TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Nov 27, 2003 2:32 am

a vanagon what year should i hook up with and what else can you tell me about it. 8)

Fri Nov 28, 2003 10:06 am

Early Vanagons (80 to 83.5) have an aircooled type IV motor. This means that if you have one of these, and the motor takes a crap, you will be looking at around $1500 to replace the motor. If you get a later model one (83.5 to 90), and the motor craps on you, you'll be looking at $4000. These later models (wasserboxer motors) tend to have leaking head problems quite regularly. And as I said, they are lots more expensive to fix.

There's some stuff to think about.

Fri Nov 28, 2003 11:02 am

http://www.vanagon.com/info/years/

That'll take you a while to wade through, but then you ought to have a good idea of what you want! Jeremy

Fri Nov 28, 2003 1:42 pm

The trade off on the Wasserboxer is being able to go into the Southwest in the Summertime and way better heat.

This time of year...this part of the country, I'd rather have good heat and take care of my motor than have a throwaway A/C and need to wear a parka.

Fri Nov 28, 2003 2:20 pm

my 80 westy with gas heater is toasty- and i can run the heater without running the engine.

Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:19 am

id say water cooled and the heads only leak if you dont use volkswagon coolant

Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:28 am

laughing_dog wrote: The trade off on the Wasserboxer is being able to go into the Southwest in the Summertime and way better heat.

This time of year...this part of the country, I'd rather have good heat and take care of my motor than have a throwaway A/C and need to wear a parka.

I drove my AC all through the SW this summer without any overheating problems.

Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:14 pm

jeremysmithatshawdotca wrote: http://www.vanagon.com/info/years/

That'll take you a while to wade through, but then you ought to have a good idea of what you want! Jeremy
What a cool link. Thanks

Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:44 pm

Having had all three varieties (2.0 A/C, 1.9 ,&2.1 WBX and a Tiico conversion) I would have to say that of the original motors I liked the 2.1 the best. I didnt have the problem with the leaky heads, or anything else motor related when the van met an untimely death at 188,000 miles. the original motor, with the original heads, and head gaskets. The first owner was a VW tech, and took excellent care of it, I bought it followed his maintenance plan for the next 3 years until a deer jumped through the windshield on the pasenger side, after which I skidded across the road and hit a tree on the drivers side nose of the van I walked away with only bruises from the seat belt and a little scrape on my knee.(sorry for rambling a bit there)

The later vans are also the best equipped (P/S, P/L...).

Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:40 am

foodeater wrote: Having had all three varieties (2.0 A/C, 1.9 ,&2.1 WBX and a Tiico conversion) I would have to say that of the original motors I liked the 2.1 the best. I didnt have the problem with the leaky heads, or anything else motor related when the van met an untimely death at 188,000 miles. the original motor, with the original heads, and head gaskets.
....
The later vans are also the best equipped (P/S, P/L...).
Yup. What he said.

I've had a Baywindow (72), an AC Vanagon (81), and now an 2.1 WBXR (89).

The 2.1 is the best of the lot.. But I am still fond of the looks of the Baywindow.

Do watch for the watercooleds with more than 140k on them. The engine is pretty well documented to be "running on borrowed time" after about 130-150k and a rebuild is $4k. Add that to the cost of "purchase".

I'd only consider a high mileage van depending on integrity of the paper trail to any suppposed work having been done.
I WOULD NOT TAKE AN OWNERS WORD ON "IT'S REBUILT"... not without a great deal of documentation.. maybe even talking directly with the shop that did the work.