Jeez. You're not gonna believe this. I'll backtrack
a little.
After spending almost $3000 for new heads in Denver, I
made it as far as the airport heading north before the
oil light came on and it looked like it was
overheating.
I found a hotel for the night and, the next morning, I
almost made it back to the mechanic before the van
stalled in the middle of a busy intersection. I used
the starter to inch my way out of the intersection
which was about 50 feet from the mechanic's shop. I
ran over there, they ran out and pushed me in. I was
in near cardiac arrest.
They spent the day working on the van. They replaced
my distributor. The car started. They test drove it.
They let it idle a long time. They tested the oil
pressure. No apparent problems. I finally left them
at 4 pm.
I drove 15 miles. In virtually the same spot, the oil
light comes on again. I figured out that it came on
briefly when I slowed down and that if I shifted into
3rd gear, it went off. I gave up. Since the mechanic
said the oil pressure was OK, I decided to give it a
shot. Every time I slowed down or lost speed going up
hill, the alarm went off.
As I got into Winnamucca, it went on and stayed on. I
managed to limp into the Motel 6 and crashed for the
night. Not a very good birthday, I must say.
I called AAA this morning. The driver said there's nobody here in
Winnamucca to help me. I have to get to Reno but, of course, they won't
be there today anyway and a hotel will cost more there than here. So
tomorrow morning, I'll call AAA again and have it towed to Reno. (There
is, indeed, a very good VW van shop in Reno. They're listed on vanagon.com.)
Unfortunately, it's more than my 100 mile towing and it'll cost me about
$200 just to get there.
I am seriously bummed out. What a soap opera.
Jeanne
