Date:         Mon, 24 Feb 1997 20:36:18 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Cwright042@aol.com
Subject:      HELP!!! 87 Syncro loss of compression (puttputtputt....)

Fellow list members HELP!,

            I did not think that I would be writing back so soon about a
problem with my new (98,700) seemingly all right syncro.  However something
has gone vary wrong (last letter was for a oil/coolant leak).   I was driving
today on a short 210 mile trip (form Conn to Martha's Vineyard Mass) and
after about 170 miles I lost acceleration (of course I was going up a hill on
the four lane Bourne bridge with no place to pull over), and the car seemed
to be struggling to stay on.  I pulled over and checked the engine out.  The
coolant level was fine and so was the oil level.  I started it up again and
it was fine.  [this was probably not the brightest move, but I had just
brought it in to the VW shop 3 days ago for a coolant leak (needed a new hose
to the water pump) and they found nothing else wrong with it and told me it
was cool to drive it on this trip  ]  So I finished the drive (another 30
miles).  I turned off the engine waited an hour and checked the coolant and
oil levels (no leaks) which were full/fine.  Turned it on and after 5 min it
started to stall (puttputtputt...) at idle I went around to the engine and
noticed a light whitish exhaust from exhaust pipe.  I turned it off checked
around the engine again for any signs of what could be causing this and did
not see anything visible.  So I started it up  to see the exhaust again, and
it was fine so I drove it to my house (at one point starting from a stop sign
in first gear it lagged and putted the then jumped forward and was "fine")
and here it sits.  I know I have problems, but the thing is I am on an island
(Martha's Vineyard) and I need to know if it can be driven so that I can get
off the island and to the VW dealer in Hyanis  Mass ($$$$$$$$$?????????).
-Here again are the symptoms: Loss of acceleration/pressure, engine to wants
to stall then is OK and it drives "fine",  NO visible leaks under or inside
the engine compartment, Coolant and oil levels fine with no signs of either
in each other,  a whitish exhaust with (only once I noticed this) clear
liquid spitting out of the exhaust pipe (possibly water), starts up and
drives but every now and then it happens (pressure loss...) and then it
drives fine.
-Here are the ideas that I have:  Blown cylinder head gasket (but there is no
leaking
coolant and it drives OK for miles at a time),  spark plugs,  water in the
gas,  gas line frozen??....

Please any and all help.  I need to know if it can/should be driven so that I
know whether it needs to be towed off the island  (and more importantly if I
can drive 200 miles back to Conn so that I can show up for work on Wens).

Thank you,
Chris Wright
87 Syncro GL