Date:         Mon, 5 Mar 2001 12:10:52 -0500
Reply-To:     Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      first leg of trip success/couple questions
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

hey all,
first part of my journey is complete.  i made it from upstate new york to
st. louis without a hitch.  this is on the engine i installed a couple of
months ago on my 90gl.  i missed the snow storm in new york, i got to meet
chris turner in penn (thanks again chris for the heater cores) and then on
to st. louis.  i slept at a truck stop in dayton ohio with my dog poonce and
was up early yesterday morning for the rest of the trip.  it took me total
about 17 hours, i am under full load and making frequent stops for my dog to
run around.

as some of you may recall, i am experiencing a real bad oil leak which may
be coming from my flywheel seal.  i won't know until i get to my final
destination in montana, another 1800 miles or so.  i will then drop the
tranny and investigate further.  this trip to st. louis i lost a total of
one qaurt of oil through that seal.  not too too bad for 1100 mile trip.  i
am keeping a watchful eye on it and hope that i can make it to montana
without any real problems from this leak.

what i noticed though is after driving many hours and stopping for gas, i
check my oil.  when i pull the dipstick, i can see what appears to be smoke
coming out of the dipstick hole.  is this normal?  being a chef, i know the
smoking point for most cooking oils is well over 400 degrees (except for
butter), what is the smoking point for motor oil?   should i be worried
about this?  it was very cold outside, could this be vapor or steam or
something like that that only shows up when cold out?

my second questions is this.  i developed this sort of knocking noise when i
start to drive off.  it just started on this trip.  i stop for gas or
whatever, and as i pull away the back wheels knock once and then all is
well. i drive away and everything is fine at normal driving speeds.  it is
pretty consistent.  it almost feels like something sticks and then releases
as i drive away.  this only occurs the moment i start to drive, at low
torque in first gear, not sure if it happens in reverse.  sound familiar to
anyone? rear CVs?  i have a little tranny leak from the right rear wheel
axle, could this knock be related to tranny, low fluid?

finally, high fast can you push these vans?  in third and fourth, how high
rpms can you cruise at?  this is on a 2.1.  i drove at speeds of about 65 to
70 with rpms in at about 3800-4000.  engine sounded fine.  can you push it
beyond this and cruise okay?  in third gear how high rpms can you cruise at?
tia everyone
jason
90gl
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