Date:         Wed, 8 Apr 1998 13:56:19 EDT
Reply-To:     Jwilli941 <Jwilli941@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Jwilli941 <Jwilli941@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: oil pump/motor fix
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

<<
 In a message dated 98-04-08 12:38:13 EDT, you write:

  >Hello,
  >
  >I hope that that will do the trick but I doubt it.  What happens on the
  >Vanagons is that coolant seeps into the block (now where have we heard of
  >coolant leaks on Vanagons? ;) ) and will attack the babbit material on the
  >rod/main bearings.  This excessive gap will drop your oil pressure faster
than my
  >old girlfriend did to me!  A high volume oil pump will only increase the
amount
 >of oil  flowing through the system- it will not increase the pressure.

  **Don't you see coolant in the oil long before there would be bearing
     damage??**

 Nope!  No noise from the rod or main bearings either!  When we finally pulled
 the  motor apart the bearings were *paper* thin.  The Van ran fine but after
 getting warmed up the red LED would come on.  We tried the oil pump trick, we
 tried  changing the oil, we tried different sending units, but none of those
attempts
 fixed  an excessive gap in the bearing clearance.   If you've got 4 psi warm
at an
 idle  then there is something wrong with the motor.  I have never seen low
oil
 pressure  caused by a worn oil pump.  What would wear the steel gears and
cover
 down?  Some particulate in the oil?  Then that same oil is flowing through
the
 galleys and  will wear the soft babbit material of a bearing that much
quicker!
 Even if  the side  clearance between the pump gears and the pump housing has
 worn and you are getting a pressure drop there the bearing material is still
much,
 much softer and would wear much quicker.  I truly hope that slapping a oil
pump
 on fixes the pressure  problem but I wouldn't count on it.

 Todd Hill
 VolksWerks Transaxles
 Olympia, WA