This is a known problem (it's even talked about in Bentley).  There
is a new O-ring that isn't supposed to break in the cold.

- Frank

 >This is for those of you who are "fortunate" enough to own a Vanagon with 
 >an oil cooler.  CHECK IT NOW !  Before it's too late  !
 >The other day it was -35 out, yes I said -35 and that's centigrade for you 
 >Americans, my female partner went out, started the van to warm it up for her 
 >drive to work.  After having some breakfast and getting dressed she went out 
 >and next thing I hear is, FRANK ! something's wrong with the van !.  Well, I 
 >go to look and see a large puddle of oil on the snow and it's pissing
 >out from  somewhere underneath like there is no tomorrow.  SHUT IT OFF, I
 >YELL !  So..I go get dressed and open the garage and start it up and back it 
 >in and it's making like the crankshaft wants to come out and the racket is 
 >deafening or is it my imagination thinking of how expensive a new motor is !  
 >So....I get it in the garage and fill it with oil and start it to see where 
 >the leak is... ya hoo !  Found it, behind the oil filter, so what's this 
 >gizmo behind the oil filter anyway ?  Well, it turns out to be THE OIL 
 >COOLER !,  I didn't know I had an oil cooler !  So I go about taking the
 >oil filter off and finding the nut that holds the oil cooler on and find 
 >out that it's loose.  I decide to tighten it before looking more as it seems 
 >complicated to remove it.  Well, it still leaked so I had to remove the
 >cooler to find the BROKEN O-ring behind.  Whether or not the -35 temp. had 
 >anything to do with this is not sure.  All I know is that the van got started 
 >at -35 without the aid of the blockheater which was plugged in but the
 >DAMN GROUND FAULT DETECTOR detected ground and NO POWER.....THANKS A LOT !
 >After rumaging around in my junk I found an O-ring to fit and got the
 >engine going but was making a loud clacking sound, sure sounded like a rod
 >bearing to me, BUT after some investigation with a srewdriver as a sound
 >probe the noise was detected near the top end of the cylinder under the
 >alternator.  Taking off the valve cover while the engine was running and
 >prying on the rocker arms a bit the noise went away when I did the second
 >rocker in.  COLLAPSED lifter  !  YEA !.  Not a rod bearing  !  Well, the
 >moral of this story is, check your oil cooler and change that O-ring if
 >it's suspect.  Mine was cooked - hard - brittle - so the high oil pressure
 >at - 35 startup blew it, most probable scenario.  I guess I was lucky that
 >the noise was just a collapsed lifter, it COULD have been worse !
 >
 >Cheers,
 >
 >Frank, how long can a Vanagon engine run without oil ?
 >
 >
 >-- 
 >              *  Frank Condelli  *  Kinburn, Ontario, Canada  * 
 >                      *  ad793@Freenet.carleton.ca  *
 >

-------------------------------------------------
Frank Terhaar-Yonkers		fty@vislab.epa.gov
Martin Marietta Technical Services/U.S. EPA
P.O. Box 14365,	 Mail Stop 4201-2,  RTP,  NC  27709
voice - (919)541-2297		fax - (919)541-3967

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