And how interesting that we just had a whole discussion about the limited
life/weakness of rubber parts on vanagons !

I've worked on VW engine cases and that cam bore metal plug starting about
40 years ago. First time I've ever heard of using a rubber plug there.
Sure seems it would deteriorate with heat and age, like rubber and plastic
do.

glad the leak is found and fixed !
Mexico sounds nice right about now  !
Scott

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Wilford" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 8:10 AM
Subject: Re: Engine oil leak mystery - solved !

> Frank, glad you figured out your oil leak.  Bob and I discussed the use
> of these plugs over the years.  He thought they were less prone to leak
> than the standard metal ones.  He was always trying to perfect his
> engines and these little things were always part of his re-engineering
> the water boxer that he did up until he could no longer work.  When you
> try things some times they work out in the long run and sometimes they
> don't.  I guess this was one of his ideas that in your case (no pun
> intended but you have to admit is a good one) didn't work out.
>
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
>
>
> Frank Condelli wrote:
>>
>> Folks, this a excerpt from my Travel Blog, _www.westfaliatravels.com_
>> (http://www.westfaliatravels.com) , about  the engine oil leak which you
>> all
>> should know about.
>> Yesterday I spent the day, starting at 8am, at Volks Café  doing
>> maintenance on the van.  As  you may know there has been an oil leak for
>> some time now
>> and I suspected it was  the front main crank seal as the oil was dripping
>> out from between the engine  and tranny cases but only while parked and
>> engine off.  Never any oil leaking while the engine  was running so this
>> was a
>> bit strange.  Well after removing the tranny and then the flywheel it was
>> quickly  apparent the cause of the oil leak.  See photos on the Blog
>> site.  The
>> engine, built by Boston Engine for me back in November of 2003, had a
>> rubber plug in the place of the original VW engineered cam end plug in
>> the  case.
>>  That rubber plug had become  cooked brittle, cracked and that’s where
>> the
>> oil was leaking from.  Perplexed, as I was sure all VW  waterboxer
>> engines
>> had the metal plug so why did Boston Engine use a rubber one  and more so
>> what to do about it ?  Another mechanic in the shop and I discussed what
>> kind
>> of glue may work,  meanwhile I went to tell Peter the story and he tells
>> me
>> he has these rubber  plugs !  They were made for  aftermarket beetle
>> engine
>> cases that did not have the groove cut in them for the  metal plug.  Why
>> Boston Engine used  this rubber plug is still unknown and I guess we will
>> never
>> know as Bob, rest  his soul, left us over a year ago.  So, the fix ended
>> up
>> not too difficult, just dug out the old seal and  pressed in a new one.
>> I
>> did cover  the seal and surrounding case lip with JB Weld just to add
>> some
>> security.  Then, changed out the dried out pilot  bearing, put new seals
>> on
>> the flywheel and put the clutch and tranny back.  Then onto the noisy CV
>> joint.  Turns out it was the inner right that  was making the noise.  I
>> replaced
>> both CVs on the right, packed them and the left ones with new grease,
>> rotated  the tires and was done by 5 pm.
>>
>>
>> Please note  that I will be away from my business travelling in the USA
>> and
>> Mexico from  November 18, 2009 until April 30, 2010.  Parts orders will
>> be
>> processed  although not as quickly as usual.  I will always be available
>> by
>> E-mail.  If you phone, your call will be addressed by Greg T. Brown here
>> and he will either call you back or advise you to contact me directly by
>> E-mail.  See my _www.frankcondelli.com_ (http://www.frankcondelli.com/)
>> website for complete details.  Travel Blog at _www.westfaliatravels.com_
>> (http://www.westfaliatravels.com/)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Frank  Condelli
>>
>> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
>> '87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
>> (http://frankcondelli.com/trainsal.htm) )
>> _Frank Condelli &  Associates_
>> http://frankcondelli.com/busindex.html)  -
>> Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
>> _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
>> (http://frankcondelli.com/exhaust.htm)
>> _BusFusion_ (http://www.busfusion.com/)  a VW  Camper camping event,
>> Almonte, ON, June 10 ~ 13,  2010
>>
>>