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Date:         Fri, 3 Oct 2014 19:28:25 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      drive from Oklahoma to Spokane, WA
In-Reply-To:  <20140323161145.EDJSK.145316.imail@eastrmwml106>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Bonnie and I drove our 1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile with 2.1 and manual transmission from Edmond, OK to Spokane, WA in preparation for our upcoming move to that city. We left the van there at our daughter's house, and flew home.

The van ran fine for the whole trip. We went via Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, mostly on interstate highways, and made the trip in three driving days, just stopping for necessities including overnight. This was not a pleasure trip, though we did enjoy seeing roadside landscapes we'd not experienced before in Nebraska, not having used this route before. BTW, the only mountains we noticed to have any snow to amount to anything at all on the whole trip were the Bighorns in Wyoming. The Bear Tooth Range was not really visible from the interstate highway, though it was probably snowy as well.

My reason for posting has to do with the van's performance in Montana and Idaho, the only really mountainous part of the journey.

On Pipestone Pass (continental divide in Montana, on I-90, as on other steep grades, we were forced to slow down, to under 50 mph. But, for the first time in five years and 50k miles of driving this beast, as we got past the halfway point on the pass, I started to hear a very faint knock from the engine. The engine was not overheated, though the temp indicator was on the top side of the led and the high speed radiator fan was on. The ambient temperature was about 80 F, very warm for the location for late September. The oil was conventional Castrol 20W50, and had been filled with new oil to the halfway point between the full and low marks on the oil stick before starting the trip. I pulled off at a truck pull out and checked the oil. It was at the full mark on the stick. I let the van set for 20 minutes and finished the pass. There was no knock until I was almost at the top, then it started again, very faint, almost a tapping sound. As soon as I started down the pass, the temp indicator dropped below the led, and the tapping went away. I did not hear it again until Fourth of July Pass in Idaho. It resurfaced there, but only as we neared the top.

Bonnie and I discussed this matter at Pipestone Pass and several times through the rest of the drive. We concluded that the oil is heating above the temperature of the cooling system and thinning out, leaving bearings or other components hot and lubed with thin oil. BTW, the engine is equipped with a Ten Cent Life external oil cooler, and the oil filter is a Mehle. It did not show low oil pressure even when the tapping sound occurred or at idle when I pulled over. Oil pressure on the pass was around 25 psi when I was still in fourth gear, and increased to 40 psiwhen I had to drop to third gear to maintain 45 mph at 3400 rpm, and at idle between 5 and 10 psi.

So, experts, am I looking at a rebuild or engine replacement? The beast runs great with no indications of low oil pressure. We drove it all over Spokane daily for ten days while there shopping for a house and the tapping never occurred again. Now it is parked in my daughter's garage until we move up there. It has 177k miles on it. New clutch. No indication of transmission problems ever. Camping in it is great.

mcneely


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