Date:         Tue, 5 Nov 1996 00:06:47 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ewalt@transbay.net (E. W. Dahlstrom)
Subject:      more problems with 82 westyn/noise, bearings, wiring.


        Hi to all you vanaganers and thanks to you who responded to my
question re piston wear and compression.
        As it turned out, my low (15 psi) compression was due to a dropped
intake valve seat.  Newish head rebuilt by GEX.  Ron says that their rep is
not so good.  Got another head and put it back together this weekend and
after initial run in, found 150 psi.  Higher than the rest by 10+.
        Now the real problem.  My van still runs no better than before.  I
pulled the plug wire off that cylinder and the engine idled the same as
before.  It has good spark and when I pulled the injecter out, I seemed to
get a good spray, but I am not too sure about that yet as I had to fiddle
with the postition to see/get the spray.  My assumption then is that this
cylinder ran lean and hot thus cuasing the head to twist a bit and let the
seat fall out.  Next weekend I will change the harness with a spare.  Are
there any suggestions as to what may be causing this besides a break in the
injector's wiring, or some alternate tests I could do first?
        Final question.  While playing doctor with a large pry bar, I
noticed a "bad" noise coming from the back of the engine.  Seems to be
between the crank and the clutch.  Makes a heavy rattling when reving the
engine and as well as holding at revs.  Sounds like a big end bearing.
Could this be a cuase for funky clutch action?  Often from start up I get a
jutter, kind of like a quick grab which can kill the engine at low rpm,
shake the engine off its mounts at the right rpm and engage smoothly at
high rpm.  I though that there would be oil on the disk so I changed it
out, but of course there was no change.  The other thought was that the
flywheel was warpped.  I thought of that after installing the clutch.
        I am at my whits end now. I need to drive my beloved westing again
before I go crazy.  If anyone has some suggestions, please email me
directly at EWALT@transby.net.
        Thanks, Walt.