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Sun Mar 09, 2003 10:35 pm

Okay, so I'm new to VWs and I've, of course, heard all about how slow they go, but how slow should mine be going? I have an 81 camper and the engine sounds great. It always starts right away and idles very well. It really has very little power though. It's slow to get up to speed and once I'm there (say 55 mph) I have nothing left to give. Forget passing and forget keeping that speed when I come to a small hill. When I press the accelerator at 55 I get nothing at all. On hills, I'm lucky to pull 40 in 3rd gear.

So, are you all just laughing at me right now? I'm trying to determine if I should calm down and get used to the new pace or if I should take her in for a compression check. I really don't mind going slow but sometimes it starts to eat at me when I have to follow someone for 30 miles at 45mph because I have no ability to pass.

I'd appreciate your feedback. Please...be nice to the new guy!

Thanks,

Hans

Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:53 pm

Life is better in the slow lane!

My Bus can get up to 70 or 75, but I never go past 60. I dont want to tax the engine that much.

Eric
77 Westy

Mon Mar 10, 2003 6:43 am

Something is wrong with your Vanagon Hans. Could be any number of things, but it certainly should have more power than you are describing. Unless you have a diesel. Start with a good high quality fuel injector cleaner assuming you still have fuel injection. Run that for about 100 miles to clean the injectors a little and see how much that helps. You will probably still need to take it to a reputable shop for a tune up. Ask them to check and set the timing, install new plugs, new points and condensor (if you still have points), air filter, fuel filter, and perform a compression check to see how the engine looks. Since your bus starts and runs well (except for the really low power) then it's probably a combination of many small things, but there is a chance the engine is just plain worn out or running on 3 cylinders. A good shop should help you out. Good luck.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 9:04 am

Thanks gokayaking. That is really helpful information. I'll try all of the small things myself and if I don't get a change I'll take it to a shop. I'm thinking that it could be running on 3 cylinders. It'd be nice if it was just a combo of smaller things though.

Does anyone have recommendations for a VW mechanice in the Central Oregon area? Preferably Bend?

Thanks again,

Hans

Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:43 am

If you suspect a dead cylinder you can usually tell for sure by inspecting the plugs. If one plug is fouled or especially if it is damaged or wet with fuel then chances are that cylinder has problems. Remember to always remove and replace spark plugs on a cold engine to avoid damaging the aluminum heads. Good luck.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 12:36 pm

Thanks again. I'll check them out. I added some fuel injector cleaner this morning with my $30 tank of regular unleaded (!!!). Man I hope the fuel prices don't get too much higher. I was forced to pay $2.12 per gallon one place in California while I was there the other day.

Hans

Mon Mar 10, 2003 3:38 pm

If you really get tired of the lack of power, putting in a 2.2 Subaru engine is a popular conversion for vanagons. You can look it up online if you type it into a search engine. People also put in Rabbit, Golf and Jetta engines, for more power and cheaper parts. Jeremy

Mon Mar 10, 2003 3:43 pm

Oh yeah, I fixed up a 77 with the type four FI, and it would reach almost 85 mph. Drove it to drop off for the buyer, 6 hour trip cruising at 70, and the dipstick was barely warm. Awesome! Jeremy

Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:23 pm

I have heard that the air-cooled Vanagons were slow like that. That does sound like something is wrong though. Because my 74 Westy, with an automatic tranny and a high-mileage 2.0L would do 65 easily, I did 80 once, but that was about it. If my heavy Westy with the auto tranny could do that your Vanagon should to.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 8:33 pm

Soemthing is wrong. Compression check, plug check, distributor check, spark plug wire check. My 71 goes 65-70 no problem, 75 sometimes if I push it.

Fri Mar 14, 2003 10:55 pm

Okay, most of the above has been accomplished. Here's what I'm looking at: everything is fine except a compression check shows 115,80 on one side and 115,100 on the other. I had a mechanic take a look at it and for quite a bit of money I walked away with a compression check. So, I bought my own tester to keep an eye on the compression levels, especially the 80. However, on the second valve check I found out, the hard way, that someone had stripped the spark plug port at one time and put in a helicoil insert. Fortunately, I had faced this before and was not too intimidated. Anyway, the point is now I'm not feeling to comfortable taking that plug in and out for compression check and am hesitant to keep messing with the others too.

Money is a concern here so I can't do a rebuild right now (though if needed I could probably pay for one in the next few months). I'm wondering where I should go next. I got a recommendation from a knowledgable friend today about another mechanic in town who has worked on several air cooled VWs for him in the past and has always been straight forward and reliable.

As I said before, the van runs good (just not up hills). There were several things wrong when I bought it but everything was an easy fix and the van is in surprisingly good condition for an 81. I'm betting that the engine has the same m.o. If not, then I'll have to accept that I have a very nice van with a poor engine.

What I'm hoping for here is some advice on what my next step should be. I'm no where close to a mechanic and my fix for the issue involved buying some oil additive to boost compression this afternoon. I'd appreciate any recommendations on what you think my next step should be considering money and that I'd prefer not to kill this engine completely.

