Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 18:40:38 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: Looking at buying a Westy, some questions.
In-Reply-To: <20041210195518.16923.qmail@web21325.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
The price seems fair but it would probably be cheaper to buy a new
Hyundai of your funds are still tight. This is a 20 year old vehicle.
You need to carefully check the condition of the cooling system,
especially the steel coolant pipes and of course the radiator and heater
cores. The front end and all the brake hydraulics are ready for
replacement including some of the steel brake lines. If this is a
northern vehicle, the condition of the wiring is also an issue. Green
copper does not conduct well. I am not trying to scare you but you will
need to set aside repair money and soon. If the transmission or clutch
hasn't been repaired, consider that also.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Robbie Cotner
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 2:55 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Looking at buying a Westy, some questions.
Hey all, this is my first post.
I've been dreaming of owning a Westy for about 4 years now, being in
college my funds are short and the few that have come up for sale near
me have been too much. Now I have found one locally that I am very
interested in, it has been sitting in the owners driveway for several
years now and I finally asked about if they would sell it, after two
months of deliberation they said yes.
It is an '85 Westfalia full camper, they've owned it since new. The
odomoter shows 103,000 miles but it has been broken for several years,
from talking with them I'm going to assume it has 110,000 miles. The
rear bumper is pushed in, and it's been lightly sideswiped on the
sliding door and on the drivers side, also has been lightly cornered in
the drivers-rear. It has no rust though, and the paint is good. The
interior is immaculate except all the rubber trim-piping has shrunk and
bunched up in places. The van has no known problems from driving it,
they seem to have maintained it well.
What has me really worried is ofcourse headgasket problems, as this has
the 1.9L- they say it has never had any major repair done in it's 110k
mile history; this both comforts me in knowing it hasn't needed a
head-job yet and worries me in that it could need one very very soon!
What are some good ways to diagnose cooling problems? The coolant was
full, but the coolant light flashes in the dash all the time for no
known reason.
As for the price, they want full blue-book according to KBB.com; $2500.
Seems like an alright price to me should it have no problems? Thanks
for any info anybody can give on what to look for when buying a Westy
and the head-gasket problems!
-Rob
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