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Date:         19 Jul 1995 12:37:41 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Harvey Chao" <Harvey_Chao@smtp.svl.trw.com>
Subject:      Re: repost- guy wants to buy

RE>repost: guy wants to buy a diesel... 7/19/95

Let me step through you post and address issues as you identified them:

============== I just checked out what appears to be a great deal. It's an '82 Diesel Vanagon w/ 208k miles, no rust. Engine looks relatively clean, no oil leaks, good tires and breaks, tight steering, good electrical. Asking price is $1450.

o Sounds ok so far

The guy who ones it said he'd done lots of work on it (new rings, etc.) and kept it in shape, took it on guys a few long road trips, etc.

o New rings may explain the high miles. My personal experience with a diesel vanagon is that even with oil and filter changes every 3 monts or 3K miles (months almost always came first) it that I got 112K miles on the original engine before blowby became excessive. The shop that dropped in a long block for me said that my miles/life was on the high side, they had seen diesel vans needing major work as soon as 60K miles. My previous mechanic, now retired, had a fair amount of experience with VW diesels. His collective experience on replacing rings was not acceptable/satisfactory to him - didn't last. Hence my path was a long block. Keep in mind that this is a little 52 hp engine that works really hard and revs high a lot of the time.

The the things that make me hesitant are: - it's loud from the outside at idle ( a lot louder that I recall my old '80 Rabbit diesel being) which might indicate a problem (?); o Hard to say w/o being there - I think that the Rabbit engine is much better shelded from the outside than the van. All the van has is that thin sheet metal sheld on the bottom. What kind of noise? Nailing - could be bad fuel, poorly adjusted, air in the fuel lines ????

- it blows a cloud of black smoke upon heavy/fast acceleration (which is clearly visible from the rear view mirror); o Remember this engine is a LOT more loaded than a Rabbit under acceleration. Could also be injection pump is not timed or mixture adjsutment is off trying to get more powere.

- it's a slug -very slow acceleration and top speed of what appeared to be 60mph. o the only race ANY diesel van will win is being last to the fuel pump. 60 mph top end is maybe a few miles /hr slow, but then that's a lot of miles on the engine. How many miles since the new rings? Valve job? When was timing belt last changed? Is injector timing set right - it's different from that of the Rabbit - I think it is a little more advanced totry to squeeze a little more performance.

I know that all that black smoke might just be an indication that the fuel mixture needs adjustment, o worth a try, possibly true, as long as the smoke is black, not blue or gray

but combined with the loud knocking idle o nailing or piston scuff or bearing knock? Big difference!

and the sluggishness, o isn't one (stock) that isn't that way - onb the other hand, my wife hauls kids all over around town every day in urban stop and go traffic and gets 30 mpg+ consistently (but that's also the same mpg we get on the freeway).

it made me wonder about the compression. I also know that diesel Vanagons are notorious sluggish. I don't mind doing a little work on this car to bring it up to top shape, but I'm wondering if these problems might indicate a more serious rebuild ($$$$). o A turn key job locally uising a GEX rebuild parts and labor was about $3200 in this area south of San Francisco, labor rate is around $70, engine was $1800 I think. The outfit did a lot of minor stuff to protect themselves from a call back I think.

Also, when I checked the oil level, it appeared to be well below (~1/2-3/4 quart below) the low lovel on the dip-stick, which made me also wonder how the current owner has been treating it (poorly?). o Fair question.

Should I get the compression checked? o Check blowby. Unscrew the oil filler cap and put your hand near/over the opening to see if there is significant postive pressure - is it throwing oil up at you from that tube? If so, bad news.

Should I buy it and sell my trusty little '80 Rabbit that I've tinkered with over the years and gotten to know oh so well?

Thanks for your opinion.


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