not sure what to make of this.

[outcaststudios]

i am not a professional mechanic. i dont sell my services and put other peoples lives behind my wrenches ,just my own. i have been working on cars for over 20 years and i have certainly had my share of dumb mistakes and most likely will continue to as well. for the first time in about 20 years i decided to take my vanagon to an 'expert' to have them merely go over it and confirm what i already suspected,that the truck is in fantastic shape and needs very little , the ONE thing i noticed that i didnt like was the belt flapping around and the fact that it was also visibly cracked,and shiny smooth. my wife told me that i should take a break for once and let someone else turn the wrenches for me as i am always doing things myself. i have five other vehicles that i tend to so it seemed pragmatic to enlist a bit of help on this particular vehicle for the sake of time. i did some digging around and found the name of a guy near me who specializes in vanagons. i read a couple nice comments about him on this site. i called him and he seemed cool. i dropped the t3 off to him and said the following:' i dont think this needs much,im pretty sure that someone swapped the motor in this vanagon,it runs like a watch,im worried about the belt and the fact that i can turn the water pump pulley by hand with no problem since there is so little tension on the belt. please fix the belt and let me know what ever else you find, i think the front brakes are going to need to be done' . he had a bunch of vws at his shop so i felt ok. the vanagon is a 1.9 turbodiesel most likely from a golf, very strong motor. the mechanic immediately tells me that its a 'stock factory motor' this is where i get confused...this guy is an expert.i figure i must be wrong and continue on my way home. a few days later the guy calls me and tells me that the front brakes are bad, ok no problem i tell him, replace the rotors,the pads and the brake lines and i also specified to use german parts only. he says fine. i get another call that its done and to come get it. while he is on the phone he tells me that the timing might be off but that he doesnt have the right tool to test the timing. ( i assume he meant a port gauge to plug in to the injector pump) but since i dont really work on diesels i trust his judgment however i tell hm not to touch the engine,and then i ask him again about the belt for the water pump/alt. he says he will get to it. i go to pick it up a few days later and he says a couple things that have prompted me to post this long ass story. 1) he tells me that the transmission is actually a five speed (its a four speed unless you are counting reverse?!) 2) he tells me that he didnt replace the belt that he merely tightened it. and 3) he didnt replace the brake lines.

now like i said i assume that the guy knows way more than i do about stuff so i leave, i get about three miles from his shop and the battery light which was never an issue begins to glow,i call him right away and his assistant says he is gone, i hang up and almost immediately notice that every single f****** light and gauge on my instrument panel goes crazy. im almost back to my shop so i figure the guy probably just bumped something up front while he was working hell i even made a joke that the thing ran so good that murphys law would have it that as soon as we look at it itll start acting up! so i limp home about a mile and a half at which point my expansion tank is pissing coolant all over the inside of the engine bay and the battery is dying,the belt broke. the one i told him to replace. three times. so i finally get the guy on teh phone ,who is totally nice , he tells me to have it towed back to his shop. i refuse. he then offers to come to my shop and fix it. so he shows up and we fix the belt. now liek i said waht do you make of this guy? on one hand he stood by his work and made it righ ton the other hand he didnt do a god damn thing i asked him to but the brakes which he charged me about 500 bux for. im left wondering what to make of this what do you think? sorry for rant.
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[insyncro]

DIY or find a better mechanic.

[outcaststudios]

amen
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[seventyfo]

It sounds like everything went off the rails after "my wife told me".
_________________
85 Vanagon GL Westy GW 2.2 (Rebuilt by YT)


"I don't know you well enough to care about your comments". Watkins Cravey

[VWinVT]

Unfortunately I had a similar experience with 'the local VW guy'. It's too bad that many mechanics work hard to do good work....they light a few slow burning fuses and will be super nice and more than willing to 'help you out'. It's unkind and bad karma... Seems u do good work yourself and you can trust yourself, so continue to do it yourself.
_________________
1981 Westfalia with a 2001 Cabrio ABA

Small wheel turns by the firing rod,
Big wheel turns by the grace of God.
Every time that wheel turns 'round,
You're bound to cover just a little more ground.

[scobax]

Yeah, it sounds like you just needed a little reaffirmation about the quality of your own work. It's shocking what passes for "professional" these days in many fields of endeavor, not just auto mechanics.

P.S. get your hands on the timing tools for your engine, they are relatively cheap and readily available. There is a decent youtube video out there that shows the procedure fairly clearly. It's actually rather easy and you'll be one more step ahead of the "experts". The diesels are really not terribly hard to work on. The right tools are the key but they are way cheaper than shop rate.
_________________
87 Syncro Westy w/ Suby 2.5
RIP: 2.1 WBX. You were a good dog 'ol feller

“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong, that's when adventure starts” -Yvon Chouinard

"It's not expensive, its priceless" -Unknown

[?Waldo?]

I'm particularly concerned about the fact that he said the timing might not be right. Did he mess with the timing? Someone who doesn't know the difference between a 1.6 non-turbo diesel vanagon and an AAZ should not ever touch the timing. Scary the thought of someone who doesn't know what they're doing working on the timing of an extreme interference engine.

