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Date:         Wed, 20 Dec 1995 19:19:00 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright" <swright@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Help on buying '87 Westy

> >-Power at low revs (ie: 1500-2500) is very poor and 'rough' - it > >lurches when pulling away in second at around 2000. Accel. through the > >gears seemed ok, but it couldn't hold speed in 3rd at about 2500 rpm > >going up a gentle slope... Is this likely to be a timing problem? The > > There is no decent power until you get to 3000 RPM, you were bogging it a > bit, but I don't know how 'gentle' the hill was. It should NOT be rough off > idle, but the idle is often 'lumpy'. Pulling away in 2nd? You WERE bogging > it, Westys are heavy, don't do that when you own it!! Well, it wasn't actually pulling away from a stop, but I guess I'm used to my turbo diesel which has lots of grunt at 2000...

> >to the dealer, and up a short hill (in 1st), after which the oil > >pressure light/buzzer came on- it stayed on for 5-10 secs before I > >killed the engine & coasted. Temp was middle gauge, fan not on. I > >started it again & seemed fine, oil level ok. > >I suspect that the run at 3500 pumped the oil to the heads, and the > >quick stop & turn starved the oil pickup for a moment, but I can't > >believe it was this easy to do... > hmmm, a bit too easy, but I have little experience here, mine have never > done this, was the oil filter a real VW one (black) or aftermarket? DO NOT > USE FRAM EVER, understand!!! Called him - guess what - an ORANGE filter... I have a case of VW filters at home - are they Vans the same as a gas Jetta?

> ball joint, tie rod ends.... my '85 had 165K kms, and was tight, despite 5 > years on Toronto tram tracks and potholes. What EXACTLY are the tires, if > they say max. inflation pressure 35psi they are likely your problem. They > must be reinforced or 6 ply or C range 55psi max, or D range 65psi max. They're Sears SuperGuard (almost new) LT rated C range. 195/75 -14 > > >I plan to have the VW service dealer check it out today, but any > >advice would be appreciated. > >The only reason I'm spending more time on this one is the body is > >nearly mint - the paint is like new, even along the bottom edges and > > Yes, real inspection and good body is prerequisite, sounds good. Spend the > $150 on RustCheck when you buy and really make sure it stays good. > RustCheck works, and spraying the underside with Crappy tire undercoat will > add to the protection. My '85 was structurally like new after 9 years, my > '87 has main frame seam rust. Both had/have surface seam rust, ugly but > non-threatening. > After talking with the VW dealer who I was going have do the inspection, I'm not so sure... they sounded pretty vague about the oil press problem, and mentioned checking brakes, etc, which is pretty useless to me. I'm only concerned about the engine & expensive stuff which I may not be able to fix...

Thanks for the help to all of you so far... ! (still thinking about it...)

============================== Shawn Wright, Network Analyst St. Michaels University School swright@smus.bc.ca http://www.smus.bc.ca ==============================


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