Ya done good for a hundred bucks, but your kid's gonna need an engine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Stone" <TStone8359@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: What happened?

> A few weeks ago, my son found an '85 Vanagon sitting in the weeds at a car
> repair place.  The body was in good shape.  There was recent evidence of
> money spent -- new tires, rebuilt alternator.  The man said the engine ran
> but that it had an oil leak.  Couldn't start it because the battery was
dead.
>  The man wanted $100.  The engine had about 120k on it.
>
> We pulled it home and checked spark plugs, recharged the battery, made
sure
> intake hoses were on tight and tried to start it.  It started right up.
But
> it did have a massive oil leak, worst I have ever seen, coming from the
rear
> main seal area.  I did a compression check (all 125-145 except #3 - 90)
and a
> leak down test (all 10% except for #3 -- 40%).  I deemed it worthy of
fixing
> the oil seal and seeing what we had.
>
> Monday, I took out the trans and took off the clutch but could not get
three
> of the flywheel bolts off -- the allen heads were stripped.  The clutch
disk
> was soaked and oil came out of the two flywheel bolt holes.  Tonight, I
tried
> to turn the bolts with the air chisel -- no dice.  I used the grinder to
cut
> a slot in the bolt heads and tried to turn them out with a large screw
driver
> -- nothing moved.  Finally, I took the grinder and ground off the bolt
heads,
> destroying the flywheel, but getting the flywheel off.
>
> What I found next is puzzling.  Inside the seal area, the shims were
broken
> into several pieces and worn thin.  The seal was cooked hard and was
brittle.
>  There were no visible tears.  The seal was set in from flush with the
case
> by about 1/8 inch.
>
> What happened here?  Was the flywheel torqued on too tight?  Was the end
play
> not set up right?  Was the seal installed incorrectly?  Looks like all of
the
> above to me.
>
> And what do I do now?  Are my thrust bearings trashed?  Can I get another
> flywheel, redo the end play with new shims, put a new clutch and seal in
and
> drive it or should this baby be rebuilt?  My son is dreaming of a road
trip
> to Florida and Colorado this summer.....
>
> TIA for your thoughts.
>
> Tom
> '71 Westy, '85 Westy, '91 Carat, '81 VW Diesel Pickup
>