Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can shed light on the cause of this mysterious
noise my Waterboxer has recently started making.

The vehicle runs fine (touch wood) but over the last month or so I
have been aware of a mysterious "thump" occuring once when the
vehicle has been idling in the driveway after a decent run or just after
I turn it off in the garage.
It is probably best described as sounding like someone giving one of
the metal panels a gentle thump with the side of their fist.

I could never pinpoimt the source of this but then yesterday it did it
again when I'd just got out of the vehicle and it sounded like it
possibly came from the fuel tank.This got me wondering if there's
a breather pipe blocked and a vacuum is being created in the tank,
and then expanding again when I stop driving,hence the "thump" as
the tank again expands.I've also noticed a bit of a "Whoosh" when
the petrol cap is removed for refilling (which I can't remember
happening previously) which is typical of a vacuum in the tank.
It has been pretty hot here recently but I don't know if that has
any bearing on my symptoms.

Anyone experienced this or wanna have an educated guess?It's a new
one on me...

Thanks,
Steve O.
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
'92 Transporter 2.1 WBX (built in Graz,Austria)
'76 Crew Cab 2.0
'68 Beetle Deluxe
'00 Transporter 2.5 5cyl Crew Cab (work truck)

PS.March 8 2000 is apparantly the 50th Anniversary of the first Transporter
   rolling off the production line in the Fatherland.
   Any celebrations being planned in the northern hemisphere?
   In Sydney,Aust.we are holding a big birthday party on Sun.March 19 and
   will have a line up of Transporters from 1950 to 2000 year models.
   If you don't turn up in a transporter you'll have to park outside
   so the car park will be wall to wall Transporters/Kombis/Pickups
   We did this two years ago for the 60th birthday of the Beetle
   and had several thousand Beetles show up.Made the local news here.
   My '92 will be part of the display and I'll be taking lots 'o pics
   with a digital camera.
   Anybody with a VW web page wanna host a few pics of a sea of Kombis?