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Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:46 pm

8/3/2007 46,349 miles First GoWesty engine: 2.5 purchased $9,608.32

9/7/2007 48,849 miles Second GoWesty engine: 2.5 warranty replaced

6/16/2010 77,546 miles Third GoWesty engine: 2.4 purchased at 35% discount $5,284.80

5/7/2012 Third engine totalled after 10k miles and < 2 years. Cause: Warped case and cracked crank, bearings shot. (Also, bad piston from overheat.)

Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:10 pm

Inkysocks, what do you have now?

Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:12 pm

GoWesty gave me an unrebuilt donor engine, and Karmakanix slapped new heads on it. Not much power, but holds together. Likely going to sell the vehicle.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:18 pm

It seems so odd to me that one customer has blown three engines in a short period of time. There is a second common denominator that needs investigation here too that no one has mentioned; either the van or the driver. These things just don't "happen" for no reason.

Three vans in 18 years and I've never had an engine problem. I know many others that haven't had problems with GW engines too. I'm just saying, everything needs to be looked at closely.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:37 pm

PDXWesty wrote: It seems so odd to me that one customer has blown three engines in a short period of time. There is a second common denominator that needs investigation here too that no one has mentioned; either the van or the driver. These things just don't "happen" for no reason.

Three vans in 18 years and I've never had an engine problem. I know many others that haven't had problems with GW engines too. I'm just saying, everything needs to be looked at closely.

I knew someone would put it either on me, or on the van. I probably would, too.

Call up or email GoWesty and ask about me, if you like. I'll email them permission to talk about my customer history, but I doubt for legal reasons they ever would. Just give me your name first.

Or maybe it's the vehicle; I could have a questionable cooling system, or an oil system. Both have been tested; they're fine.

I'm the first to admit my circumstances aren't common, but the question is how uncommon they really are.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:38 pm

PDXWesty wrote: It seems so odd to me that one customer has blown three engines in a short period of time. There is a second common denominator that needs investigation here too that no one has mentioned; either the van or the driver. These things just don't "happen" for no reason.

But even GoWesty has honored warranty of these blown engines so if they don't blame driver or van why would you? They did not happen for "no reason", GoWesty gave him the reason in each case.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:17 pm

madspaniard wrote: PDXWesty wrote: It seems so odd to me that one customer has blown three engines in a short period of time. There is a second common denominator that needs investigation here too that no one has mentioned; either the van or the driver. These things just don't "happen" for no reason.

But even GoWesty has honored warranty of these blown engines so if they don't blame driver or van why would you? They did not happen for "no reason", GoWesty gave him the reason in each case.

Only one warranty and reason was mentioned for the first engine. The last engine was allowed to overheat voiding warranty. It's just too coincedental for me to say it's "only" the engine. What other mods have been done to the van?

Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:10 pm

PDXWesty wrote: madspaniard wrote: PDXWesty wrote: It seems so odd to me that one customer has blown three engines in a short period of time. There is a second common denominator that needs investigation here too that no one has mentioned; either the van or the driver. These things just don't "happen" for no reason.

But even GoWesty has honored warranty of these blown engines so if they don't blame driver or van why would you? They did not happen for "no reason", GoWesty gave him the reason in each case.

Only one warranty and reason was mentioned for the first engine. The last engine was allowed to overheat voiding warranty. It's just too coincedental for me to say it's "only" the engine. What other mods have been done to the van?

You have a lot of faith in a company so widely panned. And you're right, they didn't just "happen"; they failed because GW has poor quality control and tries to get too much power of out of their engines, imo. Notice how many times they've changed their pistons or added oil squirters or otherwise mucked with the design. At GW, the customer is the beta tester.

The first two threw rods, as I said. The overheat on the third was because I had a coolant hose replaced by a mechanic who didn't know to jack up the front of the van to flush the coolant, and I was in a 100+ degree place where that mistake is all it takes. But that only explains a bad piston (according to *both* GoWesty and Karmakanix) for which I take full responsibility, and not the warped case, cracked crank or blown bearings, which totalled the third engine, and for which GW takes zero responsibility.

Note that my first two engines also had bad cranks and bearings too. Noticing a pattern here?

Tellingly, GW did give me a free donor engine (plus a discount on parts), and also offered half off a GW rebuilt engine (provided I replaced the *entire* cooling system). It's appreciated, but why eat crow on a technically voided warranty if you don't have to? You be the judge.

Modifications: GW 16" wheels, GW larger brakes, GW second battery kit, Bilstein shocks, GW rebuilt automatic transaxle. Everything sold and installed by GW themselves.

Actually, the most modified component on my van was what catastrophically failed three times in a row: the GW rebuilt engine.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:33 pm

Also, when GW honored the first two warranties, they, in effect, admitted fault. Perhaps not in a legal manor, but as far as anyone should be concerned.

For the third failure, Lucas at GW could offer no causative link connecting the overheat with the cracked crank, shot bearings and warped case, despite my repeated questioning. Yet, a master mechanic -- who's rebuilt over a 1000 VW engines-- did have an explanation: GW most likely rebuilt the third engine using a warped case. Remember, all the cases are at least 20 years old!

