Summer '22 update
Well it’s been about one and a quarter years since I bought the Eurovan. I have to admit, at first I was aggravated that every time I tried to do something, it seems like I would be unable to get it done but what I’m learning about Volkswagens is that you can accomplish things with some dogged persistence. I've covered some of these in my previous posts but I figured it would nice to put a year's worth of work in one post. Things that I’ve accomplished and/or working on in the last year:
1. New wheels - July 21st 2021;
2. Working on dents, (ongoing) August 2021;
3. New tires - September 3, 2021;
4. Power windows fixed - October 13th '21;
5. Cheap cup holder and central console - October 27, '21;
6. Odometer, Horn & Glove Box - fixed - April 4th, '22;
7. Rear view mirror - installed -April 29th, '22;
8. Power door locks - fixed - May '22;
9. AC - fixed - June 24th '22;
10. Keyless Entry - work in progress - Summer '22.
#1 New (to me) wheels - July 17th - July 21st, 2021
One of the things that I don't like about my MV Eurovan is that with the dents, the faded white paint and the black steel wheels, it looks more like a work van than an awesome VW van. I decided to keep a look out for any wheels that might fit the MV, a/k/a Marvin. Finally, in July, I spotted a guy that had a set of Mercedes wheels that would work and they came with a set of what looked like decent tires. I met the guy in his storage unit outside of Orlando. It was a large storage unit with lots of VDub parts and an old Beetle to boot. He told me that he had pulled the wheels off of a Vanagon. The price was right. I want to say that I paid about $175 for them. I drove down with my son on July 17th, 2021 and picked them up. Four days later, I worked on installing them on Marvin. I had a couple of issues. One was that I needed to buy some lug bolts that would work with the new wheels. The original ones weren't long enough to come through the holes. The other issue was a minor one but one I am still working on. I can't find Volkswagen center caps that fit the center. My solution is just to go with the Mercedes center caps that the original wheels came with.
I am definitely very happy with the new look.
Marvin had a decent sized scrape in his side when I got him. I decided to try one of the dent pulling methods that are found on the internet. I decided to try one of the dent puller kits from Amazon. I was able to pull out some of the dent but overall, it was a fail. I plan on trying it again and if I'm not able to make any progress with it, I will start exploring other options.
#3 New tires - September 3, 2021
Replacing the wheels on Marvin was an overall success but it was apparent that there was one major setback. The tires that came with the wheels were in pretty good shape but they were rated for a passenger vehicle. Marvin's weight on those tires were a hazard. I figured I had a couple of options. My first option would have been to have put the old tires on the new wheels but the tread was at least halfway gone and there were age cracks in the sidewall. Option #2 was the only one that made sense. Get new tires that were rated for Marvin's weight. So in early September of last year, I took Marvin into a great, local tire shop and put some new tires on Marvin.
Back to the issue: Originally, I was hoping it was the switches but after hitting it with electrical spray, it didn't help. Contacts looked good and I couldn't see any corrosion. After I ruled out the switches, I starting checking wires. I noticed in checking the wires that not only were both power buttons not working but also not working were the side mirror, the left driver's side speaker and the driver's side map light. I started thinking it was a single issue causing all the problems. I checked three times on the wires. I did find a couple of bare wires and I wrapped those with electrical tape -- it still didn't fix the issue. I was pretty much stumped but figured I had one last simple move left. I had originally ruled out the switches but I decided to do a final check. I switched the working passenger side with one of the non-working driver's side switches. Suddenly my driver's side was working and the passenger side wasn't.
So in the end, it was the first thing I thought it was which were the switches. I started looking for replacement switches but I can't find anything that works for a 1993 Eurovan. This leaves me with my best option to try and get the faulty switches working. Anyone have any advice on repairing non-working power window and side mirror switches?
So after figuring out it was definitely the switches, I coated all the switches and the power mirror switch in contact cleaner. The result was mixed. One switch didn't respond, I moved it over to the passenger side. One switch worked intermittently - the power window switch worked but seemed like it really struggled going down. It also didn't work all the time, just whenever it was in a good mood or the VW Gods happened to be smiling. This was a few months back. That left me with the working switch operating the driver's window, the intermittent switch on the driver's side that worked the passenger window, and the dead switch on the passenger window. After a while, the intermittent switch stopped working for going down at all.
