Date:         Sat, 16 Dec 1995 21:03:57 -0600 (CST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Kurtz <rmk@sky.net>
Subject:      Today's One for the Books

Today has been one for the record books for me.  In my fleet of air-cooled
VWs, three were in running order this morning.  By afternoon none of the
three were running and the Bug was parked three miles away, with an
undetermined problem.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Today I decided would be a good day to drop the engine in the 71 Westy to
see if I could cure the slow oil leak that appears to be coming from around
the dog-house oil-cooler.  Weather was supposed to be clear with a high
around fifty.  I got an early start and fought the engine out of the Bus.
This is the first time I have dropped this engine and I discovered it had
all four bolts/nuts holding it to the transaxle.  This was good, I thought,
the PO was through.  I started tearing down the 1600 DP to see if I could
find the leak.

About noon my wife left in the 70 Bus to run errands.  She was back in a
half hour with the news, "The clutch is out".  I looked to see if it was
a broken cable, and it isn't.  Another engine to drop.  I decided to finish
the first project so I could get it out of the way to work on the next Bus
in the same spot.  My garage has flourescent lights and one fixture cuts
out so I asked my wife to go and get some new bulbs.  At this time we were
down to the Bug running.

I a little while my wife calls with the news.  "The Bug is dead, what do
I do now?".  She caught a ride home.

I went and hid for a while hoping things would improve but they didn't so
I went back to work.

One of my daughters who drives a H20 pumper came by and I caught a ride to
Bug to see if I could get it home.  Tightened the battery cable and brought
it right home.

I then went back to work on the Westy.  Tore it down to a long block and
can't see the source of the oil.  Cleaned it up and put the tin in solvent
to soak overnight.

Tomorrow I'll reassemble the motor and bench run it to see if I can see
the source of the leak.

Hopefully I can get it back together and the other Bus fixed before sundown
tomorrow.  The next winter storm is due tomorrow night.

I hope I can report tomorrow that all three air-cooled drivers are back
on the road.

Richard
Curator of the "Bob Hoover Sermons" Web Pages.
http://www.sky.net/~rmk/hoover/
rmk@sky.net