Collapsed lifters sound awful and will cause the engine to run badly.  Not sure how a loose rod bearing would do that, but it would kill your oil pressure. 

Did the diagnosis come from a trustworthy source?

Chris.

Wysłane z iPhone'a

Dnia Dec 14, 2011 o godz. 17:05 nirav patel <agencia72@GMAIL.COM> napisał(a):

> I apologize if this email is a double post for you from various
> vanagon lists, but alas...
> 
> •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •
> 
> I picked up my first camper, a '84 westy, about a year ago and over
> the year I've been trying to get her up to speed. The past year was
> spent trying to find and squash an electrical gremlin and get my fuel
> pump to work correctly. Well a few weeks ago, I got it all to work.
> Some people on this email list (and many others) helped me with that.
> Thank you.
> 
> But then…
> 
> Last weekend, on a short drive, I noticed a loud noise from my engine
> and also a significant loss in power. After pulling over to inspect, I
> realized something was wrong and had her towed to a indie VW shop here
> in town.
> 
> I just got the call from a mechanic that the sound is that of a rod
> knock and that I'll need some drastic engine work. I'm at a crossroad
> here. I can possibly have someone dig in and rebuild my engine or I
> could go all out and invest in a refurbished engine. The two sources I
> have looked into are:
> 
> http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=4036&category_id=82&category_parent_id=
> 
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=514460/
> 
> Could any of you provide some advice or could share some experience in
> regards to me rebuilding or swapping out my engine? Either with the
> engines mentioned above or others. I'd love to gather the pros and
> cons. I spent a good portion of my morning reading the many posts on
> Samba regarding engines here, especially that one sad story from a guy
> in Vancouver. You tend to get more detail on the bad cases, but there
> has to be some happy owners of replaced engines here. My post is not
> to incite but in the hopes to hear some experiences from vanagon
> owners whom have been put in a similar situation. I wish I was
> mechanically inclined and had garage space to do a project like this,
> but this is not the case.
> 
> This is my second vanagon. I had a reliable blue '87 GL which I sold
> to a good friend in Sausalito, CA:
> http://www.agencia72.com/van.jpg
> 
> Here is a picture of Ebony:
> http://imgur.com/a/DMu0O#.TujsY55-ga0.gmail
> 
> All the best and happy motoring,
> Nirav V. Patel
> 1984 Ivory Westy
> Austin, Tx - USA