Ya done good for a hundred bucks, but your kid's gonna need an engine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Stone" <TStone8359@AOL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 7:11 PM Subject: What happened?
> A few weeks ago, my son found an '85 Vanagon sitting in the weeds at a car > repair place. The body was in good shape. There was recent evidence of > money spent -- new tires, rebuilt alternator. The man said the engine ran > but that it had an oil leak. Couldn't start it because the battery was dead. > The man wanted $100. The engine had about 120k on it. > > We pulled it home and checked spark plugs, recharged the battery, made sure > intake hoses were on tight and tried to start it. It started right up. But > it did have a massive oil leak, worst I have ever seen, coming from the rear > main seal area. I did a compression check (all 125-145 except #3 - 90) and a > leak down test (all 10% except for #3 -- 40%). I deemed it worthy of fixing > the oil seal and seeing what we had. > > Monday, I took out the trans and took off the clutch but could not get three > of the flywheel bolts off -- the allen heads were stripped. The clutch disk > was soaked and oil came out of the two flywheel bolt holes. Tonight, I tried > to turn the bolts with the air chisel -- no dice. I used the grinder to cut > a slot in the bolt heads and tried to turn them out with a large screw driver > -- nothing moved. Finally, I took the grinder and ground off the bolt heads, > destroying the flywheel, but getting the flywheel off. > > What I found next is puzzling. Inside the seal area, the shims were broken > into several pieces and worn thin. The seal was cooked hard and was brittle. > There were no visible tears. The seal was set in from flush with the case > by about 1/8 inch. > > What happened here? Was the flywheel torqued on too tight? Was the end play > not set up right? Was the seal installed incorrectly? Looks like all of the > above to me. > > And what do I do now? Are my thrust bearings trashed? Can I get another > flywheel, redo the end play with new shims, put a new clutch and seal in and > drive it or should this baby be rebuilt? My son is dreaming of a road trip > to Florida and Colorado this summer..... > > TIA for your thoughts. > > Tom > '71 Westy, '85 Westy, '91 Carat, '81 VW Diesel Pickup > |
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