Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 19:45:41 -0700
Reply-To: Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Advice please
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
The starter issue is a common one in older vehicles. First thing to do
(after disconnecting the battery) is to clean *every* connection involved:
at starter, at battery, at ignition switch. You might end up replacing the
solenoid and/or starter but the clean up is the first place to start.
Reported oil temps are difficult to interpret given the variability of
sensors, where the sensors are placed, and gauges. However engine noise is
not, as Martha Stewart would say, "a good thing."
Were you hearing a real "tapping" noise, suggesting something mechanical, or
were you hearing pre-detonation (pinging)?
Pinging sounds something like someone is dropping marbles into an empty
1-pound coffee can (I guess they don't make 1-pound coffee cans anymore, do
they?). If you have an older engine with a little carbon build-up (higher
compression ratios) and are climbing a hill in a heavily-loaded van on a hot
day, a van that maybe doesn't have "spot on" ignition timing, them I
wouldn't be surprised that it would ping. Pinging is hard on an engine and
not to be taken lightly.
You might want to have the ignition timing checked and perhaps do a
compression test on the engine.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Young '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549 '82 Westfalia
---------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Dipert" <bdipert@PACBELL.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 7:00 PM
Subject: Advice please
> Well, Bertha our new-to-us '81 Adventurewagen, as of two weeks ago, is
> certainly living up to her name.
>
> Drove her from Sacramento up to Chico beginning just before noon today
> (arrived in Chico at about 2PM), where we filled her up with gas. She
> wouldn't start. Let her cool down for an hour; no luck. Banged on the
> starter with a hammer....no luck. Towed to the local VW dealer....mechanic
> gave the starter one tap with a hammer, with the ignition key in the start
> position (key point?), and she fired right up.
>
> Normal highway oil temperature is 260 degrees (sensor in the bottom of the
> engine....a temperature gauge is one of the upgrades we had put in her
right
> after the purchase). Climbing out of Chico on highway 32, a moderately
> steep, somewhat long grade, at 45-50 mph in 3rd gear....she hit 300
degrees
> quite quickly and a tapping noise (rods?) started coming from the engine
> compartment. Turned around right way and headed back down the hill for
> home....temperature dropped back to 260...climbing to 270 or so at red
> lights.
>
> Back in the driveway at home......won't start again.
>
> The oil temperature has me very very concerned. Simply a combination of a
> steep grade in the middle of the afternoon in the Sacramento Valley....or
> something more worrisome? Did I do permanent damage to Bertha's engine
(she
> 'sounds' normal now)? Is the starter quirk 'normal' (Saint Muir's book
seems
> to indicate this) and do I therefore just need to keep a hammer handy...or
> do I replace the starter, or do something else? My wife wants to take
Bertha
> back out in the morning, albeit to a more moderate environment.....would
> this be totally nuts?
>
> Fare thee well now
> Let your life proceed by its own design.
> -Grateful Dead, 'Cassidy'
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