now the fun begins !
congrats on your new project Brendan !

what color does the new beast be, anyway ?
Scott
www.turbovans.com
( I can just hear it now in the future at some point .......'I have this
vibration between 45 and 50 and nothing I do seems to fix it." .......lol
  )
But for the price you paid .......hey, it's worth much more than that
already !

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brendan Slevin" <totorovan@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, June 07, 2009 12:42 PM
Subject: Found my Syncro project.

> Well now it just so happens that a 7 passenger syncro popped up on CL for
> $500. The guy hadn't driven it all winter and finally charged the battery
> to
> drive it. It started giving him trouble like it wasn't charging, said he
> jumped it and it ran again so he drove it to the shop he likes to have it
> looked at. On the way it started running poorly and died. He had it towed
> to
> the shop where the tech began to diagnose it. Meanwhile, fed up with
> putting
> money into it for the last 12 years of being the second owner (lots o'
> reciepts in the glove box) he posted it on CL. I called and went to look
> at
> it at the shop.
>
> It is an 87 with 164k on it. It was purchased 12/87 in Vermont but,
> thankfully, moved away from the salt to Bend sometime in 88. The first
> owner
> kept it here in Bend until 96 an sold it to the second owner who moved to
> Chicago until 2000 when he moved back to Bend. In that time it definitely
> got some rust underneath, but nothing too cancerous. The two receipts that
> caught my eye ar both from September 2006, $1400 for a clutch job and some
> other minor bits and $300 for tires, not great tires, but new nonetheless.
> That was at 160k. the odo and speedo seem to function just fine, and he
> did
> say he hadn't driven it much in the last few years.
>
> After filling out the paperwork with him and parting with five crisp,
> hard-earned Benjamins, he left and I set to work. Checked oil and coolant.
> I
> brought my old working alternator and Totoro's battery. First I saw the
> battery in it was sitting disconnected at 12.4V so I hooked up the ground
> and turned the engine over. It started right up and idled well (better
> that
> Totoro and quieter), and the battery jumped to 13.8V. So it's charging and
> the battery seems fine. I let it idle a bit then revved it up a bit. It
> started running worse and worse and the oil light came on. Shut it off and
> started again. Idles fine, no oil light, then started to run bad again.
> Disconnect the O2 Sensor. Starts, idles great, revs good. Idles fine. Oil
> light again.
>
> The oil pressure light is supposed to come on under low pressure
> conditions
> over 2000 rpm. That is where it would come on each time. I added some
> thick
> like honey oil additive and carefully and gently drove it the 3 miles home
> trying to keep it under 2000 rpm.
>
> The coolant light started flashing about halfway home with the needle
> having
> barely moved off the bottom of the gauge. I stopped and checked the
> coolant,
> everything seemed ok, for good measure I topped off both the expansion
> tank
> that was a bit low and the pressurized tank that was also a bit low.
> Drove
> the next mile home without incident.
>
> I didn't see any receipts for a new engine or rebuild, so at 164K, the
> chances that this engine is due some rebuild love are very high.
> Definitely
> a project, but I have the free 2.1 with 30k sitting there ready to seal
> back
> up. It is now going in the Syncro instead of Totoro. Otherwise it drives,
> shifts, sounds way better than Totoro.
>
> Oh, and it has a rear locker. [image: Happy] Woot woot!