new member,new(to me),81 vanogon...and the story...

Camovan

hello all..
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. my work vehicle a 97 Ford f-150 4x4 is dying..225,000 miles and it will need a new trans, head gaskets..and a number of other problems. just the trans will set me back $2000+. Just like every one else the economy has taken it's toll on my finances SO I decided that what I needed was a vehicle that will be cheep to purchase, good on gas and simple enough for me to work on.
Instead I bought a 1981 Vanogon.

I found it on CL. and when I went to look at it, it wasn't running..so I got a battery and tried cranking it then spent 45min going through the basics when I finally discovered that the fuel pump relay was bad..or so I thought ( not sure now) so I bypassed the fuel pump portion of the combo relay and low and behold it fired up..with no smoke of any color but it ran rough and wouldn't idle when cold..but no smoke was good enough for me and I paid them the $700 they where asking for and limped it home.
I spent the next weekend chasing vacuum leaks, poured a can of Seafoam fuel system cleaner inspecting the wiring and generally attempting to get it to run good enough to pass emissions..which it did, miraculously as you will see.
I drove it around a little and could shake the feeling that I was not getting all of little power I should be, plus it would run very badly indeed when it was hot, so I finally did something I should have done from the start and did a compression check.
#1-0
#2-115
#3-98
#4-125
hhhhhhmmm..after some research I decided to pull the heads..how hard could it be?
if your laughing now it's because you already know that just about everything on a type 4 has to come off before you can extract the heads..oh well I get to deep clean and inspect the motor closely....8 hours later I finally had the heads off and in the process I discover this motor has been rebuilt sometime in the recent past. and that the only oil leak it has is the push rod tube on #1.

strangely the heads look good..no burned valves,no obvious signs of a proplem..but I am no machinist.so I took them to a one man shop not far from me Called VW Performance..I'll let you know how it goes with him but I feel good about this place so far.

My first question is this...should I replace the gasket between the "jug" and case?..or is this asking for trouble by removing the jugs?

Have to go now, but will post more later.
thanks and hello

Bubusse · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject:

Your post gave me a good laugh... I started reading and I saw your were looking for something cheap and all, so I initially thought your had gone crazy and you were actually thinking owning a Vanagon was cheap (btw, it's how it's spelt, look at the back of your van Wink

)
Then I saw your "Instead, I bought a 1981 Vanagon" !!!
Good luck with it, I'll let others who know better than me answer your mechanical questions... I'm surprised that you're saying you had so much trouble removing the heads, though, I thought it was easier than on most cars ?
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89 manual Vanagon GL Wesfalia

DAIZEE · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject:

Change the fuel lines. Gave me a good chuckle toooooooo!
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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

Camovan · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:18 pm Post subject:

Camovan · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject:

bosruten · Samba Member Joined: February 11, 2011 Posts: 550

Bubusse · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:37 pm Post subject:

Eh, the guy's from Arizona, let's not make this into a canadian discussion !
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89 manual Vanagon GL Wesfalia

Bubusse · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:40 pm Post subject:

Back on topic, welcome to the crowd, sir, you seem to know enough about engines to find your way around this particular one, with help from the manuals, and sometimes from the samba, you'll soon have a beautiful and reliable vehicle !
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89 manual Vanagon GL Wesfalia

DAIZEE · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:42 pm Post subject:

He's lived in France, England and now Quebec. Well rounded fellow, he's probably tri lingual or something Laughing

That's it now I'm confused. Who the heck are we talking to AZ or PQ. Doesn't matter as we all have the same bug >>Vanagonitis Cool

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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

Bubusse · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 7:45 pm Post subject:

@DAIZEE : now you know why I like the Haynes... bonnet, boot... those words just sound right to me...
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89 manual Vanagon GL Wesfalia

Camovan · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:29 am Post subject:

I'm a little bit south of Canada...

I'm no fan of Haynes..for instant's our, other vehicle is 1990 Cabriolet and I know for a fact that Haynes has got the wiring diagram wrong..and not just a little wrong..compleatly..it doesn't even show the Dignifant ecu..

DAIZEE · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:45 am Post subject:

I hear that the new Vanagon Bentley is much improved over the old.

Just so you know, us Crazy Canucks don't usually meet on one thread Laughing

You are safe Wink

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'09 2.5L Jetta 5 cylinder, 5 spd, super turbo, see thread in H2O Cooled Jetta, etc...
83.5 Vanagon L Riviera Model with 98 1.9L TD AAZ 4 speed Daily Driver 3 out of 4 seasons (sold)
84 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Westy WBX 4 speed (sold)

Bubusse · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 5:51 am Post subject:

I think it's good to have both the Haynes and the Bentley, sometimes the Bentley explanations miss a couple of steps, too. I also have a bunch of protraining manuals that you can download from here : http://www.westfaliat3.info/html/westfalia_t3_downloads.html though I'm not sure they have anything for your particular year.
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89 manual Vanagon GL Wesfalia

funagon · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 6:05 am Post subject:

Zero compression on number one makes me think a valve is not opening. A problem in the valve train somewhere? It's possible that the pushrod was not seated in the lifter for one of the valves on cylinder #1. Hard to test my theory now that the heads are off, but keep it in mind when you re-assemble: you have to keep those pushrods in the center of the lifter when you tighten down the rocker arms. Then after it's all back together shine a flashlight down the push rod tubes to verify that they are seated. Also, turn the crank to make sure that the valves are operating correctly.
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1990 GL 7-passenger
2.2 liter WBX

Camovan · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 6:29 am Post subject:


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