Date:         Tue, 21 May 1996 15:30:01 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@usa.pipeline.com>
Subject:      The transitional engine (was: question)

Dan said:
>How many miles could I expect on the average from a Vanagon with a 2.1 
>liter?

Do you mean before or after you replace the heads?

Seriously, I have a friend who got 155K out of his 1.9, heads
never off, when they started leaking and catastrophe struck
shortly thereafter. The '87 I recently parted had blown bigtime
at 118K, no idea how well it was maintained.

I think Dennis called the wasserboxers a "transitional engine",
meaning (pick one):

(1) VW was trying to figure out some way to extend the Vanagon design
life while leaving behind the aircooled engine, so they took the easy
way out until the EVs were ready for market.

(2) You can keep the car forever, but after awhile you will "transition" 
to a rebuilt engine.

(3) You can keep the car forever, but after awhile you will 
"transition" to some other engine (Subaru, 911, etc).

Frankly, when I bought my syncro westie, I never presumed I was buying 
an engine life of 200K miles, but I did presume I would put new heads on 
it, sooner or later.

It makes me wonder, what is the longest life listmembers can report
for a wasserboxer? What is typical?

Tom F.