1

VR6 Engine tech / Re: VR6 engine oil cooler for EV?

« on: September 02, 2021, 04:39:50 pm »

Thanks, Phil! I'm also using ScanGauge, and my coolant temp look similar (ATF temp is a bit lower most of the times, unless I'm in the city driving or in mountains). My concern is not the coolant temp per se, but rather the overall temp in the engine compartment. I don't have any hard data to present, but I hope to get a wireless thermometer installed there to measure the temp. I've noticed that everything there is very hot on touch, including the car battery, so I think it could benefit from the increased airflow, or motor oil cooler, or both.

-albertr

2

VR6 Engine tech / Low temp thermostat?

« on: August 15, 2021, 12:35:51 pm »

I'm concerned with VR6 AXK running hot in my van.

Have  anyone tried to use a lower temp thermostat in the EV? Does it need a matching temp fan switch too? Any errors are thrown by the ECU because of the lower temp?

Any info is much appreciated.

-albertr

3

VR6 Engine tech / VR6 engine oil cooler for EV?

« on: August 15, 2021, 12:09:17 pm »

Does anyone know any options for the subject? Oil filter adapter plate for oil cooler hookup? Anything?

I think VR6 AXK (24 valves) runs hot and I'm concerned with the high temp in the engine compartment . Will be adding some air intake to get more air pulled into the engine compartment (not sure whether it would help to lower the temp thou).

If anyone has any ideas on engine oil cooler for these vans, please let me know.
-albertr

4

VR6 Engine tech / Re: Alternator issues

« on: August 15, 2021, 11:42:02 am »

Is it the same P/N (Bosch sold by VW) as the original or some aftermarket? If aftermarket, I'm not surprised. If it's VW, I will take it back to the place that sold it to you and request refund. AFAIK, if it's self-exciting design, I don't think you can do anything about it.
-albertr

5

Westfalia / EVC tent modification for window A/C unit?

« on: July 21, 2019, 06:57:40 pm »

A few years back I met a couple from Canada who had a Vanagon with interesting modification. They had some attachment on their tent's front window to which they attach a fabric hood going to a regular window A/C unit placed on top of the cabin in front of the tent. The whole construction can be installed or removed in a couple of minutes (I think the hood had a zipper as means to attaching to the tent). Back then I didn't pay much attention to it, but I recall they said that they didn't make it, but rather bought the pre-made fabric hood with attachments (less window A/C unit which  can be found anywhere), so somebody was producing it back then for Vanagon.

I spent some time fabricating a pipe to attach the exhaust of generic portable A/C unit to a roof fan. It worked (sort of), but portable A/C is very inefficient and pipe was getting hot, radiating much of the heat back to van. I have a very low clearance garage door, so cannot install any rooftop A/C units.

Does anyone seen or know if any place makes a tent modification to connect window A/C unit to tent front window? If someone will consider doing it, I'm interested in the pre-made prroduct (I'm not good in sewing and don't want to try to make it myself of the fear of ruining the tent).

-albertr


 

6

Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Cracks in plastic EVC roof?

« on: May 28, 2019, 12:30:07 pm »

So three years later, and still no cracks on my roof! Also, the aluminum rails allowed me to reduce some of the bowing, although it's still visible. I guess I'll keep inspecting it and if the worst happens, will try to Colorado Camper Van as a possible replacement option.

-albertr

7

VR6 Engine tech / Re: High-output alternator

« on: May 28, 2019, 11:52:01 am »

Wow, sorry I missed your question, since I haven't visited the forums in the last couple of years...

I did "upgrade" the wiring to 24AWG wire between the alternator and the battery and between the alternator and my inverter. I've replaced the positive wire and ran an extra negative wire.

Overall, I'm very happy with my Valeo 220A alternator - while driving, I can run fridge, laptop charger and charge my house batteries all at the same time.

-albertr

8

VR6 Engine tech / Re: Evap map

« on: October 10, 2016, 09:51:16 am »

Great info! In my case, the "small vacuum leak" was because of cracks in plastic PCV breather hose. Here're some pictures from excellent Lucille project by Itsamoto (http://www.cavevan.com/forum/index.php?topic=42.120):





-albertr

9

VR6 Engine tech / Re: Scangauge set-up

« on: August 25, 2016, 12:34:49 pm »

Does anyone know if it's possible to make ScanGauge to display the current gear (i.e. 1-4)?

-albertr

10

VR6 Engine tech / Re: P0740 - Dead on the side of the road

« on: August 21, 2016, 07:50:46 am »

I feel your pain. The last time I've checked VW still had a few re-manufactured transmissions available in the US.
Let us know how does it turn out.

-albertr

11

Interior! / Re: Battery Drain

« on: August 21, 2016, 07:45:34 am »

I had a problem with my aftermarket radio draining the battery too. Ended up installing a two pole switch under the dashboard. One pole turns off power to the radio to prevent the drain, the other pole blocks the starter (as a security feature). You can easily verify if it's the radio by disconnecting it to see if the drain is gone.

-albertr

12

Show off your projects here! / Re: Project Lucille -- EVW VR6 Manual Conversion

« on: August 19, 2016, 10:53:07 am »

Thanks, Itsamoto. In case you are replacing the old water pump in Lucille, which brand you will be using as a replacement? It looks like VAG don't stock new EuroVan water pumps in the US anymore (original P/N 021121004A), all they have are re-manufactured ones (P/N 021121004X) according to local VW dealer. Not sure if it's the same in Canada, thou. I feel abit hesitant of using a re-manufactured part, but quality of aftermarket (Hepa, Febi, Meyle, Graft, etc) makes me worry.

