Date:         Thu, 12 Mar 1998 17:04:50 -0700
Reply-To:     Paul Borghese <paulb@MAILEXCITE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Paul Borghese <paulb@MAILEXCITE.COM>
Organization: MailExcite  (http://www.mailexcite.com)
Subject:      Re: Noisy Lifter - to replace or not?
Comments: To: Vanagon@Vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I recently bought an 85 Vanagon that had a persistant noisy lifter problem.  People
could hear me driving down the street blocks away.  In fact the previous owner spent
hundreds of dollars trying to fix the problem...with no success.

The strange thing was it seemed to dissapear and reappear on a random basis.  I tried
Marvels Magic Mystery Oil with no success.  Then tried Valve Medic (which claims
to stop the noise in five minutes).  This made things worse!  Now the noise was louder
then ever, and never went away!  So I resolved to replacing the lifters.  Turns out
the VW dealership wants $78.00 a lifter, outch!!!!

In a measure of desperation, I tried Gunk Engine Flush ($1.99 at Track Auto).  Just
put the flush in the engine...leave idling for five minutes...and change the oil.


After the oil change I took the van for a drive.  Drove a few minutes on the highway...the
lifters stopped clicking!  It has been two weeks now, and the engine runs smooth
and quiet!

Best $1.99 I ever spent!

I would try this as a last resort.  One thing I did not like about Gunk Engine Flush
is it smells like kerosene and has a bunch of warnings about the engine being cold
before usage, don't store open contents, etc.  My guess is the Oil flush is highly
flammable. The entire five minutes I was using the product, I sat there expecting
my van to go up in flames.

But hey, it worked :-)


Paul Borghese



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