Hi Frank,

On the type4 engine the cylinder heads will be damaged by excess heat  
long before the oil heats up. CHT is the first gauge you should buy;  
oil pressure and temp can always be added later. My baywindow (1.7L  
type4) runs with all three of those and a voltmeter besides. This past  
weekend it was pulling hills in 80 degree heat with 400F heads and  
110C oil.

</Greg>

Quoting Frank Schultz <frankschultz@GMAIL.COM>:

> Thanks Jerry.  All of the cooling tin seems to be in place, I am missing a
> couple of plug wire grommets, ordering those today.  The dip stick did not
> seem excessively hot and there was not smoke when opening up the oil fill
> cap.  Thanks for the advice on the temp gauge.  I am having an internal
> debate on whether to install an oil temp or cylinder temp gauge.  I will
> check the compression and valves this week.
>
> Thanks for the reply and input.
>
> Frank
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greg@pottsfamily.ca [mailto:greg@pottsfamily.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:32 AM
> To: frankschultz@gmail.com
> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: First trip with to be named Vanagon - some "excitement"
>
> Hi Frank,
>
> That doesn't sound too good. First off, since there's a single weber
> on there it's obvious that the engine has been messed with. Is all the
> cooling tin in place?
>
> Secondly, I'd recommend you adjust the valves and check the
> compression. Even hydraulic valves should get annual adjustment. If
> compression on any cylinder is below 90PSI you need to service that
> cylinder head.
>
> In the future I'd recommend adding a cylinder head temp gauge to help
> keep track of the heat levels affecting the most sensitive part of
> that engine.
>
> Good luck with it,
>
> Greg Potts,
> Toronto, Ontario Canada
> 1987 Wolfsburg weekender
> 1973 westfakia weekender
> www.pottsfamily.ca
>
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 6:29 PM, Frank Schultz <frankschultz@gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all.  I am a new Vanagon owner and have been enjoying the list for
>>> the
>>> past couple of weeks.  I have a '82 Westy (manual, webber convertion) and
>>> took it out for a weekend in the woods.
>>>
>>> The van performed very well on the way up, but had some troubles on the
> way
>>> back (1.5 hr each way).  It was missing terribly on the start of the way
>>> back, sounded like a stuck lifter, plus something - it was
>>> backfiring/mis-firing (not kaboom but very strange noise) on acceleration
>>> up
>>> hills.
>>> So I drove it for a while to see if it fixed itself - which I have been
>>> reading in some of the forums that it does (stuck lifter anyway).
>>>
>>> Did not fix itself, pulled over, gave her a drink of oil and Marvel
> mystery
>>> oil - she was a little low on oil, not much.  Restarted and ran the same
>>> way
>>> it did on the way up.
>>>
>>> After returning home, it would not restart, but I had good batter power.
>>> Almost like the starter could not turn the engine over.  I have had slow
>>> starts (motor turning over very slow) after a long run, but it had never
>>> refused to start.  Waited 10 min. and she started up again (slow turn
> over,
>>> but started).
>>>
>>> Any suggestions on the slow starting after 45 min to an hour on the road
>>> and/or the misfiring.
>>>
>>> I have gotten the Bentley, Haynes and Idot's guide manuals and have just
>>> started to get into them.
>>>
>>> We had a blast in the camper and I am looking forward to many years of
> fun
>>> and a bit of wrenching in my future.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.  This list is very informative.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Frank
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> roger w
>> There are two kinds of jobs in the world:
>> Picking up garbage and telling people things.
>> Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw)
>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>> Explore printed work at: http://www.prliving.ca/
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>>
>