This is a list of things to DO and KNOW about your Eurovan before taking your FIRST trip with it! (But not before EVERY trip!) After our first very unprepared overnighter in the new van due to 98 degree weather and not reading the manual, we super prepared for our next trip and learned a bunch we should have known before. So I’m sharing a list of those things here, which I hope helps someone else out.

Please note that I am not a pro about these vans by any means, so take everything I say with a grain of salt and do your own due diligence. 🙂 If you have anything to add to this list, please leave it in the comments!

THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR FIRST TRIP

  • Read The Owners Manual – Most of your early questions are probably answered here.
  • Get a Pre-Trip Inspection – You can take your van to your mechanic for a pre-trip inspection to make sure it’s all good before travelling. It’s good to do this after a long trip, too.
  • Check The Oil – Checking the oil at every fill up station and carrying some with you is a good idea. These vans are older. We also check the coolant and carry that.
  • Check the CO Alarm – The Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarm is located on the ceiling. CO is similar in density to air so it blends in with the air and the alarm can be placed anywhere, but the vans come with it on the ceiling and many replacement alarms fit right in to the same place. Before your first trip, check the alarm’s expiration date and replace if needed – you can even get new CO Alarms that tell you the amount of CO in the air.
  • Check the LP Alarm – The Liquid Propane (LP) Alarm is located near the floor by the fridge. LP gas is heavier than air will settle on the floor so the LP Alarm need to be down low. You can get combined LP/CO Alarms and put them on the floor, but since there’s already a CO mount on the ceiling most people keep them separate (and I think it’s cheaper to buy them separate?). The LP Alarm is powered by the coach battery and constantly pulls a little power from it. Some people replace the LP Alarm before their first trip just to be safe, and because the newer ones seem to draw less power. If the fuse is blown or the coach battery is disconnected, the LP Alarm will not work!
  • Check the Fire Extinguisher – The fire extinguisher that came with the van is probably expired or recalled. If the owner before you replaced it, you should learn about that fire extinguisher, when to replace it, and whether you need to shake it up or not.
  • Check for Rodents – Before your first trip you may want to check for rodent nests in the battery box area, behind the black fuse panel box by removing the screws, and wherever else you can dig into, like the heating vents and fridge area.
  • Check the Coach (House) Battery – The manual says to check the battery fluid levels every two months (or more in hot weather) and to keep it filled to about 3/8 an inch above the plates. You can Youtube how to do this. Once we got the fluid level up the battery lasted a lot longer!
  • Clean the Fresh Water System – Most people on the Facebook groups seem to use the system just for cleaning dishes and cooking anything that gets boiled like tea or coffee, and bring jugs of water for drinking. The water in the system is as good as the water you put in it, and as clean as you keep the system. Best practice would be to empty the tank after each trip and sanitize it (some people use homebrew system sanitizers). Note that the van’s water system is all on board, you do not have to connect to a water supply at the campground, but you can fill your water tank there if you bring a hose. Before your first trip (and at the beginning and/or end of your travel season),  you can completely disinfect the system following the instructions from the ’99 Eurovan manual which I have summarized below:
      1. Empty the water tank.
      2. Make a chlorine solution of 1 gallon water and 1/4 cup of household bleach.
      3. Pour the chlorine solution into the tank using 1 gallon of solution per 15 gallons of tank capacity. FYI, the EVC’s water tank is 12 gallons and the grey water tank (the drain waste) is 8 gallons.
