Dear Volks, The story so far: I start my engine this morning and I hear for the first time the unmistakable, loud "tap, tap, tap" of a valve, rocker or lifter. Drats! I've been having overheating problems recently and I immediately thought I had overheated my baby, causing all sorts of damage to her innards. Checked the oil -- drats! 1/4 quart low. Now I am REALLY thinking of the worst scenario -- rebuilt heads, or worse. On a lark I added another 1/2 quart -- noise still there: tap, tap, tap. On another lark, I added a can of Gunk "Valve Medic" and voilá -- after five minutes the noise is gone. So far so good! I checked the compression and recorded reasonably good readings (for a 90k engine) between 130 and 145 in all cylinders. Spark plugs look good too. So, now I'm reasonably optimistic -- or am I fooling myself? Thus, dear listees, what do I do next? Did I cause this by running 1/4 quart low of oil in combination with coolant overheating? or is this just a random coincidnece? Should I leave the Gunk in for a while? (Note: the can doesn't say to change the oil afterwards) or should I change the oil ASAP? (I just changed it 45 days ago). Or worse, do I really have to take her in and have 'em look it over? Waiting on pins and needles, I remain Sincerely Michael J. Sullivan |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.