This is the infamous Vanagon Lifter Syndrome. For whatever reason,
virtually all the WBX  lifters bleed down one time or another after sitting
a while, and sometimes from one stop to the next. They rattle until they
pump up again. Harmless enough. Just drive the thing a half hour or so or
some distance until they pump up. The noise goes away!

John
On Apr 11, 2015 11:52 AM, "Richard Smith" <richard_smith@gnwc.ca> wrote:

> Mine developed this noise, too, after a long storage the winter before
> last. It would *sometimes* go away if I got the engine warmed up
> completely and then shut it down for 20-30 minutes. A more experienced
> engine person than me attributed this to different metals all getting to
> the same temperature and then cooling together.
>
> I was assured by the mechanic that it wasn¹t harmful (the noise is valve
> ³lifters² not the valves themselves), and lived with it for quite a while.
> During a recent major tuneup and oil change, the mechanic added some
> Automatic Transmission Fluid to the engine oil and let the engine idle for
> an hour (!). Then he drained the oil and replaced it. The noise has
> (almost) completely gone away.
>
> You may find that your noise goes away by itself after driving it for a
> few days. I would certainly try that first before doing any more serious
> things. And the Automatic Transmission Fluid ³fix² may or may not have
> been a real thing, but it cost next to nothing and seems to have worked
> for me.
>
> The best way to keep it away is to drive it regularly, if find.
>
>
>
> On 2015-04-11, 9:01 AM, "Stuart Fedak" <ve3smf@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
> >I just picked up my 1986 Vanagon Westfalia GL 2.1 from storage, where it
> >has been for the past six months.  The engine started up fine, but it now
> >has a sticky valve type sound on the driver side of the engine.  This
> >noise was not there last fall when the Vanagon was put into storage.
> >
> >Is this something that has to be corrected right away, or is this
> >something that will go away with time?  What could cause this noise from
> >happening, right after longer term storage?
> >
> >Your thoughts?
> >Stuart
> >Ottawa, ON
> >
> >Sent from my electronic umbilicus
>