I took her over to Austin Vee Dub.
http://www.austinveedub.com/
They seem like a good group of guys and I've met a few of themechanics
(one whom owns a vanagon) on the monthly VW ride thathappens on the
first Thursday of the month.
Thanks for the response,+nirav
On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 4:30 PM, Chris S. <szpejankowski@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
> Wys�ane z iPhone'a
>
> Dnia Dec 14, 2011 o godz. 17:05 nirav patel <agencia72@GMAIL.COM> napisa�(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