Date:         Sun, 27 Jun 2004 09:08:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Rings? New engine?
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.GSO.4.58.0406261432090.12776@dax.wustl.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

So, this sounds like rings.  My question to rest of the vanagon people
is about general rebuilds.

First, I was surprised to see symptoms that look like rings, when
there are so many other things that can go wrong with the waterboxer.
In my own situation, my first engine had severely worn main bearings.
I believe this is fairly common.  I've also heard conflicting reports
on the effectiveness of bore-aligning the case and installating new
main bearings.

My own situation was that I had low oil-pressure on my first engine.
I cracked the case to check out the problem, verified that the main
bearings were really worn, then priced out the cost of the bore-align
and parts.  I'm thinking that it was a bit over $400.  Yikes...  since
other parts of the engine were questionable, I bought a complete used
engine on the ebay for $150.  I installed that and have been using it
for a year with good reliability and good power.  However, one of the
cylinders if firing funny.

I suspect that one of my rings on engine #2 might be messed up and
causing this odd sound and misfiring problems.  I've tried to isolate
the problem with stethoscope and have changed the lifters.  However, I
think that I'll eventually need to crack the case to check it out.  I
already have a spare engine seal kit.  However, I'm reluctant to open
the case of my working engine #2 and check things out.

My question as relates to Blake, is it really cost-effective to do
only a ring change on a waterboxer?  Or, does he have to go in there
and bore-align the case, put in near bearings...  basically do a full
rebuild.  The answer for Blake's situation will give me info on how to
deal with my own situation and help me decide when/if I should crack
the case on engine #2 to change only the rings, or just go ahead with
the rebuild on engine #1 with a full bore-align.  I have a 1.9L
waterboxer, both engines.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 14:37:41 -0500, Blake Thornton <blake@math.wustl.edu> wrote:
>
> I am afraid that my 84 might need some serious engine work.  Here are the
> symptoms:
>
> - When I start up the van, it blows a lot of grey smoke initially.  Quite
> a lot and it keeps getting worse.  After the van is warmed up, the van
> runs alright.
>
> - I just changed my spark plugs.  3 of the 4 were pretty oily.  I had an
> exhaust leak and took off the forward most exhaust pipe.  The pipe was
> pretty oily and black.
>
> - Lately, my vans wants to stall out when cold, which leads me to needing
> to keeping my foot on the pedal when I am driving.  This seems to go away
> when the van gets warmed up.
>
> I am thinking that my rings are probably shot.  My engine has 160,000
> miles on it (with probably around 20K on new head gaskets).  What are my
> options?  I am thinking that I can probably just run this engine for a
> while longer (assuming I pass emmissions) and see about finding a used
> engine or something soon.
>
> Thanks for any input you can offer!!
> Blake
> 84 Westy
> St Louis
>