Date:         Wed, 10 May 1995 05:38:34 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Rich@indy.net (Rich Smith)
Subject:      Vanagon Trials and Tribulations

The saga continues!

At some points in our lives we ask "Why me God?" and sometimes the answer is
"Because you bought a Vanagon!". It is Tuesday, May 9th, 1995. I am sitting
in the middle seat of my '87 Vanagon typing on the laptop computer. I am
doing this because I have already placed the call to AAA and am waiting for
the tow truck to arrive? I wonder, "Will I know the driver?". Before I
started writing this, I called the VW dealer to findout what a new long
block would cost. About $1850 was the answer and it will take about a week
to get one. No commitments yet.

Let me back up for a minute. Last night I had changed the oil in the Vanagon
and had noticed that the coolant level was a little low and the oil level
was a little high. Not good signs. I mentioned to Jen, my significant other
that I may indeed be having head gasket problems as had been suggested a
couple months ago by the VW dealer. There were the tell tale signs of
water/oil spots on the rear hatch and the motor has been running a little
warm. These all ad up to bad news no matter how you look at it.

Against my better judgement I went ahead and drove the Vanagon to work
today. It did just fine this morning. I took it out at lunch to meet with
Jim Kirk and Randy Maier and put together the May edition of the Crankshaft
Journal. It was doing fine. I even ran the air conditioning. On the way home
after work, we were cruising along just fine on I65. As I slowed to exit
onto I465, the oil light/buzzer kicked in and I noticed that the coolant
light was blinking too. Yikes! I nursed it on up to the exit and that brings
us to where we are now.

This Vanagon has 138,123 miles (I just checked). At 127,??? miles it died
over in St. Loius while caravaning along with the Busses by the Arch crew
last Labor Day weekend. Stranded in St. Louis, I left it with a local VW guy
who rebuilt the motor from the ground up and hitched a ride back with local
CIVF friends, Tom, Anne & Kent Meinert. The VW g said the heads looked fine.
New cam, crank bearings, lifters, exhaust valves, water pump, oil pump,
gasket kit. Also replaced the front bearings while he was at it. All said
and done, it cost me $1500 parts and labor, plus a one way ticket from Indy
to St Louis ($50).

What's a boy to do?

Rich Smith
rich@indy.net
'87 Vanagon GL
'83 Vanagon GL (kinda redundant)
'82 Vanagon (parts Van, Need any?)
'81 Rabbit PU
'73 Thing (2-tone white & rust)
'57 Ragtop Oval (future restoration project)