glad you found it !
oddly..........I've never seen a leaking oil pressure switch by the crank
pulley, on a 2.1 waterboxer......on practically hundreds of vanagons.

I never work on something with a time deadline.
I *always* always, always find 'there's more.'
more than one expected.......to do really
100 % complete work that is.
  You can finish up after the superbowl if you need to anyway.
I'll be watching 2.
----- Original Message -----
From: "A J I" <flavanagon@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 7:29 PM
Subject: Re: hidden oil leak ??

> UPDATE:
> Well its been almost a month now and I have replaced the crankshaft seal
> but
> that didnt help. When I was replacing the water pump I had more than a few
> listmembers tell me to replace the oil pressure unit as well. I should
> have
> listened!
> That $6 part was the entire root/cause of all my problems. I replaced the
> oil sender today and did some serious run time which in the past would
> have
> produced large oil puddles and considerable spray all ovet the rear gate
> of
> the van, nada, nothig the mysterious oil leak is gone. It was the oil
> sending unit.
> The weird thing is I have cleaned and really looked over the old unit that
> was the cause and I cannot find anything at all from outward appearance
> that
> would make one suspect it as the cause. It looks just fine. Be assured
> that
> it was the cause of the oil spewing because there isnt a drop at all on or
> near the motor even after 1/2 hour run varying to 3200 rpm in park in the
> driveway and then a drive of about 45 minutes where I was cruising at 65
> mph.
> I will add that anyone that is ever replacing either the water pump or the
> crankshaft seal should at the same time replace the oil sending unit. It
> is
> in expensive and really easy to do when all the parts are out of the way.
> By
> the way I believe that the old sending unit was the cause of the oil alarm
> whenever I did a hard right turn. I tried a couple today on the test run
> and
> the van performed just fine and no oil alarm so I cured two problems with
> the one repair.
> I changed it out with just removing the belts but it was a bit of a hassle
> would have been a snap when the stuff was out of the way. Thank you
> everyone
> for all the help and input. Tomorrow before the superbowl (Go STEELERS) I
> am
> going to replace the rear wheel cyclinders and shoes. The Vanagon will
> once
> again be right and running properly. just in time for the celebration.
> Thanks again everyone,
>
> A J
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 7:56 PM, A J <flavanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> OK here is the background. 1991 Vanagon GL it has 40,000 on a "crate"
>> replacement engine. Runs great,but. About 3-4 months ago ,the first time
>> it
>> happened, I was driving along about 60 mph and noticed that the rear
>> window
>> was "filming" up and there was an occasional puff of smoke, dropped to
>> about
>> 50 and went straight to the driveway.
>>
>> The next day went out and cleand the entire bottom of the motor with carb
>> cleaner and let it sit for a day, no drips. So went for another drive,
>> about
>> 5 minutes into the drive the same thing happened. This time I sprayed off
>> the bottom while it was warm and looked for leaks, nothing.
>>
>> Next day I put some clean cardboard down on the drive and then did an
>> short
>> run through the neighborhood came back and parked on the cardboard. Most
>> of
>> the dripping was at the rear cross motor mount but there was some at the
>> side by the valve cover. I replaced both vaqlve covers figuring that if
>> they
>> were leaking the air blowing by would deposit the oil on the crossbar and
>> spray it on the rear deck.
>>
>> Another drive more oil.
>>
>> I cleaned it all off again and this time put down cardboard but didnt
>> drive
>> just ran it in place. Nothing for about 4-5 minutes then it started
>> leaking
>> and seemed to be coming from the motor mount. Could not see any oil from
>> the
>> top of the motor only from the bottom. From the top looking down it is
>> all
>> clean and neat looking like nothing is leaking at all so it is not being
>> flung through the compartment by the belts.
>>
>> I figured that the only place that I couls not see was the probable area,
>> the crankshaft seal. I ordered a nea seal, replaced it and went for a
>> drive,
>> yep in about 5 minutes it started spraying the rear of the van just like
>> before.
>>
>> I cleaned it all off and let it cool off. The next day I went out with
>> the
>> cardboard and with it running in place and changing rpm between 2000 and
>> 3500 it was a good five minutes before I saw it start leaking. I cant
>> directly see it but it is leaking on to the left side of the mount and
>> dripping off the bar, The rear of the motor is not wet and there is no
>> oil
>> leaking down the side. This wont leak until the motor heats up.
>>
>> I am wondering if it is possible for the oil cooler to leak by spraying
>> the
>> oil onto the mount figuring that after the motor heats up it opens the
>> gap
>> between the gasket or whatever, sound plausable? If I remember correctly
>> this started  after I changed the oil and installed the fram filter. I
>> wonder if it is possible for the filter to not bypass and then create
>> enough
>> pressure to force the oil out?
>>
>> There is no oil in the cooling system so I believe the oil cooler is not
>> leaking internally but wonder if it is possible for oil to leak out
>> between
>> the cooler and the block, well not leak but spray. Would it be possible
>> to
>> tighten the cooler to the block by removing the filter and torquing the
>> bolts or should it be removed and a new seal installed? Or should I just
>> consider something else because there is simply no oil at all dripping
>> off
>> the filter or the block just from the bar the the motor mounts to. Is it
>> possible that the oil could be coming from the motor mounting bolts.
>>
>> Keep in mind that it does not drip and wount drip out until the motor
>> reaches temp and will stop as soon as it is shut down. Any help,
>> opinions,
>> or guess appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> A J
>>
>>