Hi All:

I have a question regarding testing for bad vales. Here is the history.

I have an 82 Vanagon with 50k original miles. As I have been
reconditioning it, I have been battling a hot start problem. That is the
engine must be turned over for about 8-11 sec's  and the gas peddle used
to get it started when the engine has warmed up. I have gone through all
the Bentley's checks on the fuel injection components and have found
nothing wrong. In the process I have replaced all the gaskets/hoses
around the air distributor. My engine vacuum is 14.5-15 inHg @ 850 rpms.
It has new points/plugs/cap/rotor. Old plug wires and coil, but the coil
and engine spark seem to be strong enough.

I finally gave up and took the car this morning to a local garage that
works on bugs/buses (first time visit) to see if they could solve the
problem. Their opinion was that the car was not running on cylinders 1&2
because if they removed the ignition wires on 1&2 it did not effect the
idle of the engine. They did a compression test on these cylinders and
got 100 psi.  They also checked the FI and concurred that the system
seemed to be working. Their conclusion is that the valves are bad on
cylinders 1 &2.

Not ever having driven an air cooled van in its prime, I have nothing to
compare the performance/power of the engine to. But I think I would have
noticed if it was only running on two cylinders. The car seems to have
enough power to get up to speed on the highway (65) and to handle hills.
How could I double check their diagnosis? Could someone explain what
would make the valves go bad so early in the engines life? Was this
normal?

Thanks in advance for the opinions.

Regards,
--Jeff Strickrott
82 Westy, South Florida