-albertr

13

Show off your projects here! / Re: Project Lucille -- Clusters

« on: August 05, 2016, 06:42:42 pm »

It's interesting to see how many varieties of these dashboard clusters VW is using on these vans. Something was bothering me for awhile, but I just recently realized that there's no "open door" indicator light available on the cluster used in my 2001 EVC (Winnebago conversion)... Doh!

-albertr

On a second thought, maybe I just got a blown bulb in the cluster? Will have to take a look to see why it's not coming up when opening doors.

-albertr

14

Show off your projects here! / Re: Project Lucille -- Clusters

« on: August 05, 2016, 02:40:05 pm »

Blue Clock Clusters

Top to Bottom: Automatic Eurovan Canadian-market, Manual Jetta Canadian-market -- different but the same.


Ok here is some interesting and new stuff regarding the Eurovan "blue clock" cluster. There really isn't much out there on this (as far as I can tell) - there is a thread from back in '04 where some guys were trying to swap an EV cluster into a Cabrio. Interestingly they noted how similar the late model EV was to the 3.5 Cabrio in terms of interior (switches etc) -- sort of caught between Mk3 and Mk4 style evolutions. Maybe this cluster swap info needs its own thread  -- an interesting topic that could be fleshed out more. Its actually one of my favourite things about this generation of VW - the blue/red cluster. I've owned a couple of Mk4 Jettas and B5.5 Passat (with a MAF cluster) and now 2 vans -- so the blue cluster feels "right" to me, its second nature.

As Lucille is originally an American-market van, it's cluster face is predominantly imperial "miles" and here, I would prefer it to be in KM. It sort helps keep the speeding tickets down. :laugh: So shortly after I bought the van - I was collecting parts (rear bench headrests of course) for the van and the seller happened to have a Canadian-market van and had swapped the cluster out for an imperial cluster. So yay for me - metric cluster! I used the famous page from the UK T4 group as a basis for verifying what I was going to buy (Linkage: http://www.vwt4forum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86937).

So I've had that Canadian-EV cluster on the shelf for quite a while - and never got around to installing it. Then when I parted the 03 MK4 GLI -- I kept the cluster, key and ECU as I knew it was a mated set (for immobilizer 3). Well just on a hunch, I thought we should put these clusters side by side to see if there was more than just a resemblance and see if they were swappable. This works for me as I;m going to a manual setup, but the principle is the same for all the other late-model vans out there - because it means finding a metric or imperial cluster is that much easier, and now you can upgrade to trip computer and nav-integrated clusters as well (such as the MAF and FIS models). I'm not going to touch the material around immobilizer 2 and 3 -- or how to reprogram or delete the immobilizer here. I don't know it well enough -- and there are plenty of good writeups on it that have been generated by hyper-miling tdi fanatics. The trip computers here allow all that fancy mileage tracking, and fuel estimations to be made -- although this mod also requires a special stock-arm that allows the driver to interface with the computer. Worth exploring - this is a good upgrade - Link: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=48366

So here is a quick swap using my two extra clusters to look at...

Looking at the cluster shape -- the plastic lens are at such dramatically different angles, and the overall shape seems so much different, different mounting tabs, etc  -- that you would think these are two different animals. But if you look at them from behind, they use the same connections, and the cluster actually splits in half (front/back) and that's what makes the cluster swap possible. BTW - these are both VDO made clusters, apparently there are also Bosch-made blue clusters (MAF and FIS models I suspect).

Rear Harness Connection

Top to Bottom: Eurovan Canadian-market, Jetta Canadian-market

Cluster Case Clips

Top to Bottom: Eurovan Canadian-market, Jetta Canadian-market

Lined up back to back -- there are 4 clips along the top, and then (not shown) there are 2 clips on the bottom and then 2 T10 screws on the side that hold/separate the front fascia half from the cluster electronics half.

Cluster Electronics

Top to Bottom: Eurovan Canadian-market, Jetta Canadian-market

So for me -- this swap basically gets me metric and drops the transmission selector display (it will also align my milage indicator with the motor). And if you didn't know this yet, but those cluster faces are removable - and there are bunches of after-market customizable clock faces available for the Mk4 platform.

Now there are some differences to these in terms of warning lights/locations - but I think the addressing is the same (so less of an issue). I used a flash light and peeled the face plates up enough to illuminate the panel.

Where the EV has this...

Eurovan EPC dash light


The MK4 has this...

Mk4 Immobilzer dash light


And, where the EV has this...

Eurovan: 6 warning lights in "centre"


The MK4 has this...

Mk4: 8 warning lights in "centre"

The extras here being "door open", "hood open" and "bulb out indicator" .

Guess we'll have to wait and see if these will stay out if I install it in the van.

And finally... swap the front fascia and snap it back together....

Manual cluster for EV


EDIT -- I just noticed that on the new assembly -- that the control knobs are longer on the MK4 cluster and so stick out even further (+ 8-10mm) on the EV fascia. Certainly something that can be easily swapped as well.

It's interesting to see how many varieties of these dashboard clusters VW is using on these vans. Something was bothering me for awhile, but I just recently realized that there's no "open door" indicator light available on the cluster used in my 2001 EVC (Winnebago conversion)... Doh!

-albertr

15

Show off your projects here! / Re: Project Lucille -- EVW VR6 Manual Conversion

« on: July 25, 2016, 09:36:49 am »

Thanks, Itsamoto! I believe AXK engines on EuroVan's were using pumps with metal impellers. I was given the following P/N - 021-121-004 which supposedly has metal impellers, but no VW dealers stock them locally, so I cannot verify.

P/N 022-121-019 with plastic impellers - probably ones which were used on Golf/Jetta's with BDF engine?

Looking forward to seeing updates on Lucille project!

-albertr