      4. When the tank is full, open the faucet and run the water until you can smell the chlorine water coming out, then shut it off.
      5. Let the system sit for at least 4 hours to disinfect.
      6. Drain and flush with fresh water.
  • Fill the LP Gas Tank – You can google where to fill up your LP Gas tank (usually an RV or hardware place). The Eurovan manual has a whole section about the LP gas that you should read. Note that it says not to fill the tank above 80 percent capacity. When you go to fill the tank, the filler valve angles downward in such a way that some suppliers’ refill nozzles cannot attach to it. Some solutions are:
      • tilt the driver’s side up onto leveling blocks, or 2x4s, or the curb
      • get a filler valve extension like this one
      • make a filler valve extension like the one in these comments
      • get flexible extension hoses by AAA
      • add a lift kit to your van
  • Clean the Fridge – Before your first trip, clean the vents out by taking the covers off the outside of the van and blowing air into the intake (the upper one) and sucking air out of the exhaust (the lower). Consider doing a whole deep clean of the fridge by taking it out following these instructions.
  • Test the Fridge – Before your first trip, make sure the fridge works by plugging the van in and running the fridge to see if it gets cold – it may take 24 hours or more to really cool it off. Do this the night before you actually leave on your trip, as well. We always have a backup ready in case it doesn’t work, like a cooler. Also, keeping ice packs in the fridge helps keep it cool when running on the battery or shore power. People report it works best (coldest) running on LP gas.
  • Test the Heater – Before your first trip, read the manual and practice using it to make sure it works. FYI, ours makes a lot of random noises and it freaked me out but it worked fine.
  • Practice Camping – Many people recommend doing a test camp in your driveway so you can figure everything out in the safety of your own driveway.
  • Buy Accessories – Last but not least, before your first trip you may want to get some accessories for your van. Here are the most common ones:
    • Levelers and a mini level
    • First aid kit
    • Insulation – to keep the hot sun or cold temps out – like this or this or this
    • Privacy – most vans come with shades or curtains
    • Fans – little fans with clips are super useful for keeping it cool, and we love this fan (affiliate link) for getting cool air to the back seat while driving
    • Seat covers – I hear you get what you pay for and that people are always happy with Wet Okole covers, I made our own inspired by this one (tutorial coming soon!)
    • Steering wheel cover – for when it gets so hot the steering wheel isn’t cool enough to touch
    • Bed cushion topper – I think the beds are fine but many people don’t, so search the VW Eurovan Facebook group for lots of recommendations on what type of cushion topper to get
    • Code reader – because that check engine light goes off all the time!
    • Extra fuses
    • Outdoor carpet
    • Camp chairs
    • An extra long hose – if you will need to fill your water tank from a campground spigot (no hose fitting is needed on the van end because the Eurovan doesn’t connect to a water supply, you just fill the water tank up)
    • An outdoor extension cord – sometimes there is one hookup for several campsites and you can’t park right by it
    • Additional storage – some people use the luggage rack (above the van’s cab) with a cargo bag or storage box to hold things you may not need as often such as rain gear, tents, and sleeping bags; other people get a trailer hitch cargo carrier (affiliate link) or swing away carriers like the Stowaway (affiliate link), or swing away carrier systems like GoWesty’s for extra storage.
    • String lights – these create a great ambiance and actually offer a lot of light! Make sure to find a way to hook them up – I use these (affiliate link). I’ve also seen people use the outdoor tube lights to create a line around their campsite to mark how far their little kids can go.

