Well, I had a rather hair-raising experience yesterday. My diesel Vanagon decided to start accelerating by itself, would not switch off by the key, and was stopped only by jamming it into 4th and standing on the brakes until it stalled. Fortunately, this all happened in a matter of seconds. Nothing seems to have blown up, but I noticed copious amounts of oil down the breather tube that runs from the valve cover to the intake manifold. I suspect it started siphoning oil, and running on straight engine oil. The oil level wasn't low, the temp was fine, and the engine gave no prior warnings befor doing this. No leaks or drips, just a lot of smoke when it started running straight oil. I notice the breather in the valve cover is kinda clogged, but what else could cause this condition? After cooling off for a while, I drove it home safely, and since it didn't repeat the scenario, I think it's safe to say it hasn't eaten any rings. It has a plastic splashguard under the valve cover, too. I'm at a loss though, and so is my buddy who runs a VW shop. Dieselheads beware! However, the acceleration curve is pretty nice...;) -Sean L. '82 GL Diesel "Donder" '86 GL "Blitzen" '86 GL Weekender "no name" coming soon! '80 L |
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Vanagon mail messages have been archived.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.