Thanks,

Hans

Sat Mar 15, 2003 2:12 am

If it were me, Id drive it till it goes. In the meantime, save for a new or nicely rebuilt engine. Hopefully the engine will last untill you have enough. Just my $.02
Good luck
matt

Sat Mar 15, 2003 7:43 am

Sorry Hans, but it sounds like you just have a tire worn engine. You should have compression of 135-140 all around so even the good cylinders with 115 are pretty low. The one with 80 is way out of spec and indicates you definitely need work. Since all the cylinders are low then it at least indicates the engine is just worn rather than having some really serious problems like a burnt valve or ruined piston. Drive it, but take it easy for a few months until you can afford a proper rebuild. In the meantime you could check out the spring and summer VW swaps, or Ebay, or TheSamba and start picking up some parts necessary for the rebuild. Rebuilt heads for a Vanagon (1979-83) can run around $200 or more each, but I regularly see nice ones on Ebay and TheSamba for $100 each. Pistons and cylinders (1976-83 2.0 liter) are $250 up new, but I saw a brand new set sell on Ebay about a month ago for $160. Heater boxes probably offer you the most potential to save money. Really good used ones for your Vanagon (1979-83) can be had for less than $50 each, but new they are well over $200. Since your bus is still running you have time to ask around and search out some good deals before you rebuild the engine. I wouldn't bother a lot with additional compression checks since all 4 are pretty low. If one of them goes completely the odds are you would have a very difficult time just getting the bus to run. When you have 3 good cylinders and one completely dead cylinder you could do more damage by continuing to drive, but if your Vanagon loses one completly I'm not sure you will even have that option. There is no additive or quick solution that can help you. It sounds like you just need a good old fashioned rebuild or at least a top end rebuild including new pistons and cylinders (or new rings at the very least) and a Valve job. If you could stand for the van to be down for a couple of weeks you could probably remove the heads and have them rebuilt with new guides and install new piston rings. This would probably be the cheapest way to go since it would not require a lot of expensive parts, but your labor costs would be about the same as replacing the parts new. You may need new bearings also and this could get expensive enough to justify purchasing a complete rebuilt long block. It's not uncommon for type IV engines to go through a couple of top end rebuilds (heads, pistons, cylinders) before they need a bottom end rebuild(bearings, camshaft, crankshaft). Good luck.

Sat Mar 15, 2003 10:28 am

Hans,
It sounds like you've had some good advice so far. I have a '79 that for years has comfortably cruised at 75mph, but lately it has lost its power. Compression check revealed one cylinder had only 30 pounds of pressure --- not enough to fire. The cause was a dropped valve seat (characteristic of the late model Fuel Injected). I'll be putting in new heads this week. You might not have that problem, but definitely check the compression to make sure. It's really easy to do, so you might just buy a tester. Mine was $30 at Checker (or Shucks or Kragen depending on where you are). Good luck, Hans.
Cheers, Richard

Sat Mar 15, 2003 8:36 pm

Thanks everyone. I will have to pay someone to do the repairs (I debated about selling it and getting a van with an updated engine but my wife likes this one and wants to fix it). I would like to track down the parts myself to save money on a rebuild but I'm not sure about what I need to get. I've seen, for instance, 041 heads for 94mm for sale. Can I find out what I have without taking the engine apart first? Can any head that fits my engine work? I would like to start collecting items for the rebuild before I take the van in to be torn apart but all of the specs for different parts are all Greek to me.

Hey gokayaking. Thanks for all of the useful input. I appreciate you taking the time. I hope to learn to kayak better this summer. I can thrash around right now and do one heck of an ugly roll! I've talked to a local guy who is a very good paddler about trading halfpipe riding lessons (snowboarding) for some kayaking lessons. I'm hoping to do that this spring and be able to add kayak mounts to our rack for my wife and I. In the future, we'd like to take some family kayaking trips in the camper van.

Hans

Sat Mar 15, 2003 10:00 pm

Hans, an ugly roll is always better than a pretty swim. :) My Westfalias have take me from West Virginia to Utah and every classic river in between. With regards to learning about your Vanagon there is a ton of good info all over the internet, but you should start with a couple of books first. What seems simple to some will be Greek unless you have a basic understanding of how your Vanagon's basic systems work. Start with a later edition of an "Idiots Guide to Keeping Your Volkswagen Alive" by John Muir. Very basic book with an entertaining writing style and nice cartoon like diagrams. Easy and entertaining reading, but Muir was a Beetle guy so he didn't write a lot specific info on busses and I think he died before Vanagons were even introduced. None the less I would start with his book. Next you should get a copy of Tom Wilson's "How to Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air-Cooled Engine" and read it. Even if you don't plan to rebuild you own engine the Wilson book gives a lot of step by step info with tons of good photos, specs, and informative readable naratives for both type I and type IV engines. The Wilson book is very thorough, but it is also very easy to understand even for a novice. These are probably the only two books you will need for a while. Before the ink is even dry on this post somebody is going to come along and tell you to get a Bentley Manual (official VW repair manual) which is a good idea for the future, but the Bentley is a little expensive and way too technical to be interesting and it certainly isn't easy reading. The Bentley is the best manual for a specific technical question or procedure, but you certainly won't be sitting around the campfire and perusing it for interesting articles. Take a while to read most of these two books (I see them on Ebay all the time) and come back to TheSamba for specific questions. Good luck with you roll and your Vanagon.

Sat Mar 15, 2003 10:12 pm

By the way the 041 heads are for a type I engine not your type IV engine. Most of the time when you see an ad that does not specifically say the part is for a type IV engine then the part is probably for a type I. Type IVs are often called pancake or Porsche style engines also. Modifications to the type IV engine are much less common than type I so most of the parts you see for sale will be stock parts. Again if you are not certain and "type IV" isn't specified then it's probably a type I engine part.