Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 09:33:57 -0800
Reply-To: David Most <most@UCLA.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Most <most@UCLA.EDU>
Subject: need help, oil in coolant (bit long)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Before you all tell me I've got a serious problem on my hands, let me share
the good news. This problem is not with my gool ol' '87 non-GL camper for
which a few of you last week said that I need a new throw out bearing.
Rather, I just purchased an '87 GL camper on Saturday morning in Portland,
OR and drove it to Los Angeles (1000 miles) arriving here last night. With
some strange case of vanagonitis, I saw an ad on the internet Friday
afternoon, flew up Saturday morning with a one way ticket, and was on my
south by 1pm (after "fixing" a driver's side power window that had been
stuck in the down position since last summer). I'll present the details,
but the bottom line is that I see 1/4" to 1/3" layer of oil on top of the
coolant in the refill tank behind the license plate.
Before you feel sorry for me, I got a good enough deal on the new vanagon
such that even if I had to replace the engine, it would be worth it. The
body isn't pefect, but there's no rust and the blue plastic is still on the
drain surface over the stove. The appliances were NEVER used.
Anyway, here are the important details for the current problem. There are
160,000 miles on the original engine. The PO told me that it has been
"sitting" for the last 2 years (I don't if this means that she didn't use it
much or at all, and I suspect that something close to the latter could be
true). She did say that she had the head gasket job done at about 140K, and
as I look, there are no external coolant leaks at the head gasket (or
anywhere else for that matter). The valve covers are HEAVILY coated with
black oil deposits, and the right side leaves a spot of oil on the ground
3"-4" wide after being parked for a while. Before I drove away from
Portland, she told me that she had just added some oil, and the dipstick
read above full. It didn't look too bad though. I did NOT see any oil in
the coolant when I left. In addition, the coolant level in the expansion
tank was lower than I'm used to, but it was in the normal zone (on my other
'87, it usually stays full). The coolant level in the refill tank was normal.
During the drive down, the engine performed flawlessly. It ran like a top
for all 1000 miles and purred better than my other '87. I was driving for
long stretches at about 65 mph. However, here's when I first noticed the
problem. At about 750 miles, I saw the coolant light flashing. I pulled
over, saw no leaks, noticed that the coolant level was just low enough in
the expansion tank to cause the coolant level warning light to flash AND a
small layer of oil on top of the coolant in the refill tank.
I decided to add water to the coolant expansion tank, and I filled it to
just above the upper hose. The refill tank was at the max level, so I
didn't add any to that tank. I then drove the next 250 miles without any
more flashing lights or any other problems (but I did drive a bit more
slowly keeping it between 55 and 60). The temp. gauge stayed in the middle
as before, and when I checked the coolant levels this morning, the expansion
tank was at the same level as when filled 250 miles earlier, and refill tank
was full with the layer of oil as described at the beginning of this e-mail.
The oil does not appear to have changed color at all, but I'm not sure if
that's relevant.
So, my question is what's going on here? I know that this can't be
diagnosed for sure without seeing it, but the list wisdom always seems to
figure things out nonetheless. Is it possible that some seals dried up from
lack of use? Is this something that has a chance of being repaired with
anything significantly short of an engine rebuild/new engine? It ran SO
perfectly down here, that it's hard to believe anything's wrong, but I know
better. Had it not been for the warning light, I wouldn't have noticed the
oil until the next time I checked the coolant.
I have a funny feeling that the answer to my question may be shorter than my
description. In any case, thanks for listening and for any advice. I could
sure use some.
David
temporarily with 2 vanagons and no parking spaces
'87 non-GL camper 140k
'87 GL camper 160k
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