Measure your pushrods .............. I've got several sets of stock and a set of chrome molly. Stan On Mon, 9 Jun 2003 17:40:27 -0400 Ed Lloyd <elloyd10@COMCAST.NET> writes: > Should I drive this vehicle? > > Two weeks ago I got back from a weekend trip driving 5-6 hours each > way through the mountains of West Va. The 87 2.1L watercooled van > preformed well, and had no problems, but after I got home I noticed > a small oil leak had started. I traced it to a push rod tube, and > ordered a collapsible replacement tube from Bus Depot, along with > the seals. > > This weekend I tore into the project and got a rude shock. When I > pulled the #1 cyl pushrod out of the tube it was bent! Curved into a > bow shape. Not kinked or creased, but so far out of line that it > had rubbed a hole in the thin wall of the tube, thus the oil leak. > > Looking further, I checked the other pushrods, and all were straight > and true, but I found problems with all 4 of the valve adjusting > screws It looked like Stan's cats had chewed up the ends. > > History: the heads were replaced 3 years ago by a VW dealer, using > AMC heads. Four months ago I checked the clearance, after reading > about Boston Bob's .006 setting. I found the pre-load to be very, > very tight, so loosened them and set them to .006. I did not bother > to check the push rods or the ends of the adjusting screws at that > time. Don't know if they were already in that condition, or if the > damage is recent. > > This is a daily driver, so I just put everything back together, and > started the engine, which ran fine for a few moments before I shut > it down and began to wonder, should I drive this? Will this cause > more damage? Can the adjusting screws just be ground smooth? Can a > replacement push rod be used? The manuals all talk about putting > the same ones back into the same place, so I'm worried about > improper mix and match. The top of the valve stem ends are fine by > the way. > > Any info about what may have caused this problem and what to do about > it is appreciated. > > Ed in Aspen Hill > > 87 vanagon > > ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! |
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