Date:         Fri, 10 Aug 2001 12:35:04 -0400
Reply-To:     sevenkevin@WEBTV.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kevin Hayden <sevenkevin@WEBTV.NET>
Subject:      Update on It's Alive...Sort of!! :-)
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII

Hello and Thank You to all of you who have taken the time out of your
busy day to read and try to help me out! I do appreciate your kindness
and knowledge!

Well, I took Roxanne (1985 Vanagon 1.9 L) back to the shop to see what
the mechanic had to say.  He will pull the motor out on Tuesday to see
what is going on.  He said it could be one of two things... First a bad
seal (which he had put in) or the block was not tightened properly when
it was rebuilt.  He also mentioned that there is a stainless steel
sleeve that goes around the seal, which is optional, that this engine
doesn't have.  He said something about a groove in this area that might
be letting the oil get by..and I'm telling you the oil is coming out at
a hefty pace.  It is also coming out of the top of the motor where the
plastic plug (which is missing) goes into the bell housing. There is
about two teaspoons laying there. He said that if I drove it, I'd be
losing approximately a quart every half hour.

As far as the cooling system goes, I drove it to the shop, which is less
than a mile away from my home, and the gauge pegged to the right and the
red warning light starting flashing as I was pulling in to the shop.
The mechanic checked it out to see if it was circulating and it was.  He
left it run at idle with the fan disconnected, for about 10 minutes,  to
see if it would over heat and it didn't.  The gauge ranged from 1/2 to
3/4 but the light never came back on.  He's going to change the censors
and check the thermostat out when he has the engine out.

I will keep you posted and just wanted to let you all know what is going
on in case you ever run into a problem like this.

Thanks Again and have a GREAT day!!

Happy Trailin',

Kevin
sevenkevin@webtv.net

1985 1.9 Vanagon (Roxanne)
1979 Chevy 400  Van (The Devil Dog)
1963  Chevy Impala SS 327 (still working on it)