Milpitas, CA – 1986 Volkswagen Vanagon: Starting & Ignition Auto Repair Service

The Classic and the Collector

My cousin recently brought me her 1986 VW Vanagon for service. Talk about a classic!  And with over 325,000 miles on the odometer with no plans of selling, I must be doing something right to keep this car on the road.

If you have a classic or collector car, it’s important that the person you have working on it is able to not only replace but also repair existing parts on the car. On older, rarer models it is not uncommon that you cannot find certain replacement parts and must make do by repairing the existing component. 

What We Fixed

The car came in because it wasn’t reliably starting. After poking around we discovered the ignition module is going bad, causing power to not reliably make it to the starter to turn over the engine. While the car was in the shop we also discovered the brake light relay was failing and needed to be replaced. Because of the vehicle’s mileage and a lack of history that these components had been changed, we also went ahead and swapped both the oxygen (otherwise referred to as O2) sensor and the water pump. If either of these fails it can leave you on the side of the road. And if the water pump fails, it could cause permanent damage to the engine and cut short this vehicle’s otherwise long and cared-for life.

Things to Keep an Eye and Ear Out For

Classic and collector cars face all the common issues daily driven cars do in terms of service requirements, but there are other precautions you should take if the vehicle is older or not driven much. Older vehicles use rubber hoses and vacuum lines that degrade over time and result in leaks. This could manifest in a coolant leak causing your engine to overheat, a fuel leak causing your car to not run (or worse catch on fire), and a vacuum leak allowing oxygen that otherwise shouldn’t belong to certain engine systems (causing the car to die). These are relatively easy fixes if the car is already in the shop, but if you find yourself with one of these leaks while driving down the road, the car will leave you stranded and need to be towed in (an expensive service in and of itself).