Date:         Sat, 1 Jan 2000 11:07:48 EST
Reply-To:     Gary McEachern <glmce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Gary McEachern <glmce@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Boston to DC Vanagon purchase saga (long)
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Hello
Several weeks ago Sean Bartnik posted his Sunday Washington Post Classified
newspaper listings of VWs for sale in the DC area. An ad for an '87
Wolfsburg with 107K miles for $1650 caught my eye. The ad stated the vehicle
had an overheating problem. I was looking for another vehicle and this one
sounded as if it could be a great deal. I called the owner and verified he
still had the van and that it was in good condition except for the
overheating problem.

I sent an SOS message to the list asking if there was anyone in the area who
would be willing to check the vehicle out for me. I received a number of
responses with offers. I was blown away! How cool! A special thanks to those
who offered, including: Sean Bartnik, Mike Ray, G Matthew Bulley, Dan
"Finalcut", Mike "MW575", Stu Schwartz and Bob Busick.

Mike Ray ended up being the one who checked the van out for me. It turned
out he lives about about 2 miles from where the van was located. He did a
visual inspection and reported back to me that the van looked very nice. I
can't say enough about the help Mike Ray provided me which allowed me to
make the purchase and get the vehicle ready for the trip home. Thank you
Mike!

I booked a flight to fly into DC early Tuesday morning (12/28). I brought a
bag of tools, my Bentley, a thermostat and a radiator(off my parts car).
Mike Ray met me at the airport in his '87 Westy and drove me to the Vehicle
in Falls Church. I bought the vehicle for $1,500 and we moved it to Mike's
place a few miles away. In addition to everything else, Mike provided me
with the use of a heated garage to check-out and repair the vehicle. This
helped make the whole thing work!

THE VEHICLE
The vehicle is a dark grey '87 Wolfsburg Weekender. The "package" includes
euro style bumpers, alloys, rear facing jump seats, pop up table and a fold
out double bed. It's an automatic with AC, power steering, door locks,
windows and cruise control. The interior and exterior are in very nice
condition with almost no rust! Woohoo!

PROBLEMS
The vehicle overheated (as advertised)during the 2 mile journey over to
Mike's place. The "DOS" oil warning light and buzzer came on when the engine
was reved over 2K rpm (bonus problem!). These two things were my only
immediate concerns. There were a lot of other small problems like the
standard gas tank leak problem, bad rear hatch struts and an some
intermittent electrical problems caused by a partially melted fuse box.

The engine had a brand new water pump. I went to replace the thermostat and
found what looked like a new thermostat with the working parts cut out! No
doubt a drastic attempt to prevent the overheating! I put in the new
thermostat. The radiator looked OK so I didn't replace it. I bled the
coolant system, changed the oil and filter and took it for a test drive. It
didn't overheat but the oil light and buzzer still came on above 2K RPM.

I found that the high pressure sender line was not connected but was
grounded instead to defeat the sensor. This line is used by the "DOS"
(dynamic oil pressure system) to assess oil pressure when the engine is
operating over 2000 rpm. The other low RPM/pressure sensor appeared to be
working OK. I determined that it was not low oil pressure that was causing
the oil pressure warning and chalked it up to a problem with the wiring or
the DOS electronics in the dash. Since the engine sounded OK, I decided to
start my trip home early Wednesday morning.

THE TRIP
I headed out around 4am and all went well for the first 200 miles. The
engine started to overheat and so I pulled over to top up the coolant and
get a bite to eat. This top up took me half way through the NJ turnpike
where I had to stop again to top up the coolant. With a few more stops along
the way, and some anxious moments with coolant temperature climbing while
going through the NYC tolls, I finally made it home around 5 PM. WooooHooo!

THE PROBLEM
I found the pressure relief cap on the expansion tank was not holding
pressure as it is supposed to. I replaced the cap which allowed the system
to pressurize properly for the first time. After bleeding the systen and
letting the vehicle idle for about 20 minutes,with no problem, I took a
short trip to the grocery store (1/4 mile away). When I came out of the
store I found a large pool of coolant on the ground. Arriving home I found a
6" split in one of the rubber hoses apparently the result of a weakened hose
unable to withstand the normal operating pressure of the system. If I had
found the problem and replaced the cap in Virginia the hose may have let go
in the middle of my trip causing me major problems! It may be just as well
that I didn't discover the bad cover after I got home! It appears to me that
the defective expansion tank cover may have been the main cause of the
overheating problem the PO had as a result of loss of coolant from the
system. When I picked up the vehicle he mentioned to me that he was loosing
coolant but couldn't find the source of the leak! How ironic!

Thanks once again to all the list members who helped me with my posts
requesting information I needed prior to going on this great adventure. I am
quite pleased with my purchase and feel I got a steal getting such a nice
vehicle for $1,500.

Gary

Gary McEachern, Reading Ma.
'84GL Sunroof
'87GL Wolfsburg Weekender
'75 Spitfire

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