I guess sometimes we just have to make our own tools.

In case anyone is interested in my solution to reaching those two top 13 mm
nuts on the oil pump of my 1989 Vanagon GL I made a special tool to reach in
better and give me more torque. (Karl Wolz said his recollection was that
the nuts were 10 mm. Mine are 13 mm.)

I took an open ended wrench and with a MAPP gas bernzomatic torch heated it
until red hot to bend the wrench 10 degrees. This gave me just enough angle
to get in and tweak the nuts with just a little more grab. More than 10
degrees was too much as I could not get the wrench into that narrow space.

Now the test of time will tell me if my tightening of those nuts will stop
the minor oil leak from the pump. The second test will be when I switch to
synthetic oil. I am hoping that synthetic oil will not flow past the now
tightened cover over the gasket.

Thanks to you all with ideas for help. I will keep you posted in case anyone
has the same problem in the future. I was told by a VW dealership that it
was a $300 job because the muffler and belt pulleys had to come off to put
in a new gasket. Perhaps that will come later, but for now this seems to
have worked.

William Polowniak
1989 Vanagon GL
1988 Mercedes 300 SE