Hi Folks,
    With all this talk about long term/short term fixes, head life, JB Weld
etc., I've got to wondering about the future and eventual failure of my 2.1.
    Like many of you, I'd guess, I'm pushing 200k with my 88GL and in my
case it's the original engine with heads. There's nothing wrong now except
for slightly low/off balance compression on cylinder #1; a leak-down test by
listee Dennis Haynes indicated rings as a probable cause, but nothing's
gotten significantly worse in the 35,000 since then. I'm lucky, but I stay
pretty well on top of preventative maintenance too.
    The question(s) I'd like to put out there deal with the twilight years
of a vanagon engine, and finding ways to make smart economic decisions as
real trouble starts to kick in, or even before.
    -Compression, bad valves, leaky gaskets, etc.; these are all head issues
right? You can do tests or just use the naked eye and proceed from there. A
person can get new heads for $1000 or so and/or do gasket job and solve a
lot of problems. But in my case, if the the rings get worse on #1 cylinder,
then I'm into that job. Then it's deciding how far I want to go toward total
rebuild, or just swapping the whole thing.
    -Is there really anyway of knowing what the state of the case is, with
all it components, outside of teardown and measurement? Is oil pressure
alone enough of an indicator? It seems crazed to consider new heads or
anything like that with so many unknowns in the interior of a high mileage
engine.

    Perhaps you can see where I'm going with this. I suppose it's about
getting as much advance knowledge as possible, so as to be able to make good
decisions at the right time and be prepared. My van is very much a daily
driver and I feel like I have to face facts for that reason, and find ways
to not throw good money and effort after bad.  I'd figure a lot of listees
are in the same boat.

    Thanks,

Matt Sutton
88 GL
Brooklyn NY