Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 11:19:32 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: 85 Westfalia (New to me) Help please
In-Reply-To: <002101c18fce$5c08cc80$661c4ed8@RemoteUser>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
If your regularly getting air into the system, then combustion gases are
probably getting into it. The usual cause is leakage at the cylinder to
head junction. Sometimes a head gasket set will fix it. All surfaces
have to be inspected and cleaned carefully.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Brad Williamson
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 1:35 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 85 Westfalia (New to me) Help please
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 :)
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