Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:57:48 -0400
Reply-To: Joel Shortlidge <shortlid@PURDUE.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joel Shortlidge <shortlid@PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: Blown engine with 20,000 In OHIO
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> Well she never made it! I left Purdue at 10:00 pm after replacing
> the thermostat and getting a alignment. She was running great at first,
> fully loaded with my college stuff and cruising the plains at 65-70 mph.
> Then it happened after only 30 miles in northern Indiana! "The
> BUCKING". First time it was real bad, had to slow to 40 and shift to
> 3rd! Then it got going again but still bucking. Babied it to the next
> exit where it quit on the off ramp. Started it right after it quit and
> it would shutter and stall at idle! Then tried it after 15 min and it
> ran great drove around parking lot, asked mechanic and he said maybe it
> was the super concentrated fuel injection cleaner and 98 octane I put in
> it to stop the low end problem!!!!! So I pushed on to Ohio where it
> started again intermittently. Then it only on deceleration for a long
> time! So I filled up the tank and it stopped doing it for a while then
> it happened again this time with 3/4 tank! It got so bad it would not
> STOP bucking. We made the decision it could go no further this way so I
> disconnected the fuel line from the pump and checked it, it pumped a
> steady stream about a foot! Checked plugs and rotor and they were fine!
> Rebuilt motor only has 20,000 on it!
> So she was towed from the toll plaza in Sandusky to Import motors a
> VW dealer in Sandusky! I had to leave her and keep trucking with my
> friend! So, what should I ask the dealer to check for? Sound like fuel
> filter, well I could not get to it because it is a '87 SYNCRO and it is
> hidden on the back side of the %*#% gas tank! The dealer says after 2 1/2
> hours of dignostic work the rebuilt motor with 20,000 miles on it has 70 psi
> of compresion in two cylinders and 180 in the other two!!!!!! Anybody heard
> of this dealer? know there reputation? I would like to go into this as
> knowledgeable as posible. I talked to my VW mechanic here in NY and he
> dosn't belive the dealer! He said compresion DOSN'T COME AND GO! Also he
> said it would not even idle with two cylinders gone! Is it
> possible it is valves, AFM? I am planing to tow it home so what should I
> do? Dolly front, back? Car carrier? The shaft is taken out so I can tow
> it on the ground. But what is better for it.
> Please anyone help a fellow Vanagon owner get his baby home to a now
> sad 16 year old male longing for his first of many Vanagons.
>
> Joel Shortlidge
> '87 Syncro Weekender
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