This weekend I decided I would try to douse it in contact spray again. After a few healthy doses, I was having no luck. I removed the top part of the button and it occurred to me to try and press the two metal contact buttons with my finger. Lo and behold, the switch worked perfectly. However, as soon as I would place the top part of the switch back, the down button would refuse to work. I don't have a picture of it but underneath on the top part of the switch are little plastic parts that reach a little farther to make contact with the button underneath. Not the best way to describe it but think of the State of Alabama and the part that would be Mobile is the part that makes contact with the button. My working theory is that for some reason, the plastic part that makes contact with the down button had worn enough that it wasn't able to make full contact or maybe over time, the actual interior button wears down enough that it isn't tall enough to connect with the plastic part. That's why the switch worked some of the time and then as it got more worn, it stopped working altogether.
My fix was simple and cheap. I took some silver contact tape that I use for shielding guitars and I folded it into a tiny square. I dropped the square in between the button and the top part of the switch. Voila', a fully functioning switch that goes up and down for the passenger window with no more hesitation.
Feeling pretty good, I thought I had the answer for the dead switch that is actually on the passenger side. On that one, the crud was pretty bad underneath the top part of the switch. I tried to push the buttons with my fingers but neither button worked. I know there is power to the switch as I got a spark from my Leatherman when I was cleaning the crud out. So I think I am left with one bad switch.
Anyway, I'm not sure if my fix will help someone else but it's pretty easy to try. Just lift the switch out of the door, take the top part of the switch off, (take a small screwdriver and push the circle tab on the side in the upward position). If you can operate the switch with hitting the button on the inside with your finger then there is a good chance that your issue is that there is too much space between the plastic nub on the underneath top part of the switch and the actual interior button below.
Sorry there aren't more pictures. I didn't think to document it until I was working, (unsuccessfully), on the dead switch.
The Eurovans come with a neat cupholder that sits in front of the gear shifter. Unfortunately, mine didn't come with the OEM cup holder. A quick look at prices online and it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to be spending over a hundred dollars for a twenty-five to thirty year old cup holder. Instead, I bought a cheap cup holder / center console from Amazon. It's not the best but it's a good temporary solution until I can figure out something more permanent. I actually like the placement of the cup holder portion better than the OEM.
Enter 2022
I can't say that I did much to Marvin during the first couple of months of 2022. Starting in the spring, it was time to get back to work.
#6 Odometer, Horn & Glove Box - fixed - April 4th, '22
The Odometer issue really bummed me out when I first got Marvin. I was under the impression that the MV had about 150k miles on it. With a broken odometer, I realized I didn't have a clue as to how many miles were on the actual engine. At some point though, I did get a clue. I found a work receipt from the person who owned Marvin just prior to the person I bought Marvin from. On the receipt, the mileage showed 147k+ miles and it looks like it was around a year before I bought Marvin. This was a California receipt and I knew from the previous owner that he had driven Marvin from SoCal. Based on the receipt, the time frame and the amount of miles I had likely put on Marvin. I am guessing that the odometer was no more than ten thousand miles off of what it was showing. I had researched broken odometers on Eurovans and frequently the fix was that a plastic gear was either out of place or worn. I figured it was worth a shot to pull it apart and see if I could figure it out.
One of the first steps to get to the odometer is to remove the center part of the steering wheel and then remove the steering wheel. The horn hadn't worked since I had owned Marvin and I figured since I pretty much was going to have the horn parts exposed, I might as well see if I could fix it. That turned out to be an easy fix. One of the wires wasn't making contact with a little copper tab that had been bent out of place. Once I bent the tab back and put it back into place, I had a working horn. You can see the bent copper tab in the below picture.
The odometer was a little trickier. Once I was able to get in and get everything disassembled, I pulled the wrong way on the speedometer needle and I snapped it. I hate the feeling of being worse off for having tackled a problem. I put the broken needle problem to the side and then took a look at the gears of the odometer. The issue was a misplaced gear but not the gear that I kept seeing online that was an issue. It was a little green gear and it looked like it had been pushed completely out of the way. It wasn't damaged or slightly off but actually shoved out of the way. I don't know if that happened by chance or if a previous owner had decided to move it out of the way to keep the miles low. I'm guessing it would have had to have been by chance because it would have been a lot of effort to go through just to shave a few miles off the odometer. The quick solution was simply to push the gear back into place. It worked and now it's been two and a half months later and it's still working.
