Date:         Sun, 11 Feb 2001 08:17:55 -0500
Reply-To:     Robert Donalds <bostneng@FCL-US.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Donalds <bostneng@FCL-US.NET>
Subject:      EXPERTISE NEEDED!  oil pressure woes con't. part 4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Dennis
    nice to hear from you.
    no I don't have an oil temp gauge and only the stock water temp
gauge on my
vanagon 84 and as I have said I have had no indication that the oil
temps
are hotter but I will be checking into that now that the question is
being
asked. I have never seen the oil light coming on at an idle or the water
temp gauge
move above the middle of the gauge and I am not easy on my van. I
understand
your thinking on the oil cooler.  why did vw install them after 1985 I
think it
was to warm the oil up faster and to keep the oil temps stable. lots
more of
the vanagons  have AC after 85 and they also added the 2 stage fans for
the
radiators to keep the water temps within reason when the AC is running.
My
84 is standard and has no AC.
     I agree there are many variables to oil pressure and temps. ranger
Brian is running 20/50 in the winter and is still having oil pressure
dropping to
the point that the light comes on when the engine is fully warmed up. I
don't
recall the chain of events he has gone threw but adding the thicker oil
restores
the oil pressure until its fully warmed up as in when you come off the
highway
then the light comes back on due to the extra clearance at the rod
bearings
    When I get an engine in for for a rebuild and it has the low oil
pressure problem I want to know what is worn out so I inspect it
carefully and look
to see what's worn out its the rod bearings and the big end of the rods
out of
round again and again
    The con rods are the same on the 2.1 and the 1.9 but the bolts are
different I blame the stretch to yeld bolts for the distortion of the
2.1 rods. the
1.9 engines never throw rods and the 2.1 are well known for throwing
rods. I
have measured all the wbx rods that came into my shop for some time the
2.1s are
always way out of round even when the rod bearings looked ok and the
1.9s
are just passable. I redo all the big ends on all the wbx engines I
rebuild and
I use only the 1.9 bolts they are the same as the bug bolts.
I think you give VOA canada to much credit I have a steady flow of
engine
cores and some of them are VOA remans they are better than they where
but the
rods are not always resized, they are not always align bored and the
cylinders seats
have never been refaced as far as I can tell but they are now using AMC
heads.
Did you know that cummings now owns the VW reman plant in canada
    I have had a couple people tell me that they got 200k from a 2.1
engine
but isn't that the rare exception rather than the rule
     As for mobil 1 its a great lube but I would not leave it in the
engine
for any longer than 3k are you not concerned about the build up of by
products
of combustion and gas building up in the oil.
    I wonder what effect the extra oil has on the oil temps
 Ranger Brian
   lets find out what the heck is going on take the heads off the engine

pull and inspect the rods and bearings and then install rebuilt rods and
new
bearings. I will donate the rebuilt con rods and the bearings if you buy

your heads from me. then ship the rods and bearings back to me and I
will torque
them up and measure them with and without the bearing shells and share
the
results with the list
drop me a note and we will work out the details
Bob Donalds
http://www.bostonengine.com