Date:         Wed, 31 Jan 2001 17:48:09 -0800
Reply-To:     Chris D'Amico <chrisdamico@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris D'Amico <chrisdamico@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      my vanagon sob story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

dear list,
i need some advice on what to do with my 89' wolfie
weekender. long story short. bought vechicle 14 months
ago for $5,500. (orange county, ca.). within the first
year i have sank another $5,000 into the car (rear
brakes, recharge ac, new ecu, repack rear cv boots,
tune ups, new tires, reseal the tranny, and of course
the dreaded head gasket job that cost me $2200. now,
12 months and 20k miles later, the head gasket is
leaking again.

why am i telling you guys this? because now i have
invested about 11 grand in my van, and now am at a
crossroads. i have taken it to another vw shop in my
area (this shop specializes in vanagons and vw) and he
has given me his opinion, which i think is an honest
one. his view is this. my heads that were replaced
weren't original german, and the ones i got only last
about 20 to 30k (sounds kinda hard to believe,
although the symptoms i am having now are exactly the
same internal leaky head gaskets), so he thinks i
should redo the gaskets, rebuild the engine from
scratch, replace most the coolant hoses (which are
mostly bad...12 yrs old), replace the radiator, and
weld some cracks in the exhaust pipes. all of that for
about $4000-$4500. sounds like alot, but it is alot of
work. i wish i could do the work, but i can't.

if anyone could give me some advice i would appreciate
it. do i start over with another van? that doesn't
sound so good to me. like the rest of you on the list,
i love the vanagon and i honestly don't think there is
a comparable vehicle on the road in the catagory
today.

sorry so long.
chris
89' white wholfie weekender.

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