On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 9:09 AM, Edward Maglott <emaglott3@gmail.com> wrote:

> Very interesting!  how much oil difference is it?  My friend with a 2002
> Passat had the sludge problem cost him about $1500 iirc.  My understanding
> is that the engine is a nice flat torque curve so might be good for the
> vanagon.  Personally I'd lean toward what Mark D. did for an engine swap.
>
>
   I have a similar conversion to Mark's and I'll second it as a very good
option and quite a bit less spendy than $12k......like about $11,300
cheaper.  Mine cost me $600 all total, but I started with the diesel stuff
already in the van...I still have about $500 worth of parts that came on my
$300 93 Jetta motor that I have yet to re-sell.   I have about 30k miles on
this ABA motor now and it IS a keeper....
  Don Hanson