Jim
My last Name is Donalds just for the record
From the Clan Donald
http://www.clan-donald-usa.org/

the first thing I ask is what is still the same
 fuel pump ?
so did you check the fuel pressure at idle and at 2K to see if the engine
leans out at higher RPMs
did the exhaust gases get checked and set
did you check the total advance of the timing 44 deg plus
does your friend like to do 70 plus down the highway
does he run high test fuel
It is possible to push this engine to hard even if all the specs are right
on the money
The air-cooled engine accumulates heat over time depending on ambient air
temp and load
 AND the air-cooled engines ability to accumulate heat is limited ONLY by
the melting point of aluminum
melted pistons are what happens when the engine is pushed to hard or the
particular piston gets to hot
This could be from a vacuum leak, bad injector or a exhaust leak

Going faster miles an hour with the radio on
I remain
B Bob
all rights reserved

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Arnott" <jrasite@EONI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 11:39 PM
Subject: Weird engine meltdown... Attn: Bob MacD and Jake Raby

> Here's the scenario:
>
> 81 Vanagon 2.0 auto.  Came into my life running on three. Nothing in
> the way of compression on #1.  Good friend had a motor with 43k
> original on it.  Swapped motors.  New old motor has 120 +/- on all
> four.  Old old motor sits in shop awaiting teardown.
>
> Drive Vanagon ~2k miles.  Starts easily, runs strong. Uses about a pint
> of 20W50 every 500 miles or so.  No visible leaks, so I assume the it's
> burning it. Sell Vanagon to a good friend. (Who has owned and driven
> many VWs though never a type IV motor. Type I sorta guy.)
>
> Tear down old old motor. (A SIR rebuild with 12k on it.) Find a divot
> out of the #1 piston at the top of the bore.  About 1.5 inches from
> start to end. Looks like maybe it stuck a ring.  Divot extends down the
> side of the piston to the oil control ring. Cylinder head has damage
> equal to what one would expect from compression ring pieces floating
> around. (pictures available) Figure a cylinder and a piston will fix it
> good enough to go in the bay window for a year or so.
>
> A month goes by...
>
> Friend calls from the side of the road.  Go rescue.  Nurse it 70 miles
> home. Pour 2 gallons of oil through it getting it the 70 miles.  Friend
> pulls new old motor and pops the head off.  Guess what?  Exactly the
> same damage on the same hole. Why?
>
> The new old motor had nothing of the old old motor.  Different FI,
> different ECU, different everything. (It was a complete engine.) It was
> not low on oil. It had the correct Bosch plugs and was timed to
> specification. It was a hot day and the failure occurred at the end of
> a long pull. Probably under about the same circumstances as the first
> failure. The other three holes show no sign of detonation or
> overheating.
>
> At this point I'm at a loss.  What would/could cause two identical
> failures on completely different engines? What can we do to prevent
> future failures.
>
> Jim
>