Well of course it wasn't all a champagne celebration, I still had to contend with the broken speedometer needle. When I was looking at the other needles on the gauge. I was surprised that they looked like they were wooden and not plastic. That gave me an idea. We had some fancy, long toothpicks in the kitchen. I cut the wood of the toothpick and then used super glue to glue it back. Looks great and does the job. It's a little longer than the original needles but nothing glaring or noticeable. Unfortunately, when I put it on, it wasn't sitting completely on the pin so for now, the speedometer reads exactly 10-11 mph faster than it's actually going. It will be simple to fix but I'm saving that one for another day. Besides, this will allow Marvin to catch up to some of the miles that were lost with the broken odometer.
The last issue was the glove box. It was secured at the top but nothing was holding it at the bottom. It was basically a swinging basket. I searched the garage looking for the right screws and bolts that would work and secured the glove box.
Samba Thread on Odometer
#7 Rearview Mirror fix - April 29th, 2022
Oddly enough, out of all of my projects, this was one of the hardest ones to accomplish. When I got Marvin, he didn't have a rear view mirror installed. I did find, in the van, the original rear view mirror that unfortunately had the back plastic broken where it attaches to the button and I also found a cheap after market mirror that apparently wasn't attached. I went on ebay and found an OEM mirror. It was missing the button that holds the mirror in place but I had the OEM button from the original mirror.
From there, I thought it would be simple. I found a youtube video where a fellow owner used Permatex's rear view mirror adhesive and it worked perfectly for him. Unfortunately, for me, I didn't have the same results. I tried three different times but the glue would not set. I then tried Loctite, (in my Samba post, I refer to it as JB Weld but that was incorrect). It was the same issue.
Joe Pelayo's video on reattaching the Eurovan rearview mirror using Permatex.
One day, I was at the Michael's Craft Store with my wife as she was picking up something for a project. I found JB Super Weld Extreme and figured, I would try it out. Unlike the other products I had used, when I used the Super Weld, it held initially. I waited the allotted time before finally hanging the rearview mirror and it snapped into place. It's about two and a half months later and it's holding during the extreme heat of a Central Florida summer. I figure if it makes it to the fall then I should be golden.
If the rearview mirror was one of the harder tasks, the power door locks was one of the easier tasks. When I first got Marvin, I didn't even know that the van had power door locks. The car was constantly in the unlock position and the locks were stuck open. Once I figured it out, I decided to see what I could do to fix it. So in October of 2021, I got to work. I was able to get the front doors to lock and unlock with a key but the driver's side wouldn't go up and down. I bought a replacement motor off of Amazon but once I got in there, I realized the latch was simply unhooked from the original motor. The motor itself worked fine. What I couldn't figure out was why I couldn't get it to stay locked. I posted a video trying to figure it out but couldn't get any responses.
I finally gave up and then....
In May of 2022, I put the key in the lock, turned the key and suddenly the locks worked. No idea why it suddenly worked but now I have working locks that function for the front doors and the back hatch. The side door has to be locked and unlocked manually with the key outside or manually from the inside. I've tried cleaning the contacts but that didn't work. If it's the motor and it's the same one that's in the front doors, then I have the extra. Right now, it's a project for another day. It only took thirteen months but I finally have a van that I can lock and secure.
#9 AC - fixed - June 24th '22
The AC was a biggy. It's also one that I was putting off because I figured it was going to be hard, expensive or most likely both. I took it to my favorite local shop to see if they could take a look. After close to two hours, I was told that my pressure switch was shot and that it was causing a massive freon leak. They told me that they would order the part and to come back the next day. With the part replaced and the freon charged, I had a working AC for less than $300. It wasn't hard, (because I didn't do the work) and it wasn't expensive. Thankfully, it's just in time for the dog days of summer.
#10 Keyless Entry - work in progress - Summer '22
Since I now had working locks, I wanted to work on a keyless entry for the Eurovan. I found an awesome thread on The Samba about installing a keyless entry system on a same year Eurovan. I bought the keyless entry system but so far, after two tries, I've yet to figure out the right wiring configuration to get it working. I'm hoping to have it working by the end of this month.
Great Samba Keyless Entry Thread
Next on the Agenda
I swear I actually do more than just fix things on Marvin. However, with a thirty year old Eurovan, there are a lot of things to fix. Obviously, finishing up the keyless entry, adjusting the speedo needle, and fixing the side door lock are up on the list. For a major project, I am hoping to put laminate flooring in, in place of the existing carpet. So stay tuned.
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