for the best, starting tomorrow, while the Norcold "dies"
again, to prove its point.

Regards,
(signed) Douglas Henderson

ARTCRAFT Music Rolls

I was driving my '93 MV from southern California to the S.F. Bay
area, where I intended to leave it with in-laws while I headed off to New
Zealand for a year. It was a hot (*very* hot) day, but the van had
recently had a major tune, was performing wonderfully as usual, and I
plowed through the Central Valley with the AC on. After a lengthy lunch
break (when the engine should have cooled down a bit), I hit the road
again. But within 10 minutes the AC faded, I lost considerable power, and
I barely made it off the highway before a t-valve in the cooling system
blew and -- as I would later learn -- the head was irreparably damaged.
My boys loved the ride in the tow truck and the unexpected Sunday

course) evening in a hotel pool, but I hated the news the next day that it
would be several days and several hundred dollars, at a minimum. After
several trans-Pacific phone calls and nearly 8 weeks, I hear that it'll be
$2200-$2500 for a new head, piston rings, etc. For an engine that already
has 150,000 miles on it.
I'm trying to decide whether to a) repair it, b) buy and have
installed a newer engine ("81,000 miles, compression: 175") from an

dismantler I found on the web, for about the same total price, or c) sell
it for parts and buy a newer (but still used) one when I return to the
States in a year. Any suggestions?






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