Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 15:57:55 -0400
Reply-To: Stuart Fedak <ve3smf@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart Fedak <ve3smf@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Post winter storage sticky valve noise
In-Reply-To: <CA+az7_6_TgOqousvUQ+njg4_Xc_dJ-0v-Bg+fT5Rpf3j_2gnyg@mail.gmail.com>
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Update: The noise has gone away after driving for about 20 km. Back to the regular music of the WBX engine. Not sure what the cause would be, but whatever it was it has gone into hiding for now.
Now to get out my spring to-do-list which is part of my ritual to keep the Vanagon happy for another season of excitement. I think this will be the year that the Vanagon officially gets a name. My daughter always calls it the FunBus, so I think we will have to have a naming ceremony. Not sure what would be a proper way to celebrate this occasion.....
Cheers!
Stuart
Ottawa
Sent from my electronic umbilicus
> On Apr 11, 2015, at 1:26 PM, John Rodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> This is the infamous Vanagon Lifter Syndrome. For whatever reason,
> virtually all the WBX lifters bleed down one time or another after sitting
> a while, and sometimes from one stop to the next. They rattle until they
> pump up again. Harmless enough. Just drive the thing a half hour or so or
> some distance until they pump up. The noise goes away!
>
> John
>> On Apr 11, 2015 11:52 AM, "Richard Smith" <richard_smith@gnwc.ca> wrote:
>>
>> Mine developed this noise, too, after a long storage the winter before
>> last. It would *sometimes* go away if I got the engine warmed up
>> completely and then shut it down for 20-30 minutes. A more experienced
>> engine person than me attributed this to different metals all getting to
>> the same temperature and then cooling together.
>>
>> I was assured by the mechanic that it wasn¹t harmful (the noise is valve
>> ³lifters² not the valves themselves), and lived with it for quite a while.
>> During a recent major tuneup and oil change, the mechanic added some
>> Automatic Transmission Fluid to the engine oil and let the engine idle for
>> an hour (!). Then he drained the oil and replaced it. The noise has
>> (almost) completely gone away.
>>
>> You may find that your noise goes away by itself after driving it for a
>> few days. I would certainly try that first before doing any more serious
>> things. And the Automatic Transmission Fluid ³fix² may or may not have
>> been a real thing, but it cost next to nothing and seems to have worked
>> for me.
>>
>> The best way to keep it away is to drive it regularly, I find.
>>
>>>
>>
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