Well I'm getting down to the last few things before I can try to crank the engine.     I'm still waiting for some parts to come in the mail, notably a coolant hose and the breather hose.    Other than that all is hooked up, thanks to some very knowledgeable assistance from some folks on this forum.   With any luck I will have them Monday.
Today I ran into another oddity.    I wanted to put fresh oil in the engine.   Hmmm.     The engine did not have a plastic filler tube so first I had to fit the one that came with the van.     That was a real struggle.     Then I find I cant put oil in it.   Its too high.    You should be able to open the number plate door , remove the cap, pull out the telescoping tube and pour.    That is not possible at present.    I cant remove the cap and if I could, the telescoping tube would completely miss the opening.

I'm guessing that the filler tube for a syncro is taller and perhaps bent differently than a 2wd filler.   Can someone please confirm this?

I'm thinking I will remove the filler that I have and somehow change the shape so that the telescoping tube will exit the opening.  Otherwise I will have to go shopping again.

Thanks for any help.

Steve

On May 2, 2013, at 11:21 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:

> there is no such thing as a two wire screw-in temp sensor for a vanagon.
> 
> take your yellow/red temp sender wire and connect it to the single contact on your screw-in temp sensor.
> I think it will work just fine if you don't even connect the brown ground wire..
> I think that  goes to ground anyway ..
> but you can ground that brown wire .  
> 
> can sell you a plastic 2WD t-stat housing if you wish, new.
> the metal one is better. Obviously.
> the plastic ones shrink, dissolve, and generally fail in silly ways, eventually.
> 
> Don't overthink it. 
> 
> cat converter cable ???  No wires go to the cat. 
> perhaps you mean oxygen sensor .   
> that connector is easy to identify ..
> the green coax........that's 02 sensor signal  feed to the ecu.
> the double plug is 02 heat.
> anytime the engine is running you should see 12 volts there. 
> 
> On 5/2/2013 8:12 PM, Steve Cotsford wrote:
>> OK  I think I have solved my mystery connector issue.   Dennis put me on the right track.
>> 
>> I have discovered that my engine is from an '86 syncro.     As such, it has a METAL thermostat housing and a temp gauge sender that just has one wire (fits like a nail head on the sender instead of a plug.     This sender screws into the housing.
>> 
>> The van is an '89 2wd and presumably it had a PLASTIC thermostat housing on the original engine.   It seems it had a 2 wire temp gauge sender as the wires in Bentley jive with this (two pin, red/yellow and brown wires).    The sender would have been held in place with an o-ring and clip.
>> 
>> What I need to find now is a two wire temp gauge sender that threads into the metal thermostat housing.   Alternatively, I need a plastic thermostat housing to take the place of the metal one, so I can install the sender that gets held in place with an o-ring and clip.
>> 
>> Does anyone know if in fact there is screw in two temp gauge sender ?       If there is, I believe it would be for a 1987-1991 syncro with metal thermostat housing.
>> 
>> Its confusing that both the temp gauge sender cable and the catalytic converter cable have plugs with same color wires (red/yellow and brown) as well as the same kind of connector.    Only the length of the pigtail differentiates them. 
>> 
>> 
>