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Date:         Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:31:04 -0500
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Double cab for sale/engine longevity
Comments: To: BenT <syncro@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <ccafde0904083119271ec97619@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Well, there goes THAT theory.

Jim

On Aug 31, 2004, at 9:27 PM, BenT wrote:

> Jim, > > I consisitently drive my 87 GL at 80mph most days. I was even spotted > doing a 90mph 12 hours trip to SoCal last year. Nothing special. It's > a basic GL van w/o the middle bench. WIde tires. SA brakes. > > The astounding thing is I got 386,000 miles on it before the original > headgaskets started an exterior leak. Still had good compression. > Alas, that WBX is making way for an inline-4 VW. > > BenT > http://members.aol.com/bentbtstr8/myhomepage/index.html > > On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 20:47:08 -0500, Jim Felder <felder@knology.net> > wrote: >> After talking to my local vw mechanics a while back, I concluded that >> the vanagons they had in for frequent engine replacements had one >> thing >> in common: drivers who thrashed the engines. That of course stands to >> reason for any car, but 70 mph seems to be the magic number for >> vanagons. I was looking at an 89 syncro on its third engine. We talked >> about a dozen or so other customers who got 80K miles or less on their >> engines, and the anecdotal evidence was that the drivers of those >> vehicles reported commonly driving way over 70 mph. The syncro had >> commonly been driven 80. Other customers had driven faster than that, >> and had come back for replacement engines more frequently. >> >> These replacement engines came from a variety of sources, including >> ones rebuilt by the shop. >> >> My 90 has 192K miles on it. It doesn't burn or leak anything. It runs >> strong. The heads have been out once to replace the rubber gasket, but >> no valve job has been done. I NEVER drive over 70. Maybe for just a >> minute or two while passing, but the van has never been 80 at all, >> ever. >> >> My mechanics were remarking that the other long-lived engines had >> drivers who reported driving similar slower speeds. >> >> There may be plenty of evidence out there to the contrary, but it >> seems >> to me that when the VW engineers placed that green area on the tach, >> they meant it. Maybe there is a threshold rotational speed above which >> the centrifugal force and inertia of the rod is great enough to >> ovalize >> the journal hole. >> >> Anybody else? I realize that I and others may just have luckily gotten >> a better balanced or otherwise better-fitting engine. But just asking >> around, it seems that speed kills these things. >> >> Jim >


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