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Date:         Wed, 20 Nov 2002 14:48:56 -0500
Reply-To:     "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject:      Re: Know any good, fast mechanics in Austin Texas?
In-Reply-To:  <001301c290bc$024a4b70$38137481@robothefan>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Patrick--

Sounds like you dropped a valve or a valve seat. Bad news. I just went through the same thing on our 1982 Westy this past summer. Expensive bummer.

Unless money is no object, there is no way in helium that you will be on the road next Wednesday with this van. By the time the motor is pulled and stripped, and the heads rebuilt, you are already into next week, then there's re-assembly, and install... you don't want speed in this repair, you want it done RIGHT.

If money is no object, I'd suggest completely replacing the motor with a drop-in from one of the list vendors. If you ordered today one of them might be able to get one shipped there by Monday, and you *could* be on the road next week. But even that is pushing it/dreaming. [BTW-- if money is no object, throw that Weber carburetor straight in the trash and replace the Bosch EFI. A central carburetor is worthless in Type4 motors due to the long intake runners, and 160 degree turn the fuel mixture has to make to enter the head; much of the fuel mist settles out of the airstream and collects on the interior of the runners, entering the combustion chamber as raw fuel.]

Anywho-- if you have more than 100k on the motor, I'd suggest carefully weighing your options, as the bottom-end and pistons/cylinders/rings don't typically last 200k, so just re-doing the heads can mean you are throwing $$$ into the junkyard in 25k.

G. Matthew Bulley Creator and Grand Emporer of the VW Heat, Rust, Noise Web Page http://www.bulley-hewlett.com/VWindex/ Owner of too many VW's to mention Mount Olive, NC

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of Patrick Kreuzer Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 12:41 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Know any good, fast mechanics in Austin Texas?

Howdy Vanagon aficionados, Something unfortunate happened to my poor westie last night and I need to find a mechanic in Austin who is relatively quick, inexpensive and over-all trustworthy (man, am I dreaming of the perfect mechanic here). What happened is that I turned off my van and it dieseled for a bit and died eventually, not too bad I thought, just carbon deposits. Then I go out to start it about 45minutes later and it shook pretty bad when trying to start at first, then it started (only after depressing the gas pedal down a ways) and it would make a loud noise like something in cylinder 1 was banging around inside (it checked it with a timing light). For the very short time I tried to run it, the shaking went away but it was still banging loudly from around cylinder 1, and it quieted a bit when the RPM's increased, but I let it go to idle and it died quickly. So now it sits in from of the video store parking garage on 29th and Guadalupe waiting for help. Sorry about not including my van specs in my previous e-mail, but I have a 1983 Air Cooled (CV engine code) Vanagon Westfalia with the Weber dual progressive carb. Also a matter about the urgency, the only reason I need a mechanic that is semi-quick is that I need it done by Wednesday of next week so some friends and I (who are all down here attending UT Austin) can go home for thanksgiving (In El Paso). Thanks in advanced, Patrick


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