Hi list,

Whenever I read a disparaging remark about the WBX, quite frequently it's
from Stan Wilder. While I respect his undying affection for the
air-cooled boxer, the 2.1L WBX is far superior to any air-cooled motor.
Unfortunately the last new WBX was sold 12 years ago so in engineering
terms, the WBX powertrain is now at the end of it's service life. In other
words, the original & previous owners have enjoyed all the reliability &
service designed into the WBX and then they cleverly sold them to us, the
Vanagon list members. That's OK since a worn out 2.1L WBX can be a diamond
in the rough............However.........

The reconditioning of a tired 2.1L WBX powertrain must be 100% complete &
professional or disappointment will surely follow. Replacing of only one
coolant hose when 6 need renewal sets the stage for untimely failure.
Further the old air-cooled "points & plugs VW mechanic(P&P)" is unfit to
diagnose and repair a 2.1L WBX. The WBX technology requires a VW technician
with factory training and Digifant diagnostic skills.

Incomplete(half-assed)reconditioning and air-cooled "P&P mechanics"
performing "replace this and see what happens" diagnosis have clearly
Demolished the 2.1L WBX's reputation. First by generating high repair costs
due to unnecessary component replacement and secondly by failing to diagnose
critical mechanical shortcomings in time to avoid a major mechanical
failure. When catastrophic failure occurs, the untrained P&P mechanic is not
likely to take an ad out in the newspaper to announce that they clearly
missed a critical diagnosis. More often than not, the incompetent mechanic
simply condemns the WBX and/or the Digifant system as a poorly designed
loser technology and waxes romantically back to the reliability of the
air-cooled days.

Sadly when layman Vanagon owners(and Stan Wilder)encounter this result of
poor & incomplete diagnosis, they readily adopt the dumb ass opinion that
The WBX technology is useless junk and and the simplistic former air-cooled
technology is the way to go.

Regards, John

_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail