Tim,
thank you for the information.  Also, thanks to Stan Wilder, who sent
me an earlier note.

I've only put about 5,000 miles on the van myself.  The previous owner
was a groovy laid-back guy living in North Beach in San Francisco that
probably didn't keep the engine in that good shape.  For example, when
I bought the van, the radiator fan switch was broken and the previous
owner did not know about it.  This meant, the van engine probably
suffered from overheating a number of times.  At the time I bought the
vehicle, I did not know about this.

Are you suggesting the following:
  1) compression test
  2) engine flush with some engine gunk
  3) straight 40w oil (maybe with some viscosity thickener like ring
seal)

I'm about to go off to Sears to get a compression tester.

Before, I go, I thought I would ask for general comments on what the
chances of the van engine throwing a rod or something with this 20psi
oil pressure.  Is it that bad?  I don't mind buying a new engine,
however, my wife is getting a little tired of being stranded on the
side of the road when I take the family camping.  Since I've starting
camping with the van at the beginning of this year, I've been stranded
with a cracked cylinder head (replaced myself), starter problems
(working okay for now with new hard-start relay), blown transmission
(had to pay $1,500 for this one since I was 400 miles from home and had
no way to get the van to my home garage).

So, I'm thinking of maybe getting a rebuilt engine from
http://www.avp-worldwide.com/engines.htm or from Boston Engine.  The
AVP engine is considerably cheaper and closer to my house in the SF Bay
area.

However, if I can take the van camping for another year with a 75%
chance of returning home without major problems like a rod throwing,
then I would rather take my chances on the road with my van.

Another option is for me to try and replace the main bearings myself.
I have no experience with this.  However, I have a 2 car garage and am
willing to give it a try.

If I buy a rebuilt engine, what else do I have to buy?  Or, is this my
only cost?

Thanks for any advice.

-- Craig

--- Doktor Tim <doktortim@rockisland.com> wrote:
> Give me a run down on that last 70K miles? The way the vehicle was
> used,
> miles per year/month/week, and the maintenance history, fluid and
> filter
> changes, fuel milage figures if you got, the more info the better.
> Then I
> can give you some ideas about where the oil pressure is going. There
> are
> ways to coax a few more miles while you save the bucks for an engine
> rebuilding project. A proper compression test would give you some
> idea of
> general engine health. If that's in spec, then some cleanup and
> straight 40
> weight would verify by the gage an improvement. If it only improves
> sleightly at that point, you will need a rebuild sooner rather than
> later.
> If it jumps you to 7 lbs and 30 lbs hot pressure, you might well get
> another 10 or 30k out of it, or a few more years for a short range
> summer
> driver.
>
> Key source of error is lack of adequate maintenance inspection
> procedures.
> You just cannot substitute "tune-ups" and "quicky-lubes" or rule of
> thumb
> time/milage intervals for empirical data, obtained with sight, feel,
> smell,
> and hearing, pencil and paper.
>
>
> At 01:34 PM 10/13/2002, you wrote:
>
> >I recently installed a wet oil pressure gauge to find out why my oil
> >pressure light keeps flashing.
> >
> >When I first start the engine, 20 psi at idle and 30-50 on the
> freeway.
> >
> >After 3 miles of driving, 5 psi or less at idle and 20 psi on the
> >freeway.
> >
> >I guess about 40-60 psi on the freeway going about 60mph is nice,
> but
> >it's consistently at 20psi.  Driving home on residential streets at
> >30mph, I get about 15psi reading.
> >
> >I'm running 20w50 oil with viscosity thickener.
> >
> >Should I still drive the van around with the family, or is this oil
> >pressure so low that I should be taking apart the engine?  I cleaned
> >the oil relief valve/plunger.  Should I stretch that spring out
> more?
> >
> >1983.5 Westy with a rebuild about 70K miles ago.
> >
> >-- Craig
> >
> >=====
>

=====