Date:         Sun, 10 Jan 1999 12:09:31 -0600
Reply-To:     cdo9@CSI.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Cliff Ober <cdo9@CSI.COM>
Subject:      Re: Longevity tips (longish)
Comments: To: Stuart MacMillan <stuart@COBALTGROUP.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

My '84 GL made it to 185k (miles) on the original heads and gaskets, but
I'm (very slowly) doing a full rebuild now. I think Ken's comments on
cycles are valid - my usage is normally 25 mile minimum daily jogs mixed
with long trips in the hundreds of miles. I rarely drive it 2-3 miles
and shut down.

I have a lot of scepticism about the strident admonitions from some here
to constantly change the coolant. That's one area where I have
admittedly been very lax in my maintainance procedures, but it doesn't
seem to have hurt anything. I don't think the coolant was changed more
than once during the 14 years I've owned the vehicle. When I removed the
heads I found some pitting, but much less than some others I've seen. I
replaced the original water pump somewhere around 100k, and am now
putting in another new one.

I've used Mobil 1 oil since break-in, and I really believe it has
helped - I've had zero problem with oil consumption, and moving parts
I've measured have all easily met wear specifications listed in the
manual. I do change the filter regularly, but the oil usually stays in
for 25k miles (gets topped off at filter change of course).

I sometimes wonder if climate has anything to do with longevity. Here in
Houston a vehicle's engine sees high ambient temperatures, so the range
of temperature cycling is far less than what would be seen in the north,
where the engine will have to cycle regularly from well below freezing
to it's operating point. Here even freezing weather is uncommon.

Cliff

>
>Anyone else have some tips?  Any others with more than 100K on their
>heads?
>