Blog

It is always best to fix your Vanagon shift linkage before it gets too sloppy. The three areas of the linkage that need periodic service are the shifter base, the box under the shifter, and the linkage parts back at the transmission.Shifter base- When plastic pieces break in the base of the shifter, the shifter will usually drop down and develop up-and-down play causing difficulty in finding gears/finding the correct shift pattern. The base is a …

This driveshaft is manufactured by a driveshaft specialist that has a state of the art facility. They make these exclusively for Van Cafe. Every shaft is balanced and goes through a quality control inspection. Let's all admit that no one is perfect, but these guys are pretty great at what they do.  Here is the tricky part, Vanagons are well...Vanagons. They are old, quirky, and often have a variety of other issues that can contribute to dri …

Although I am neither a fan nor an expert on lowering Vanagons, I do have some observations to pass along. The lowest stock Vanagon production springs were on the Carat models, so some Vanagon owners seek used Carat springs to lower their vehicles. As a rule, Vanagons are 30+ years old and often with 150k or more miles, so you can't expect to find springs that aren't suffering from fatigue. This leaves us with H&R springs and Weitec springs. …

One of the most common themes of our website questions relate to running problems. There is version A, "Where I live they have never seen a Vanagon and although I trust my mechanic, I don't think he knows what he is doing" or version B, "Where I live they have never seen a Vanagon and although I think the mechanic knows what he is doing, I don't trust him". Then we are usually asked if we think that a diagnostic tool will help them. Surprisingly, …