[Gnarlodious]

Every time I have taken my van (and before that, diesel Rabbit) to some local mechanic it has come back worse than it was before. This is why I advise prospective owners; “Don’t buy unless you are willing to be a mechanic”.
_________________
Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[61Scout]

Definitely find someone new. Sorry, but this guy needs to take a little more pride in his work. He certainly shouldn't be selling himself as any sort of "expert", imo. Other people give you that title, it's something earned.


-Kevin
_________________
1986 Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg, RJE 2.3
1985 Tin Top, Subie 2.2 + 5MT
Floppy Mirrors no more: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=653018&highlight=
Remove the front spindle nut with ease: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679567&highlight=
Remove the rear wheel bearing housing without messing with the big 46mm nut: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679507&highlight=

-Nec Spe, Nec Metu

[Gauche1968]

He came to your place to make it right? Not many mechanics will do that. He seems like he has a cooperative enough demeanor, if not the requisite technical knowledge......
_________________
1984 Vanagon GL
1984 Vanagon Westy

[kalispell365]

This reminds me of what a fellow shop owner once told me...

"There are three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth!"
_________________
1983 Diesel Vanagon Westfalia chassis with Subaru 2.2l

[syncrodoka]

Don't continue driving with idiot lights on. That will save you money in the long run.
I know that you know better, just saying.

[outcaststudios]

thank you for the replies. i thought it was stand up of him to come out and fix it, but then again if he had done what i asked him to do and replaced the belt then it would not have been an issue. i think the mechanic is competent enough for little things like brakes or whatever but in the future im sticking to my own maintenance program. when he didnt know the difference between the aaz and the 1.6 i decided then and there that he was full of sh--. i would have just told my customer, 'im not sure what type of motor this is' and then the expectation wouldnt have been there. thanks again for everyone sharing their thoughts.
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[outcaststudios]

oh and on a side note the turbo kicks in really late, like around 2800-3000 rpm's that is the only thing that is slightly off with this motor. i t makes taking off from a stand still a very delicate procedure. i found tha tletting the clutch out very slowly is helpful to allow time for the acceleration to catch up, once that turbo kicks in this thing really moves it keeps up at 100kph at 3000 rpm so i know it has enough power. thanks again for any other insight!
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[?Waldo?]

If you post up a pic of the turbo I can probably tell you if that is an issue.

[MsTaboo]

So I assume you're talking about the '88 Doka from your sig line?
That would have come from the factory as a 1.6TD JX. If it was converted to a 1.9TD AAZ then the mechanic can be forgiven for thinking it was stock. The two engines look very similar, especially if whoever did the conversion used a bunch of 1.6 TD parts for the switch. (common)

If on the other hand he thought it was a CS then he really shouldn't be working on it!

As Andrew said, the timing on these is very critical. Save yourself a bunch of stress and buy a dial indicator and the adaptor for the injection pump (available for about $100) and check the timing yourself. It's not hard, just need to take your time. Lots of info how on vwdiesel.net or follow Vince Walldon's instructions on vincewalldon.com (VW How-tos)

You'll also need to verify which pump has been installed along with other bits for the conversion. Maybe post some good pictures of your engine from a couple different angles for us to see.
_________________
Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec

The information age has morphed into the age of disinformation and willful ignorance. Agnotology!
Help the fight against Truth Decay.
Defend democracy, support Ukraine.

[Howesight]

I do 95% of my own mechanical work on my vehicles. The 5% is when the job is true grunt work that is rather hard to screw up and I have neither the time nor inclination to do the work - - like clutch replacement or pressing in bushings, bearings, replacing struts, etc.

Having said that, one rule I set for myself to avoid problems like the OP had is that I always write out my instructions to the technician, including things I don't want him to do and I include my contact info on the memo so I get the call the moment the work is done, not the next day.

This actually works really well and I have yet to be disappointed. The catch is that you need to have enough mechanical/technical knowledge to tell the tech what to do . . .
_________________
'86 Syncro Westy SVX

[outcaststudios]

best shot i can get at the moment.
_________________
'88Doka JX td
'69 westy
(rip)couple bugs
(rip)three type III"s
(rip) '81 vanagon
a bunch of french stuff,and 9 motorcycles.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2573791

[Zeitgeist 13]

Cam timing is extra critical and needs a few specialty tools and know-how, but pump timing can be adjusted by ear if in a pinch without the dial indicator.

[?Waldo?]

That turbo looks like a K14 from a stock 1.6TD vanagon. In that case, spooling at 2,800 is a bit late, but not terribly. Usually it is more like 2,000-2,500 with the K14 but that depends a bit on altitude and fueling. Your wastegate valve might be somewhat crusty also. It's a pain, but you can pull the turbo and remove the wastegate and then use valve grinding paste to hand lap the wastegate valve seat so that it seals well. I've done several K14s and K24s that way and it can make a big difference.