Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 09:05:59 -0700
Reply-To: joseph Trussell <joetruss@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: joseph Trussell <joetruss@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: 85 Westfalia (New to me) Help please
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
The drain plug on my last Vanagon was Helicoiled twice. Once by the prev.
owner, and once by me after the drain plug literally fell out of the
crankcase and dumped oil all over a friend's driveway....
----Original Message Follows----
From: John Hawk <jhawk@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
Reply-To: John Hawk <jhawk@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: 85 Westfalia (New to me) Help please
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 09:59:21 -0600
Hello Brad,
Cute story. On the drain plug. I mistakenly had a regular oil change place
change my oil and they
stripped my plug. They also put the wrong filter on once and it blew out
dropping all my oil.
I do my own oil changes now. I have an 84 manual and an 84 GL automatic.
And a 68 westy.
I think you should pry out the plug while turning it. Go to Farm and fleet
and get a bigger one.
The guys at the oil change place just stuck a bigger one in and force
threaded it. It's been fine.
I don't know what others on the list think to that???? As for the cooling.
I get overflows too. My light
doesn't go red. I seem to get better heat at higher rpms but it is always
warm. I'd be interested
in knowing how to do all this too.
John
>>> Brad Williamson <max2@BELLSOUTH.NET> 12/28 12:35 PM >>>
Hello everyone:
I'm pretty new so please be kind. I just bought a 85 westie with 93K miles
on it. I'm not new to VWs as I have an 88 GTI 16V and a 87 GLI 16V. My last
westfalia was a air cooled 78 campmobile( I sold in the fall of 95 ) we
called her"The Snickers bus" and I miss her still. We ended up calling her
Snickers because of her Rich Chocolate brown paint and her creamy nougat
colored poptop and .... she was packed with nuts. She was a sweet little
bus,always smiling. We used to do the Summer tours following the Greateful
Dead. Snickers would roll into the parking lot and we would start looking
for other bussed to park next to. I didnt know it then ,but out there in
that big parking lot, was a sweet girl who owned a 68 Creamy white
westfalia.The Girl who now will soon be my wife. I remember seeing that bus
of hers i think. we ended up meeting in Collage at Michiganin 96 after our
busses were long gone and now its time that we get a new one. I was reading
the posts you all wrote and I see im not the only one with such a love for
the VW van.
Ok so with all that said. Onto this 85 westie. She has some wired problems
I cant seem to figure out.
its got a 1.9 liter, 4 speed manual trans,and A/C that is not working. when
i picked the bus up the guy told me it needs a radiator. It works but it
gets plugged up he said.And then you have to burp it,open the cap in the
back and let air out,or do it in the front with a 13mm at the bleeder bolt
on the radiator. He said he put a new thermostat in it and he is sure its
the radiator. here is what happens.
I start the bus and pull out onto the road, i drive for say 8 miles and
finaly there is heat coming out of the vents on the dash and then cold
air,then hot,now cold. it will do that till i get to where im going. and
sometimes the red light will blink when the needle is in the middle of the
heat gage and instantly it will peg to the over heat mark. So when it does
this I put the clutch in and turn of the bus, coast for about 20 seconds and
turn the key on and let out the clutch.air bubble ? like the guy said ?the
bus runs fine and the needle goes back to about the middle of the gage. cold
air then hot air coming out of the front vents still.The back heater under
the seat in dissconected. Now i drive for 25 miles, i have to do the coast
thing once, and when i get home the tank in the back of the bus, the one you
can see when you open the liscens plate door, is about 2 inches above the
Max mark. it seems to me the over flow tank fills up after a while and the
other tank the one with the blue cap and the sensor gets low.
I took it to the dealer and they want to replace the heads for $3K,another
guy says its the thermostat, and another guy says its the radiator. I just
got the bus and i knew it had some problems but this is scaering me. Even
the oil drain bolt is stripped and wont come out. what do i do about that ?
Anyone know a good reasonable VW master in the Knoxville area?
please send any info you think will help.
how much is a TIICO kit anyways :)
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
|