Date:         Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:55:18 -0800
Reply-To:     Robbie Cotner <robw_z@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Comments:     DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
From:         Robbie Cotner <robw_z@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Looking at buying a Westy, some questions.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

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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