Date:         Sun, 15 Mar 1998 15:01:02 EST
Reply-To:     KENWILFY <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         KENWILFY <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Head gasket trauma!
Comments: To: Dvdclarksn@aol.com, vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

<<Did the lawsuit cover 1982 Westfalia diesels?>>


I am pretty sure that the suit only included waterboxer Vgons and not diesel
ones.  This is because there is no design flaw with the diesel engine like
there was with the wasserboxer.  The problem that the diesel engine has (it is
not that it is tilted or that the oil pump isn't powerful enough to supply the
head like I have heard several people say) is that the motor just is not
powerful enough for the heavy weight of the van and the people and stuff it
carries and this shortens it's life.  I know that diesel VWs will carry heavy
loads down the road (I have filled the back of my '81 diesel Caddy with cement
bags a few times) but I think that the constant wieght of the van and then
hauling more wieght on top of that just kills the head on a normally long
lasting, trouble free engine (my parents Jetta diesel has 250k miles on it and
runs great).
So if you are going to sue VW over this (which I don't think there are enough
diesel Vanagons left out there to get a class action suit together anyway) sue
them for an error in judgement for putting a great engine in a bad application
(van).  I would just get me a nice Golf engine or GTI engine and drop it in
there and forget about it.
Ken Wilford
John 3:16