I bought a new battery, installed it, and… nada. The double piss off is that I dropped off the old battery at Canadian Tire for disposal, and it probably wasn't dead after all. I'm glad Lucy has a brand new battery, but I should have kept the old as a spare, especially since I read that I should never try and boost Lucy using cables. Oh well, lesson learned.

I imagine the problem with start up is either the starter itself or the solenoid. I happen to be one of those rare VW owners who hates getting his hands dirty, so I'm not up for doing these repairs myself.

Case in point: my GF changed the flat tire for me! I got it patched at Canadian Tire pretty inexpensively. Apparently, I'd driven over a long screw.

So, I've been paying for insurance all summer and haven't even got the motor running. Since I live on an island, getting Lucy towed in for repair is a rather expensive endeavor, even with my Canadian Tire Auto Club membership (the tow is covered, but I have to pay for their time waiting in ferry line-ups and the ferry ticket.) My best option is probably to call the mobile auto repair guys and have them come over and check it out. My insurance runs out in a month, so assuming it is a starter or solenoid issue and I get it fixed pretty quickly, my insurance will run out, the rainy season will begin, and Lucy will go into storage for the winter months. Sigh. Oh well, at least she'll be running and that means that as soon as spring arrives, I can drive her into town, invest in the other repairs I'd like to get done and get her ready for the 2009 festival season!

This is definitely slowing me down! Now I need to get the battery and tire fixed before I can even get Lucy into the shop for the long list of other repairs and upgrades she needs!

I was sitting here doing some boring banking when I heard the beloved sound of my Lucy's engine fire up! Vroooom! Unmistakable.

My GF charged the battery this weekend. It was at 69%–enough juice to power the lights, but evidently not enough to fire the starter.

Unfortunately, she still has a flat tire, so I can't drive her yet. I'm debating about whether I should:

1. Remove the flat tire and take it into town for repair, or
2. call a mobile service and have them come over with four new tires and put them all on.

She needs new tires anyway–the current ones are plain car tires, not rated for Lucy's weight. I will be getting proper 8-wall tires. I also need several other important repairs done, so it's really about getting four inflated tires so I can drive her a bit before taking her in, or just biting the bullet and taking her in for a longer list of repairs. Once she's in the shop, they'll probably have her for at least 2-3 weeks. Sigh.

I don't think it's the starter… those tend to go over time. When I turn the key, I can hear a bit of a hum near the engine but nothing mechanical is happening.

Dead battery? I only have one functional headlight and it appears to be out. I do have hazard lights and the internal light. Does this simply sound like not enough juice to get the engine started up?

I don't know how I could have drained the battery. I started Lucy up just a few days ago. Nothing was left on.

I do have a battery charger, so I guess it's time to get my hands dirty! 

Not so fast though: I do need to get her back into Glenn's Repair ASAP to deal with a number of pressing issues:

• New ball joints
• New engine seal
• New heater box
• New muffler
• Inspect gas tank seals for leaks
• Strap main wiring harness to frame
• New tires, balance tires
• Remove axles, disassemble CV joints (clean, inspect, re-pack or replace CV boots)
• Replace front and rear shift linkage brushings and cage
• Fix gas gauge
• Fix passenger side seatbelt
• Fix rear light wiring
• Replace burned out passenger side headlight
• Install new locks

Quite a list! I'm probably looking at close to $4K here.

The VW Bus Custom Handbook is a really fun ride through the history of V-dub buses and features plenty of color photography of some truly wicked customized buses.

How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive is a classic reference manual that should be on the bookshelf of all Westy owners. The book walks you through a plethora of common repair tasks, and features incredible hand drawn illustrations.

It's a bit dark, but here's Lucy in the lot, we scored a great parking spot:

I had so much fun in the bus after Spearhead's set on Saturday night! Because BTO is held in a residential neighborhood, the festival shuts right down at night, but the party went on all night in Lucy! I had my coveted collection of Ebony Cuts shows to listen to and a seemingly endless supply of beer. I chilled and listened to the finest funk and house trax until sunrise.

One concern with Lucy at the festival was that she still doesn't have any locks. Whenever I left the bus to go catch a set on stage, I simply placed a little blessing over her, and found that this worked perfectly in protecting my cooler from would be thirsty thieves.

It was wonderful to have a "homebase" at the show, and to not have to drive anywhere after the show.

One thing I will do differently next time: because the gas gauge doesn't work, I have to carry gas with me. It didn't occur to me to put the gas can outside the vehicle while I slept, so I dealt with the smelly gas odor unnecessarily, which gave me a bit of a headache (no, it wasn't the beer!) Next time, I'll just pop the can outside the vehicle before crashing.