Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:38:20 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: 86 2.1 L clunking noise under load
In-Reply-To: <BAY111-F18FF9CB6289FB1427E482BB4440@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Congrats on your new Westy!
REPLACE ALL FUELS LINES IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT!!!!
DO IT NOW!!!!
Vanagons are bad to catch fire due to leaking fuel lines. Consider that
even the newest of vanagons in the US are now 15 years old and yours -
and 86 model - is 20 years old. How old are your fuel lines. Make sure
you get this done and avoid the potential grief. Will cost you about $60
for the Kit from one of the list vendors, if you do the labor yourself.
And it's easy.
On to "clunking".
There are a number of things that can "clunk" on a Vanagon, the most
common one being the CV joints, and they can be continuous or intermittent.
1) check and make sure the CV mount bolts are tight. Loose bolts will
cause a clunking giving you warning before failure.
2) In a large vacant parking lot, drive the van in a a tight circle,
first to the left, then to the right. Do so with the steering wheel all
the way to the stop in each direction. If you have a CV going south, it
will usually clunk under the side load that this test puts on it. CV's
are easy to change and service. It just takes a little time. It is
something I prefer to do myself rather than have a shop do.
3) Be sure you have no torn boots. An open boot will result in a CV
wearing out quickly due to grit getting in the bearings.
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Mark hersh wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> We're new to the list and recently acquired an 86 Weekender Westy (2.1 L
> stock engine, auto trans) that we took last week from our home in
> Seattle to
> the Missoula MT area. Heading up a steep grade in a National Forest the
> engine made a deep clunk noise that I thought might have been a main
> bearing
> going south. We stopped, let it cool, checked oil and coolant, and
> got out
> of there. We took it easy, 50-55 mph but it made the same noise going up
> Lookout Pass (MT to ID on I-90) and I eased up on the gas and we
> crested at
> 15-20 mph on the shoulder. Ran fine downhill, through Spokane,
> stopped for
> the night having travelled about 150 miles after the first clunks.
>
> The next day we kept it at 50-55 most of the way and crested
> Snoqualmie Pass
> around 40 mph with no apparent problems and made it home ~250 miles.
> I did
> add ATF (about a cup) and one quart engine oil after Lookout Pass but
> before
> Snoqualmie.
>
> I have been having some coolant problems and have been needing to top off
> the filler tank occasionally. In one rest stop, it did overflow a
> bit, but
> the gauge never ran higher than 5/8 (OK, maybe 11/16, but not 3/4) and
> after
> the clunk I ran the heaters if it got past 1/2. It always ran less
> than 1/2
> on extended downhills and 1/2.
>
> A friend (with no VW experience) says it's unlikely I could have made it
> back 400 miles with a main bearing going south and suggested a loose
> motor
> mount might make such a noise. The van has 240K miles on the odometer
> and
> has had some engine work done in the past (probably goes without saying),
> but I sensed both engine and trans were near the end of the wear
> cycles when
> we bought him. With this trip, we have put about 2500 miles on him, but
> this was the longest and most strenuous trip we've been on.
>
> Any ideas? Thanks.
>
> Mark & Jennifer
> 86 Weekender Wolfsburg Edition, "Monty"
>
>
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