I'll be the first to admit that in my former days, the whole 'never
needs adjusting' thing VW purported with hydraulic lifters led me to
believe just that. I'll also be the first to admit that I had
misunderstandings re: the WBX in general. All told, list reading
included, it was easy to assume that the WBX was a compromised beast
from the get go (new). Obviously not true. Many have reported high
miles on either WBX. At least we're not dealing with a Vega engine.

I'm staying the course for now with my '88. With luck, and as I
develop better WBX skills, it should last a while. (famous last
words?) Who knows? I have little to no work history on this engine.

Great to hear of other peoples WBX success though.

Neil.

On 11/27/14, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Yes the water boxer is miss understood. Poor service in the automotive world
> is not Vanagon specific. Hydraulic lifters are also not unique to this
> engine nor are their limitations and sometimes quirky behavior. What does
> make this vehicle-engine combination is the number of folks that buy them
> and try to become self-service combined with the number of service providers
> earning while learning that may not even have experience in general. In the
> automotive service world the technicians that have had any level of formal
> mechanical or electrical training is a small percentage and most rely on
> peer training and repeat experience.
>

--
Neil n

Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>

1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>

1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>

Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>