These are pros talking here, not me. It wasn't strange mods or owner negligence or anything else.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:42 pm

No way (for me) to know what GW's quality control is inside their engines. A machinist could check the engines but who's going to pay $10,000 just to do that. Is their quality control poor? Or are they doing the best they can with a flawed engine design? Remember that VW factory waterboxers or rebuilds often failed by 30k also.

I can however see other examples of their quality control, such as their bodywork which commonly features the stuff on the bottom commonly used to hide poor bodywork and door jams that are left the stock color. That doesn't inspire even the slightest faith in their abilities.

These monthly reports of their engine failures don't either.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 6:58 pm

inkysocks wrote: ...Tellingly, GW did give me a free donor engine (plus a discount on parts), and also offered half off a GW rebuilt engine (provided I replaced the *entire* cooling system). It's appreciated, but why eat crow on a technically voided warranty if you don't have to? You be the judge...

Well they are pretty much in a 'no win' situation at that point. They could have sent you packing after the warranty was voided but instead made concessions which 'tellingly' imply guilt.

My GW engine has been great so I like 'em. Yeah, if it had grenaded just outside of warranty I would feel differently.

inkysocks wrote: ...Not much power, but holds together. Likely going to sell the vehicle.

Just a tip -- you probably don't want to list it in the Samba classifieds.

Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:21 pm

Ahwahnee wrote: inkysocks wrote: ...Tellingly, GW did give me a free donor engine (plus a discount on parts), and also offered half off a GW rebuilt engine (provided I replaced the *entire* cooling system). It's appreciated, but why eat crow on a technically voided warranty if you don't have to? You be the judge...

Well they are pretty much in a 'no win' situation at that point. They could have sent you packing after the warranty was voided but instead made concessions which 'tellingly' imply guilt.

You're right, being nice alone looks like guilt, I see the conundrum.

Yet if I had wrapped my van around a telephone pole, and then complained that the engine didn't work, do you think they would've given me half off of a new one? Thousands of dollars off a new engine is very nice indeed.

Anyway, three similar engine failures along with the evidence and argument provided by an experienced mechanic is enough for me to render judgment on GW, especially in the complete absence of any counter arguments from the part of GoWesty.

Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:34 am

So mine is now apart . Aside from looking like the oil was never changed ,it all looks nice. The crank and rods wee black .
I will get a report this week . this thing looks like it was not broken in and the rings never seated and it had no maintenance done to it .
it is an interesting combo how they get the increased displacement .
I hope it works out ,If not I'll build another DJ like my Tristar .

Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:44 am

I love my GoWesty 2.2L Has been running great for years. 8)

Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:06 am

Anybody else see a trend here?

Earlier, years ago, the motors were better?

I can readily understand why the later engines are having issues, simply because the parts in the supply chain seem not to be that great theses days.

I have had Type I'V stroker cranks fail.

Valves snap off.

Face it, keeping these old beasts running is a challenge.

Add to the mix that hot rod engines are tricky to keep alive and you just have a poor mix.

Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:12 am

Jedi wrote: I love my GoWesty 2.2L Has been running great for years. 8)

Thank you for sharing.
The 2.2 is going to be the most reliable of all displacements currently available from the various top rebuilders.
That is my opinion,
based on owning multiple Boston Bob motors, installing a Vanistan and maintaining a few others, including a GW 2.2.

Very smooth.
The power increase of the 2.2 is perfect to offset mounting 215/75/15 offroad tires on a Syncro with 4.86R&P

Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:44 am

insyncro wrote: Jedi wrote: I love my GoWesty 2.2L Has been running great for years. 8)

Thank you for sharing.
The 2.2 is going to be the most reliable of all displacements currently available from the various top rebuilders.

I agree here, with this design anything above 2300 is pushing it, If you want big power your money is better spent on another conversion of some sort. In Jan. 2006 a 2300 GW motor was installed in a van I have and it was just given the once over and everything still looks good, great compression on all cyls. From reading many posts on GW engines the turning point seems to be 2007 where things took a detour? Those with engines before then seem to be doing good. I can tell you I have a stack of reciepts dealing with coolant issues prior to the engine being installed. So if that entire system has not been gone thru and checked/replaced at the time of install, your asking for trouble IMHO

Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:00 pm

Having read several threads, seems like GW 2.2s are the "best of what they do".

What are the BIG differences between a GoWesty 2.2 and a Vanistan 2.2 besides the fact that Vanistan only uses 2.1 blocks (instead of GW's 1.9s) to create 2.2s?

Is there a considerable performance/reliability difference?

What about warrantees/customer service?

Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:09 pm

ThankYouJerry wrote: Having read several threads, seems like GW 2.2s are the "best of what they do".

What are the BIG differences between a GoWesty 2.2 and a Vanistan 2.2 besides the fact that Vanistan only uses 2.1 blocks (instead of GW's 1.9s) to create 2.2s?

Is there a considerable performance/reliability difference?

What about warrantees/customer service?

No contest... The vanistan 2.2 formula is different than the gw of the same displacement. I have posted before of the high compression 2.2 delivering more performance than even the gw 2.3. This comparison is offered through experience.

Sat Jan 18, 2014 10:20 pm

Exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks.