John,

I have an 88 GL which - when I purchased it - had about 84,000 miles on
it. At 95,000 the engine blew.
When it was pulled to be examined for what happened, the yellow VWOC
sticker was found on the case. My engine burned a hole through a piston
and put metal all through it. I found a local rebuilder and bought an
engine he already had together.

Evidently my 88 GL was badly treated from the beginning. Sometime
between 0 miles new, and the 95,000 when the engine blew - there had
been two engines. One when new, the other when the VWOC engine was
installed.When I installed the local rebuilt engine - that made three
engines between 0.0 miles and 95,000. What is interesting is that
neither of these first two engines lived over 95,000, and probably not
over 40-45,000 miles each. Really makes me wonder about what abuse they got.

I now have approx 140,000 on the locally rebuilt engine.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

John Meeks wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm just starting a rebuild of a 2.1L engine that was given to me from
> an 86 Westy with 134k miles on the odometer. I found a yellow VW
> Canada label With engine code MV and serial #000151. Does anyone know
> what the Canadian reman process includes? Do they split the case and
> replace the main and rod bearings, or do they just fix the failure
> mode i.e. reseal the heads if that's the reported problem.
>
> Any info on the VWoC reman engines would be greatly appreciated..
>
> John Meeks
> '91 Multivan
> Northern Michigan
>
> Vanagon Rescue Squad
> http://www.vanagonauts.com/Vanagon_Rescue_Squad74.htm
>
> Radio Call:KC8ZFN
>
>
>