Ken,

I tried that and more, but the vacuum gauge reading went even lower(the further away from TDC I got)
and the idle got worse.  Are you using that setting regularly and driving without any adverse
effects?  (And using a stock distributor?).

My problem remains, and  I'm starting to hear some kind of compression noise when I let the clutch
out and give the engine gas.  Not an aircooled engine loose heads noise(which has a sharp edge to
it), but some kind of deep and rumbly compression noise, only lasts for a half a second.  And
whereas the loose heads noise occurs at the end of a gear range(high rpm), this noise is right at
the beginning of the gear range, and does not occur at the end of the gear range when the rpm is
high and the engine wound up..  I'm fairly sure it's coming from whatever is causing the pressure in
the cooling system.  Have you ever head of a leaking head gasket making an identifiable noise?

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Lewis" <kdlewis_wasting_time@access4less.net>
To: "jbclem1" <jbclem1@charter.net>; "vw" <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 3:09 AM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Diagnosing a low (8-10 inches) vacuum gauge reading

> John,
> Try 5 Degrees BTDC. SEt it back to 0 during vehicle emission testing.
> Ken Lewis
> 86 Transporter Crew Cab
> 60 356 T-5 Porsche
> http://neksiwel.20m.com/
> Vanagon tech, pixs, O2 monitor gadget
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "jbclem1" <jbclem1@CHARTER.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 5:24 AM
> Subject: [VANAGON] Diagnosing a low (8-10 inches) vacuum gauge reading
>
>
> > My 1983 water-cooled is getting a lot of pressure in the coolant
> reservoir(head gasket or cylinder
> > spacer-seal or green o-ring, or cracked head?).  In the process of trying
> to pin down which cylinder
> > or side the problem was coming from I hooked up a vacuum gauge and
> discovered a pretty low reading
> > at idle (8-10 inches hg). .....
>
>