Congratulations on a successful repair! With an oil pressure gauge you can be pretty secure in estimating bearing/engine life. The first sign that a bearing is getting to the critical stage is a drop in oil pressure on a long hill climb where you really put the engine to work. If oil pressure typically runs in the 30s at cruising speed and then drops below 18-20 psi when climbing in third gear (or under 12 in fourth) at 50 mph for a half mile or so start saving for the rebuild! For those of you without a gauge, the oil pressure buzzer ('86-on) coming on under these circumstances tells you the same story, only it's worse. Accepted normal oil pressure for the Vanagon is 10 psi/1000 rpm under any driving condition. I ignored this warning sign (and several others) and made it about 7500 more miles before blow up. -- Stuart MacMillan Seattle '84 Vanagon Westfalia w/2.1 '65 MGB (Daily driver since 1969) '74 MGB GT (Restoring sloooowly) Assisting on Restoration (and spending OPM): '72 MGB GT (Daughter's) '64 MGB (Son's) Stripped and gone but their parts live on: '68 MGB, '73 MGB, '67 MGB GT |
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