Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (February 2000, week 1)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Sun, 6 Feb 2000 14:45:23 -0800
Reply-To:     Doktor Tim <doktortim@ROCKISLAND.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Doktor Tim <doktortim@ROCKISLAND.COM>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Trivia Answer
In-Reply-To:  <14.b9782e.25cf1c6b@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 01:50 PM 02/06/2000 EST, you wrote: >Hello Volks, > >Well, the few responses that I received have more faith in the Waterboxer >than I thought. > >This one '86 Vanagon went from zero to 33,000 miles without any servicing or >checking of the oil. No other servicing of anything either. What prompted the >owners to bring it in was that the oil pressure light was on and there was a >clicking noise coming from the engine. I checked the dipstick and of course >it read dry.

I add to this example a 100,000 mile Volvo 240 that had 7,500 mile per book interval documented oil change services 'till the rings and cylinders were toasted. With the pan off, I poked at the back of the pistons and chunks of carbon of 5 grams and smaller sizes came falling out of there. The pan had 20 mm or so of tar and chunky carbon mix after draining the fuel saturated mess.

Got real lucky in that case and obtained a 75,000 mile used motor wherein when I pulled the oil fill cap, I could see bright aluminum no varish fitments and beautifully bright cam lobes, no visible image of minor wear whatsoever. I couldn't document the service interval. No biggy. I didn't have to due to actual inspection of 30 seconds duration, validated with compression balance testing taking another 10 minutes, high spec stock with tight balance. This one had never seen dirty oil.

T.P. Stephens aka Doktor Tim San Juan Island, WA


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.