I don't know your customer's fiscal circumstances, but if it were me, I'd get a DIFFERENT reliable van.

---- "kenneth wilford (Van-Again)" <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> Last year I rebuilt a 2.1l engine and installed it in a customer's beat up
> but functional 85 Westy Weekender.  The engine ran great and there were
> really no problems until almost at the end of the 12 month warranty.  The
> customer only had 5k miles on the engine and it started having oil leaks at
> the push rod tubes.  I repaired this, then it started leaking at the front
> and rear main seals and the leaks seemed to get worse as she drive more.
>
> She brought it back again and I replaced the engine with another low
> mileage rebuilt engine that I had just bought from someone doing a Subaru
> conversion.  That engine had just driven from New Jersey to Canada (Bens
> Place shop) to get the conversion done with no issues.  I installed the 2nd
> engine and everything seemed fine.  Test drove it 50 miles here before I
> would let her pick it up.  She picked it up and drove around a few days and
> everything was fine.  Went to drive to Michigan and got about 500 miles
> away before the next incident.  She pulled off of the highway and got to a
> gas station when the coolant bottle in the rear released pressure and
> coolant went everywhere.
>
> Took it to a very reputable Vanagon shop in the area and they tested the
> radiator fan which is what I thought caused it, and said that it was
> working fine.  Did some tests to see if the head gaskets had failed and
> none of those tests came back positive.  They had a strange hypothesis that
> even though the tests came back negative, that when the van was driving
> down the road, under heavy load, there would be a very small combustion gas
> leak into the cooling system which would eventually lock up the system and
> cause the van to overheat.  This theory was not confirmed by testing
> because all of the tests for combustion gases in the cooling system that
> the shop did and that I have done since then (4 altogether) have all come
> back negative.
>
> I got the van back here again and the coolant tank cap had failed (it was
> brand new German).  I replaced that and then went to test the radiator fan
> myself.  The fan worked at first then didn't work.  I went to check the
> fuse and it was super old and crusty looking.  I threw it away, cleaned up
> the contacts at the fuse panel and installed a brand new one.  Now the fan
> was working every time.
>
> Jumped in the van and drove for 2 hours at 70-75 mph on the high way,
> stopping a few times to use the rest room, and check to see if the fan was
> working properly.  Everything worked perfectly.  Drove 100 miles no issues
> at all, van running great.
>
> At this point I am thinking that the radiator fan was occasionally not
> working.  This would allow the van to overheat randomly.  I even think that
> my oil leaks on the first motor could have been caused by the overheating,
> but I am not sure how to prove it.
>
> The customer has very little confidence in the van at this point.  She
> thinks it needs heads and head gaskets.  I would be glad to do that work,
> if I thought it was really the problem, or if there was a test I could do
> that would prove it to me.  I would hate to go to all of the extra work and
> expense of doing the head gaskets and new heads only to have her get
> another 1000 miles down the road and have the same thing happen again.
>
> Any advice or help on this would be appreciated.  I am just trying to do my
> best for this customer and get her a reliable van.
>
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com

--
David McNeely