= ; Here is an item for everyones interest.  My '87 Westy has been r= unning
crappy for the last few days and seemed to be getting worse.  Backf= iring
through the exhaust had me thinking burnt valve.  Yesterday I took = the time
to start digging and find out what was going on.  Looked first at t= he
distributor cap to find it full of dirt and the carbon seized up in its = hole.
 Cleaned the cap, rotor and inners, then stretched the carbon sprin= g and put
the cap back in place and started up the engine.  Seemed better but= still
popping through the exhaust.  
      Removed spark plugs to have a look = see and found plugs at # 2 and # 3
cylinders had cracked and missing porcelain.  What's that all about= ?  The
colour of the plugs were good and these plugs Bosch WR7DTC's were put in=
22,400 km ago !  STRANGE !  Anyways, I took a compression read= ing while I had
the plugs out and found #1 - 125 lbs, #2 - 140 lbs, #3 - 120 lbs, #4 - 1= 35
lbs.  Not perfect but acceptable for an engine with 350,000 km on t= he clock
and original engine.  Put new Bosch WR7DTC's in and stated up the e= ngine and
VOILA !  Running great again !
           Found= my oxy sensor not working in the process so unpluged it and
the engine seems to run fine with it unplugged. But, stumbles at idle wi= th it
plugged in.  Will order up a new one.  The one that's in there= now is the
generic one from The Bus Depot put in 47,003 km ago.

Cheers 

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
BusFusion a = VW Camper event in Almonte, June 7-10
'87 Westy & Lionel Trains
Member: Vanagon List, LiMBO, IWCCC & Capital City VW Club
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
STEBRO/Vanagon Stain= less Steel Mufflers  
Frank Condelli &a= mp; Associates or http://frankcondelli.com