Date:         Tue, 23 Apr 1996 11:15:21 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Lon Herman <loherman@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject:      Smokin' Mystery

Our '81 Westie with 76K has been acting odd since coming out of winter 
hibernation. The oil change did nothing to quiet the ticking hydraulic valve, 
so I'll adjust that. The problem is The Smoke. After sitting for more than a 
few days, the Westie would smoke just on start up. No big thing, just 
attributed to worn valve guides (maybe...) But now, I sometimes get smoke
when the van is warmed up, under load, and sometimes not.  Sometimes when I 
give it throttle while in neutral, and sometimes not. A small amount of what 
appears to be oil sometimes forms at the junction of the left cylinder bank 
heater box/muffler, and sometimes not.  And the spark plugs on the left bank 
look just fine, thank you.

Oil consumption does not appear to be increasing. I run 30W from Later April 
thru October, usually. Acceleration (if you could call it that) appears 
unaffected.

So what may be happening? Valvegear problems?  Scraper ring not doing it's job?
(I hope I'm not looking at something major...........never done a major
tear-down before....would need HELP!!!) Adjusting the valve fix it (yea, right)

The van is a keeper, and has served as our family vacation vehicle the past
three years.  It is rarely used in everyday service, and mostly accumulates
highway miles......

Please don't let it be anything too spendy (My SAAB just blew its head gasket!)

Lon Herman
Granville, Ohio  (herman.40@osu.edu)