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOUR FIRST TRIP

  • The Passenger Seat – Eurovans made in ’99 and later will not turn on with the front passenger seat turned around! This is a common rookie mistake 🙂
  • Why the CO Alarm is Beeping – CO poisoning is deadly and therefore should be taken very seriously! Carbon monoxide gas in campers can come from malfunctioning or unvented LP gas appliances. You should definitely read up on what to do about it in the manual or googling it. However, if you are sure the CO alarm is beeping NOT due to something in your van, here are some other possible causes:
      • check the house battery, it could be low
      • something else is leaking CO in the van or garage
      • someone else’s vehicle or generator fumes when camping
      • a lead battery charging can off-gas fumes that set it off
      • it’s been known to be set off by farting/methane gas and superglue fumes
  • Why the LP Alarm is Beeping – An LP gas leak will cause the LP alarm to go off. Definitely read up on it too, such as this article. If you are sure the LP alarm is beeping NOT due to an LP leak, the most common reason is that the coach battery is low. The LP alarm runs on the battery and continually draws a little power, so if the van isn’t driven often enough to recharge the battery, the LP alarm will drain it and start beeping due to low battery. We have used the beeping as a sign that we needed to drive the van again 🙂
  • The Coach Battery System – The Auxilary/Coach/House Battery is the spare battery in the back. It is 12 volt DC and powers the 12 volt outlets (cigarette lighter styles), lights, LP alarm, furnace, water pump and gauges on the panel above the fridge. It can do all this when the van is not plugged in or running, but not for very long. It is charged by running the van or by plugging the van in to shore power. So the point is it can be used one the road until you get to the camp site and can plug in.
  • The Shore Power System – The Shore Power System is plugging the van in to a power source at a camp site or your home via an extension cord that plugs into the side of the van and then into a 3 prong outlet. It is a 110 volt AC system that uses a 15 amp (3 prong) utility power cord to power all the 12 volt things listed above plus the 3 prong outlets inside. SO NOTE: the 3 prong outlets inside only work when the van is plugged in! Make sure to use an outdoor rated power cord, and to have an extra long one in case the power source is farther away because it supplies several campsites.
  • Hooking Up To A Power Source – Most camp site hookups look like this and will have the 15 amp (3 prong) hookup option, and often you choose this type of site when you reserve online. However, it’s good to have a 30 amp adapter (affiliate link) just in case your site only has big RV hookups. The van is designed to draw no more than 15 amps and has a breaker that will trip if you do. If the campsite says its power source is rated something higher, don’t worry, that just means it’s able to supply no more than that – it will not be forcing you to take that much (so my research says).
  • How Many Things You Can Plug In – The Eurovan is a 15 amp system of 110 volts, when on shore power. It’s math time! Volts x Amps = Watts. So 15 v x 110 amp = 1650 watts available for you to use, max. The label on the back of your appliances will tell you how many watts or volts they use. Just add it up! Example: The fridge uses 1.3amp x 110v = 143 watt (Google confirms that most RV fridges use 150-220). My phone uses 15 watts when it first starts charging but lowers at the end (according to Google). Our little space heater uses 1500 watts on high, 750 on low. So add it all up: 143 fridge + 15 husband’s phone + 15 my phone + 1500 = 1673. Compared to the system’s 1650 max this is too much, but I could have them all plugged in with the little heater on low and still be ok, SO, I felt ok bringing the little ceramic space heater for our first camping trip just in case the van’s furnace didn’t work (but it did!).
  • About the Fridge – When driving and using the fridge, the manual recommends to have the fridge on battery power instead of LP gas. However, people have been known to travel with the fridge on LP before without issue – for more on the pros and cons read this. When camped, for the van to work on LP gas, it must be level and the coach battery must not be super low. If you’re having problems do a search on the facebook groups for lots of possible reasons. A common one is that if you camp above 4,000 ft elevation without a high elevation kit, the fridge may not work on LP gas.
  • Foam In The Vents – If you have bits of foam blowing out of your vents, you have been initiated into a common Eurovan problem where the van’s blender door in the heat/AC system has its foam degrading from age and is blowing out. It’s not a huge problem except when it’s hot outside because the system can no longer keep out the hot air, depending on how much foam is left – so our van was blowing hot air on our feet in 90 degree weather. Unfortunately the blender door is deep in the dash. There are several options for fixing it:
      • Pay a mechanic around $1k to remove the dash and fix it
      • Fix it yourself via removing the entire dash – see these instructions
      • Fix it yourself by cutting a hole in the heater box – see these instructions
      • Install a heater core bypass kit so the hot air becomes a non-issue (which means you also have no heat in the van cab so only do this if you don’t do winter camping, or if you can undo it when you need heat – we had our mechanic do it but you could easily do it yourself, I’m told)
  • The Luggage Rack – The luggage rack is the white rack thing on top of the cab, in front of the pop top, on the EVC.
      • Some people use the luggage rack for a cargo bag or storage box to hold things you may not need as often such as rain gear, tents, and sleeping bags.
      • Before your first trip, or at some point in your Eurovan owning career, you’ll probably want to remove the luggage rack and clean it up. There are tutorials on the Bob McMichael, EuroVan Stuff, and Eurovan Info blogs.
      • There are silicone blocks that go from just under the rack to the pop top to fill in the gutter on the EuroVan roof, which can become dried and cracked over the years and cause leak issues. If the floor behind your front seat is squishy, this is probably probably from a leak through those blocks. You can remove the roof rack and fill in and around the block with silicone to prevent further leaks.

Don’t worry, you will quickly figure everything out and if you don’t you’ve got the online forums to ask. Do you have anything to add? Leave it in the comments!