Did you check the advance mechanism for proper twisting motion? It is common for the mechanism to get corroded enough to be stiff or even stuck. 

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Tyler Hardison
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 8:54 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Tune Up Poll

At the risk of taking this list off PG-13...

Guess whose little felt got a drop of lubricant tonight??

:)

On Thursday, February 18, 2016, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) < scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

> I would say that on a waterboxer engine, the spark plugs barely wear 
> *at
> all* ~!
>
> Like 'maybe' the gaps will expand and electrodes get rounded ...a tiny 
> bit over time.
> I have boxes of used waterboxer Bosch and NGK spark plugs that are 
> good for thousands of miles yet.
>
> However...
> "It's NOT the parts ! ..it's the adjustments."
>
> for sure ...throttle switches fail to make contact after a while.
> Most that I have seen have not been adjusted since the Dark Ages.
> Some are corroded or worn beyond normal adjustment range, but still 
> can be tweaked.
>
> timing doesn't get off at all normally.
>
> air filters 'may' get a little dirty eventually ..easily cleaned ...I 
> just turn mine over and tap them on a clean concrete floor ...tons of 
> dust comes out that way.
>
> spark plug wires ..mostly those last really well...
> but ...they don't last forever.
>
> Rocker arm adjustment ...ideally those never need attention ..
> but sometimes they do. Pretty rare.
>
> Oxygen sensor ...I'm sure there are Many of those running in Vanagons 
> mostly dead or lalzy.
>
> Coolant temperature ..very important that it runs up to proper temp.
> 1/3 on the guage is not good, it's very bad.
>
> Changing the coolant.
> you can't change that too often. You never get all the old out ..
> Just look at any place a coolant hose goes on an aluminum connection 
> ...corrossion forms there easily ...
> ...that's how the head gasket area inside the engine looks.
>
> Bosch distributor caps and rotors..
> i carry good spares ..but those last practically indefinitely.
>
> for example...every 1.9 waterboxer distributor has a felt pad under 
> the rotor.
> Does anyone even remember about those or know what they are for ?
> I've seen multi-thousand dollar rebuilds turned out without a drop or 
> two of oil ..or even looking at it, on that felt that is there to lube 
> the centrifulgal advance.
>
> and ..checked that the centrifugal advance is functioning properly 
> ..that's part of a real 'tune up' ..right ?
>
> it's not 'the parts' ..it's the Service and Adjustment of things, and 
> inspection .
>
> What good to new spark plugs do if say ....vaccuum leaks develope 
> slowly over time here and there ?
>
> it's far more the lack of service, and keeping the very few 
> adjustments correct, than it is 'replacing parts'.
>
> The parts barely wear if you keep it in Full Proper Running Order.
>
> they should start, idle, run, and accelerate perfectly. When they 
> don't ....it's not usually from parts not being changed..unless it's 
> been totally forever.
>
> have fun !
> Scott
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2/18/2016 9:23 AM, Dan N wrote:
>
>> I would say 2 oil changes...
>>
>> oil filter every oil change
>>
>> spark plugs wire every 4 oil changes
>>
>> depending what kind of oil you use approx between 8K miles to 10K 
>> miles
>>
>>