Date:         Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:39:50 +0800
Reply-To:     Kim Howe <khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kim Howe <khowe@OMNINET.NET.AU>
Subject:      Re: Mazda RX7 oil cooler on Westy
In-Reply-To:  <20020221.061838.-145739.3.wilden1@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

On Thursday, February 21, 2002, at 08:18 PM, Stan Wilder wrote:

> I've made several post recently on an RX7 oil cooler that I installed.
> http://williamwareagency.com/forsale/stanvan/rx7cooler1.jpg

I got a 404 Not found looking for this. I'm very interested in your
results. One thing that would be interesting to see is what effect a
(hopefully) lower oil temperature will have on cylinder head temp.

I recently acquired my first Vanagon, and 82 Camper (not a Westy, as far
as I know they were never imported to Australia). The van is in
excellent overall condition and the previous owner claims (and I believe
him) it has only travelled 130,000km. The bad news is that it has
suffered some poor maintenance (people thinking distance travelled, when
they should have been thinking about the fact the oil had been in there
for 3 years...) and mechanic butchery in the engine area. I just swapped
the side mirrors having found out from this list why I couldn't adjust
the passenger one so I could see anything with it, and why the drivers
one was in the way of the quarter vent window. I don't think I would
have worked that one out by myself!

Anyway, on to my situation. The engine appears somewhat unwell. It
starts and runs ok, but has a knock, which seems too loud to be lifters.
Initially the oil light stayed off, as if it was gummed up with crud,
which it well could have been, given the oil had been in the engine for
nearly three years (although only a couple of thousand km). The oil
pressure light started to work after a few days of being driven. I then
changed the oil, and given the knock I opted for a fairly thick oil
(which I could name, but it's an Aussie oil and probably would mean
nothing to you). I took the van for a run to next town (50k each way
with 110kph speed limits). The weather was warm 25-30C. I was somewhat
surprised to see the oil light appears when I throttled off for a speed
reduction. (It's an auto, so the rpms dropped somewhat more than a
manual would.) When I found that the oil light would be on at any speed
below about 90kph, I got very worried, thinking the end was in sight,
but I had my children with my, including my 14 month old, and didn't
want to stop out in the middle of nowhere with them, so I pressed on,
keeping the speed to 80kph or less. It travelled in total more than 40km
with the oil light on.

That was now a few weeks ago, and the engine is still going, much the
same as before. I haven't attempted any further high speed driving, just
running around town usually 50-60kph, with an occasional short stretch
of up to 90. (I live in a small city on the south coast of Western
Australia, the nearest freeway is about 400km away.) As soon as the
engine is up to what I would call a normal operating temperature, the
oil light appears at idle, and the further it is driven the higher the
rpms have to go to get it to go off. This all seems weird to my previous
experience with VW engines. I have owned 30 Beetles (including the two I
have now) and I think this is my 7th Type 2. I had a 76 Fuel Injected
Auto that I drove across Australia and back in, and I've done my share
of rebuilding motors etc. I'm wondering about a stuck relief valve, ie,
when I put the thicker oil in, if it pushed the relief valve down into
some sticky residue from the old oil and now it's stuck there. In any
case, I don't think the current engine is a long term proposition.

I have been thinking a rebuild is going to be necessary, and I'm very
interested in the whole cooling issue. I thought it would be nice to
perhaps bump up the capacity with 103mm cylinders, but I'm concerned
that the extra power might not be usable anyway, because of heat issues.
Have you any experience with going to a bigger bore on a type 4 engine?
Do you think the fuel injection would cope adequately with the extra
400cc? Am I just asking for trouble?

Kim Howe
82 Vanagon
Albany Western Australia