The part is called a "grommet" by the Zen masters of nomenclature at VW, its number is 070 119 953C, and I hope that information does you more good than it has us lately - it is no longer available from VW, according to my dealer. There was a brief and shining moment when West Coast Metric was making stuff like this - they had a whole Vanagon section in their catalog for a while. Back in the good old days. I think a person could do well to locate a dependable source of various thicknesses, compositions and textures of sheet rubber. There are getting to be quite a few parts like this that a person armed with a cupboard full of such supplies could whittle and glue together... Happy hunting (and if you run across a couple dozen extras, let me know)! Coby Smolens Valley Wagonworks VW Bus and Vanagon Specialists "Intimately acquainted with VW Vans since 1959" 1535 SF Drake Blvd, San Anselmo, CA 94960 415-457-5628
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of Dave & June Kinerson Sent: Monday, August 20, 2001 4:19 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Oil Filler Seal for a 81 Westy Wanted
Volks, To make a long story short (see long version below), I need the seal (or gasket or whatever) that goes between the oil filler pipe (tube?) and the engine tin of an 81 air cooled Westy. I tried sending the Bus Depot a query via e-mail from the link off their web site but got no response. Anybody know what the seal is officially called and/or know where I can get one? Dave Kinerson Albany NY kinerson@capital.net PS The engine over-heated big time about a month ago. My mechanic, who had recently rebuilt the engine, had left off the heater box bypass tubes. This dumps extremely hot air right where it can be sucked up into the engine cooling fan. Result? The engine overheated so bad on a 93 degree day that the 20W-50 engine oil thinned out to the point of leaking out through the front seal. It lost power as well (40 mph floored). Smoke was pouring out from underneath the engine from both the leaky oil seal spraying oil on the heater boxes and out the inside of the exhaust pipe in a billowy cloud of blue smoke. Alarming situation I must say, being a 100 miles from home and all. We did manage to limp home at 45 mph on I-87 after things got cooled off, STP added and oil topped off. It was an adventure to say the least, what with the five-finger salutes from passing trucks doing 90 etc. I am now getting significant valve clatter and what sounds like rod or main bearing pounding as well. Unfortunately the thing is just out of warranty, sooo...I shall have to rattle my mechanic's cage good. To his credit he did make good on the engine seal and bypass tubes. We shall see what happens. I am on a quest to seal up that engine compartment big time at the moment. Will let you folks know how I make out. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.