Thanks to all-

Jim C

On Oct 13, 2008, at 9:38 PM, joel walker wrote:

>> New to me WBX. My air-cooled van required occasional readjustment of
>> lifter/valves.
>> My 86 Westy WBX has the hydraulic lifters... do these need to be
>> readjusted, too?
>
> nah, they don't need ajusting. might need some cleaning, though ...
> over the years, the hot oil builds up a varnish coating on the
> lifters as it sits after running all day. nothing you can do about
> it much ... but  you can cure the noise it makes (when the lifter(s)
> start sticking and making a tickkity-tickkity high pitched ticking
> noise ...
> add a pint bottle of automatic transmission fluid to the engine oil,
> run the engine at idle for like 20-30 minutes, then shut it off and
> wait. overnight is best. then run it again for 20-30 minutes and
> wait again. do it one more time, and then drain the oil and change
> the filter and put in fresh oil. it sometimes takes two such
> treatments (requiring two oil changes ... in which case, you could
> skip the filter change on the first one) to cure the noise. but it
> usually works.
> why change the oil afterward? cause the AT fluid is highly detergent
> (which is why it can dissolve the varnish coating) and a lot thinner
> than engine oil ... so it dilutes the oil. it is NOT a good idea to
> drive the bus while you are doing all this ... it can be done, but
> don't go climbing hills or running high speed or high rpm anywhere.
> so you change the oil to get the AT fluid out of the engine afterward.
>
> one 'problem' comes up out of the hydraulic lifter situation:
> the valve cover gasket.
> on the aircooled, you had to adjust the valves so you actually
> looked at the valve cover gasket and usually replaced it with every
> valve adjustment. no more with the hyrdraulic lifters.
> so the gasket gets old and dry and will start to seep oil after
> about 7000-10,000 miles or so. so be aware that you might have to
> replace the valve cover gasket every year or two ...just keep an eye
> on it and do it whenever you notice some seeping/leaking.
> the good part? :)
> it's exactly the same gasket all the way back to the beetle. you can
> buy beetle valve cover gaskets and they work fine. :)
> and are changed exactly the same way.
> also there are no heat exchangers underneath for the oil to drop on
> and stink up the heat for the interior. ;)
>
> hope it helps. good luck!
> joel