Hi all:

Last night, I guess about 3:00AM, a friend of my daughter parked her '78
Westy in front of our house, having driven from Bellingham, Washington over
the course of 3 or 4 days.  I had heard that "along the way" she had been
having engine problems, though what I heard was the engine was leaking oil
and the right-side pushrod tube oil seals had been replaced somewhere around
Eureka, California.  Of course, now that the vehicle is in my driveway,
things are much worse.

Talking to my daughter's friend I'm told that the mechanic that replaced the
right-side pushrod seals told her that one of the valve stems on #3 - don't
know which one - had worn concave.  During the trip from Eureka to the SF
Bay area she had to stop and put in a quart of oil every 15-30 minutes.  She
also reports that a few miles from the house she experienced a significant
decrease in power.  When I started it up this morning it was hard to keep
running, had virtually no power - I'd guess it's running on 3 cylinders -
and blowing smoke badly, which the friend says is new.

I don't want to deal with this right now, but I guess I have to since she's
here and has no money.

Anybody have so good "over the internet" diagnosis here?

Thanks!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Young                       '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549         '82 Westfalia
---------------------------------------------------------------