Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 18:53:18 -0700
Reply-To: Pancho de la Luna <pancho@SPEAKEASY.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Pancho de la Luna <pancho@SPEAKEASY.ORG>
Subject: Re: pacific northwest mechanics
In-Reply-To: <DDEAIFDLGKOAJIJKOONJAEIACKAA.pancho@speakeasy.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Thank you all for your help on the tips and locations for all of the
mechanics here in the Pacific Northwest.
here' the deal with what happened to my engine.....
Recently (two weeks ago) I went on a long road trip down to northern
California and had a CV joint start clicking on me on the pass in to
Redding, California. I went ahead and drove the thing in to Sebastopol, CA
since that was my actual destination, and I knew that there was a VW
mechanic a few blocks away from my Hosts' house.
Well- this VW mechanic was great! he not only put my car at the top of the
list to be fixed that day, but he also spotted a minor fuel leak that my own
Seattle mechanic hadn't. he also took care of the other CV joints by
squirting some grease into them. All in all- I had a safe ride home without
any further problems.
now to my point...
When the Cali mechanic fixed the fuel leak (on the right side of the engine)
he took off the air filter to get to the fuel lines underneath it. when he
put the air filter back on- he didn't tighten it all the way back on.
this past weekend, I was driving east just past the town of Vantage, WA when
all of a sudden in the rear view mirror, I see a TON of smoke and the engine
starts to sputter pretty badly. there is a HORRIBLE popping sound to boot.
immediately I pull over to the side of the road to let the engine idle
(didn't want the temp to shoot up if something was happening) it died.
I jumped out to pull the deck lid but noticed quite a bit of oil underneath
the right side of the motor. I didn't even bother to pull the lid- I figured
that I blew the gasket- no oil pressure it was dead.
called AAA. towed to Snoqualmie pass. called AAA on a friend's card that was
traveling with me- towed home to Seattle. sad.
looked around online everywhere for mechanics, rebuilt motors, conversions
EVERYTHING- found this list. lots of great folks sent me email all day long.
(thanks!)
I went home for a few hours and decided to crawl underneath the van since
the ground had dried from yesterday's rain and looked up to follow the oil
leakage to the source. then it hit me...
I looked up where the air filter/sensor intake meets with the rubber boot
that feeds the engine it's oxygen supply. there was a GAP about 1/4 of an
inch in the space between the two components... oil dripping all the way.
I jumped up took off the deck lid and saw that the freakin' air filter and
sensor had simply not been put on tight enough when the Cali mechanic had
fixed my leaky fuel line.
I cleaned off the oil with a rag, tightened the boot back on to the sensor
and... VVVVRRRRMMM!!!! the engine starts right up.
I saw a little bit of blue smoke come from the back- but had seen that there
was oil on the exhaust pipes. Drove the Vanagon about 3 blocks and the blue
smoke was gone.
my van is running again. no new engine needed (just yet).
The engine has been on it's way out for some time (I suspect that the
bearings are getting pretty worn since there's a pretty prevalent rumbling
sound coming from the left side of the engine. I might replace the water
pump to see if this resolves the issue, but kinda want to drive the motor in
to the ground and do something else with it. At this point, I'm still
looking in to conversion kits and will probably be helping a fellow list
member with his conversion pretty soon.
just wanted to put a big THANKS out there for everyone's input.
Myles
Seattle, WA
'86 Vanagon GL
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Pancho de la Luna
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 11:52 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: pacific northwest mechanics
Hey there-
I have an 86 Vanagon GL with a recently blown motor. It's in too good a
shape to simply get rid of, and so I'm looking for either a good place to
buy a used engine, or to do a conversion.
any ideas? I'm in the Seattle, WA area.
many thanks in advance!
Myles Cochran
Speakeasy Networks
