Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 14:36:16 -0500
Reply-To: Greg Potts <Greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Greg Potts <Greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Subject: Re: Recent Trip - FWIW
In-Reply-To: <200503231917.j2NJHg9d025859@ceres.aros.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Hi John,
A dropped valve seat will slow you down, but the vehicle would remain
drivable. A dropped seat robs an engine of 1/4 of the available power,
so you will find that you have very very slow acceleration and a
reduced top speed. In 2002 one of the Canadian buses traveling down to
EveryBus started to drop a valve seat after about 300 miles, and it
completed the 1800 mile return trip without incident. When the owner
got home he pulled the head and replaced the valve and had a new seat
installed.
Running a cylinder head temp (CHT) gauge is a good way to monitor the
head temps and avoid the high (>450) temps that cause seat failure.
They cost about $100 and take less than an hour to install. Once you
have one of these in place you can reduce your fear of valve damage
substantially.
NOTE: If you don't change your driving habits when you know there's a
dropped seat, you run the risk of further engine damage. Eventually the
valve will come apart, or the seat will get pinched by the piston, and
after that all bets are off.
In other words:
Could I get home if my engine dropped a valve seat out in the desert
somewhere? Yes.
Should I drive into the desert with a dropped seat already in my
engine? No.
Happy trails,
Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato** LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
1988 Vanagon GL 8-passenger Automatic
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com
On 23-Mar-05, at 2:17 PM, Anonymous Digest wrote:
>>>> If I could get past the phobia of the dropped valve seat that has
>>>> been
>> threatened many times here, I would certainly sleep better :-)<<
>
>>
>
>> Although I drove my 81 Air-cooled Westy more than 200,000 miles over
>> 13
>> years I was only stranded once. Yep, you guessed it. It dropped a
>> valve
>> seat while I was on vacation in Moab, Utah. It happens. I don't know
>> what I would have done without Tom Arnold at Tom-Tom's Volkswagen
>> Museum
>> (junk yard).
>
> Oh gee, thanks for that little tidbit :-) Moab/Canyonlands is one of my
> favorite destinations. Tell me more about Tom Arnold? Might come in
> handy.
>
>> (I remember being told by Leonard at AVP that on his rebuilds he
>> strengthens the valve seat. I never had a problem after I installed
>> the
>> AVP engine.)
>
> AVP is on my list, but cash is not available. I have read about heads
> that
> have been modified to eliminate the dropped valve seat (whatever
> elminate
> means <shrug>) and would not go any other way.
>
> A long time ago, I became convinced that I would need a new engine one
> day, so I stopped being concerned about the longevity of this one and
> just
> enjoyed it. I figured that if it gave up on me, I would just buy a
> rebuilt
> engine and carry on. Not that expensive overall. Where I got to being
> concerned was to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, or very far from
> and
> VW qualified help. That made me get the AAA+ RV for the extended
> mileage,
> and I avoid extended travel when the temps get way up there (I hate the
> heat anyway, so its a good excuse <g>)
>
> The dropped valve seat bothers me in that I don't know if it would
> hang me
> out to dry, or if I could limp it back to a place to get some help. I
> guess it depends on how bad it is, but in my mind, its one of the more
> likely scenarios that would stop me dead where I was, which doesn't sit
> well with me.....
>
> Anyway, interesting story. I hope its not repeated <g>
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
>
>
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