Our 83 VW Camper Van had to be recovered

sweetie1

Hi all,

we just had to have our '83 T3 camper van recovered from the N4 after the 2 hour queue though bank holiday traffic,trying to leave Dublin, resulted in incredible overheating.

Can anyone recommend where we might be able to get it repaired?

I think we made a small problem much worse by letting the engine cool for a while then continuing to drive. The last time we stopped a pool of oil seeped from her.

Effectively she is no longer driveable but the AA have said that they will transport the van to a garage for us, presumable there is a limit on how far that could be.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

stapeler

http://www.emiliosbeetles.com/ works on Classic VWs but I don't know anything about them. Based in Dublin 7. You could call them and pick their brains.

peasant

Even though I drive a T3 myself, I'm unfortunately not up on good mechanics in your area.


Try the following address for help:

http://www.eircooled.com/ (also check their links page)


and maybe http://www.emiliosbeetles.com/


If it is a diesel, a good independent that has experience with old Jettas and Golfs might also be able to help

2 stroke

I can't tell enough from your post. But I suspect your van may not be as dead as you think. Did your van actually die or did you turn it off. Was it recently serviced? I've seen it happen in rarely used vehicles that havn't had a recent service, that condensation inside the engine boils and drives out engine oil. Often this involves uncontrolled reving/engine won't switch off, in a diesel, as the engine starts running on its own engine oil.
Depending on what cover you have with the AA there may/may not be a charge for towing you to a garage of your choice. But in my experience, AA appointed garages can deal with almost anything.

sweetie1

Hi,

as you rightly point out, we have hardly used the van since last Autumn. The problem may not be as severe as I think. However the AA recovered us to the disk parking road outside our home - the recovery vehivle could not fit through the driveway.

What we are struggling for is finding somewhere to do the repair work. The best the AA could recommend was to say that there was a garage dealing with VWs somewhere off Dorset St.

If you could recommend a garage which moght take here on, that would be great

2 stroke

I'm afraid I can't recomend a garage, I see little point going past the nearest one, its not as if your van is still under warranty. If you are a member of a camper club, they could probably direct you a mechanic that is a club member or that has an interest in campers. However any mechanic should be able to sort you out with a service, bit of tlc, and identify and fix if necessary, the reason of your overheating.

boatbuilder

Emilios Beetles in Dublin
Krazy Kombis in Kilkenny

Put a post over on type2ireland.org and you'll probably get help :-)

trevorbrady

is it aircooled or watercooled? Petrol or diesel? You need to get a diagnosis of what happened and what repairs it might need first, then you need to get someone to do the repairs.

It might be hard to do in Dublin but try to get your mechanic to come and assess the vehicle, even if you have to pay him to do so, if you have it lifted to his premises and he's not equipped/not willing to take it on you'll have to pay to have it lifted away again.

As the others have said, log onto the VW specialist web forums mantioned above for help and advice

Tells

Hey what ever happened to the VW T3? Did you repair it? Still got it?

guitarmano

there is a mechanic in athlone, Kieran Kilmartin his name is, who specialises in vw's, he might be your man, iv got him to do a lot of work on my car and camper and they dont come better than him. i can ive you his number if you would like.