Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 20:08:56 -0800
Reply-To: two-tone brown <kite.wagon@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: two-tone brown <kite.wagon@GMAIL.COM>
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
Yo Rob-- I bought my '84 GL (the same 1.9L) with 90k. At that time it
was in really nice shape, guts to skin. it basically went 30k (laps
around the US) without a hitch, not needing replacement of anything
but oil, coolant, plugs, a crumbling rear view mirror and one CV
joint.
then around 120k it felt to me like EVERYTHNG started to go-- water
pump, catalytic, brake pads and rotors, clutch release bearing (which
basically meant the whole clutch), 02, a fuel injector, etc etc. at
one point even the little plastic cables that hold the glove box
upright when open snapped on me and distributed the shit therein
evenly across the floor. fun.
Being fairly thin on cash flow, tools and grease monkey experience,
the cascade was pretty agonizing and really made me question my
committment to the van (hence my first post to the list)-- its
probably cleared a couple grand in parts and work over the last year.
I couldve probably skimped on some of the stuff i chose to fix and
saved a few bucks, but its kind of all or nothing for me. Think i
cleared the worst of it for now... just finished a huge lap around the
west (4k miles) without a problem.
Point is that along with the heads, you may very soon have a handful
of medium-grade fixes to do on this 85 in the near future, and they
can *really* add up, let alone if the tranny or engine goes (the next
round of joy that im looking forward to). Its not too rarely that i
look at my buddy's 90 2X4 toyota-- that he NEVER puts oil into or
fixes, drives like a psycho, is nearing 160k, and purrs like new-- and
sigh wistfully.
good luck!! if you go for it you'll learn a lot and have a lot of good
times as well.
peace/ sp
On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:55:18 -0800, Robbie Cotner <robw_z@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
>
| 
