Another thing.......

I haven't followed the thread on your new van that close, but unless you
are absolutely sure about the history of the fuel lines - CHANGE THEM
NOW!!!! This is not something you can put off - not even to go to the
corner drug store. It is critical. The history of fires in our beloved
vans due to fuel line failure is long and savage. Once a fuel fire
starts in the engine bay - it's pretty certain you will lose the van.
Take no chances. It's even good practice to change the fuel lines every
five years just to stay on top of it. While it will cost around 60 bucks
for a kit from one of the list vendors - it's an easy do and  is small
cost for protection against a fuel fire.

Check the front brake lines to the calipers for chafing,

And finally back to oil - history has demonstrated better success - not
the only success, but the better success - for keeping the lifter
chatter on start-up to a minimum by using a Mann or Mahle oil filter.
Has to do with internal spring pressure better at holding oil in the oil
galleries and not letting it bleed down so easily when the engine is
turned off. . It's going to, no matter what, and sooner or later you
will have a noisy lifter episode, but such episodes will be less
frequent using those filters.

Good luck.

John

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 4/25/2011 7:13 PM, Susie Ingham wrote:
>   KNOCK ON WOOD... we warmed the van up, put a little transmission fluid into the  oil filler ran it for 10 minutes. Then we changed the oil and filter, put in 5/30weight... drove it for abiut 15 minutes and it sounds just like a sewing machine!! It feels so weird right now there are just  a couple of loose ends to do ( lube the slider,  make some props to help hold the  hatch up now that we have the Fiamma rack) but everything seems to be good on the mechanical end -- wow-- it's like when your baby has it's first  full night of sleep...
>
> thanks so much for all the help!
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> susie
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