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Date:         Wed, 18 Jul 2001 22:04:18 -0400
Reply-To:     Bradley Flubacher <flubach@HOME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Bradley Flubacher <flubach@HOME.COM>
Subject:      Re: Looking to buy
Comments: To: "Standley, Craig" <standlc@DATA-IO.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <56B2055D42B8D411841600B0D03ED8CE013EEE5A@saturn.data-io.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Make sure it goes into/out of 3/4 gear very nice and easy. I bought mine and the 3/4 slider broke weeks later. Had I known about the problem, I would've noticed that the 3rd gear was a toughy..

Take a CLOSE look at the heads for any signs of leakage. Take a coolant sample and have it analyzed (SOMEWHERE?) for the presence of a sealing product (alumseal, bars leak, etc)

Do/get a compression test?

Perform the at-harness ECU test described in Bentley. Simply requires an ohmmeter.

Bradley Flubacher State College, PA '82 VW diesel westy '84 GL wasserboxer

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of Standley, Craig Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 3:25 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Looking to buy

I've been lurking on the list for a while, but was an active member a while ago (I joined the original vanagon@lenti list back in '95). I used to own a '74 Bus painted up like a cow, and then had an '81 for a while. I'm looking to get into the water leaking scene now.

I found an '83 Westy at a dealer, it's got 82,000 miles on it. The body is OK, there is a huge dent on the slider and the rear bumper could use replacing. No rust though, or evidence of a hard hit. I'm going to take it to a shop to check it out before I buy. They wanted $5500, I offered $4500 (conditional on my final approval and the mechanic's report) and they accepted that. I has a professional looking furnace, it's got a thermostat and a fancy vent that's been plumbed in like the fridge.

Any tips? Should I avoid the '83 since it's the first year of the water cooled engine? Any way to tell if the heads are about to go? Supposedly the water pump and a couple coolant lines were replaced within the last year, the dealer did the work and claims to have documentation on it.

Thanks, and it's good to be back.

-Craig


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