Date:         Thu, 11 Apr 1996 00:03:58 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dworkin@ari.net (H Steven Dolan)
Subject:      Re: Oil *Smell*?, paint restoration/preservation 

At 10:06 AM 4/11/96 -0500, bill (w.r.) crick wrote:
>I'm wondering about the smell thing. My van often has a hot oil smell in
the cab 
>when I have the heat on. Is this normal? 

Yes.  Leaky pushrod tube seals are perfectly normal in the 2L engine. ;-)

What is happening is that the outboard end of one or more of your pushrod
tubes is leaking, which drips oil onto the heat exchanger.  Once it gets
into the heat exchanger, it gets on hot fins of the exhaust pipe and bakes
right off into the air you are about to breath.  I always regarded it as a
pleasant enhancement to my cigarette smoke (of course, your opinion may be
different). 

Seal replacement is cheap, easy and *temporary* (see Bentley).  Use only
Viton seals and clean the seats thoroughly, as a ridge of guck often forms
at the inboard end giving you a false "seat", which will start to leak again
almost immediately.

                      Steve Dolan
                      Alexandria, VA