Date:         Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:37:42 -0500
Reply-To:     Jbmorris@RA.ROCKWELL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "James B. Morris" <Jbmorris@RA.ROCKWELL.COM>
Subject:      Bummed and need advise about my 87 Vanagon
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Well boys and girls..........I replaced a pushrod tube on my Vanagon
Saturday (THANKS!! Ron Salmon and the Bus Depot for the expedient service!!
) and it was succesful.  However after adjusting the tappets and starting
the engine I heard some terrrible racket an turned off the engine
immediatly.  Re-checked all of the lifters and tried it again......NO more
noise but the engine will not stay running.  So I start dignosing the
problem looking primarily at the ignition.

To make a long story short I finally checked my compression:

#1   120 Psi
#2   120 Psi
#3   125 Psi
#4   0 (OH NO!!!)

Well... what to do ?  I am going to make sure the valves in #4 are not
stuck and verify the adjustment on them but I actually think that I am
trying to avoid the obvious.  The van has 150K miles on it and was running
very good and strong and I am really bummed that all of the sudden I have a
rebuild staring me in the face.

Questions:

Can I remove the head from  3 & 4 without pulling the engine ?

What can I expect (in $$$'s) for a top end re-build ?

Do I need to consider the lower end due to the mileage involved ?

Thanks
james b morris - Bummed in Dallas, TX
69 Bug
73 Bus
87 Vanagon (broke)