You know what they say; a car will fall apart at a certain mileage!!!
This is the time when you have to change most parts on it!!! Now it's your
time�bad timing.

Seriously, I will resume what I think of the van in a few sentences�
I love the Westfalia, but I am not sure that I love the Vanagon�(or any new
VW)

I don't think I would buy a simple 7-seat vanagon, there is plenty of good
mini van out there. A lot more reliable than any VW product.

Here is a comparison, I have an 88 Civic CRX (2 seat) and it as 380K km
(236k miles). She barely takes 1 quart of oil for 3000miles, no strange
noise, no cooling problem and no worry� It's my winter car, very very
rusty, never did anything on the engine (except normal stuff), no head
gasket change, no worry about the very well design & simple fuel injection
system and so on. Rust will get the car before the engine.

So you want to own a VW van or westy, get a Bentley and start-loving
mechanic because you will needed sooner or later�

Don't get me wrong, I love my westy and will probably keep it for a long
time but it's not the best reliable car in the world. But the camper is the
best damn design I have ever seen. Finally, I would not recommend this van
to everyone; you need to be a tender loving owner who loves to play on it.

Lol, its not that bad, you just not very lucky�
Ben
http://www3.sympatico.ca/huotx/engine1.htm