Being an 85, you might want to check the speedometer and odometer against
a GPS. I bet you are not going as fast or as far as you think you are
unless you are running oversized tires. Some 84 and 85 have speedos that
are downright silly. Assuming stock gears and 25.6" (stock tires, 3,800
rpm gets you 68 mph.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Mike Collum
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 10:03 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: oil usage

My '85 Westy's 1.9 engine runs really well.  Starts easily, idles
smoothly, gets 21 mpg at 63 mph, and doesn't drip anything.  The trouble
is, it now has 210,000 miles on it and burns about a quart of oil every
500 miles.  I don't see any smoke but it would be difficult to see at
highway speed.  I do know, BTW, that the PO had overheated it several
times which I'm sure did it no good.

Anyway, I've already ordered a Boston Bob rebuilt 2.1 to replace it
with.  We go on long trips so I guess it is time to have fresh components.

Mike
Houlton, Maine

Allan Streib wrote:
> I posted earlier that on a recent 2000+ mile trip, my engine used
> roughly 2 quarts of oil.  I checked it every fuel stop, and added
> maybe half a quart every other stop to keep it between the add and the
> full marks.
>
> Most of this trip was interstate driving running at or near 4000 RPM.
> I can see that running at that RPM might cause a bit of extra oil
> usage but this seems pretty excessive based on other engines I'm used
> to.
>
> I never noticed any smoke in the exhaust.
>
> Comments?  I'm going pull the plugs to see how they look, and check
> compression as soon as I get a chance.  Probably this weekend.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>