Sounds to me like you have a bad lifter.  Let the engine run for 20 minutes
or so and than drive it slow and the noise should disappear.  The lifters
can be replaced with out a major tear down.  A good mechanic should be able
to find the bad one or two and just change them.  VW sells 2 piece push rod
tubes so the job can be done without removing the heads.

Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Clark <clarkman@MAIL.ISERV.NET>
To: Vanagon@GERRY.SDSC.EDU <Vanagon@GERRY.SDSC.EDU>
Date: Saturday, December 06, 1997 2:09 PM
Subject: Bad heads and a noise

>Hey folks..this is my first post! Am the proud owner of a '90 Vanagon
>that's got lotsa seats and the fold down bed. Pretty plain but has A/C
>(needs a recharge of freon or something, tho..)
>
>But unfortunately, I seem to have developed the classic bad heads at 103k
>miles ( I just got the bus back in May at 97k ) and to top things off,
>there's a badd tapping sound that keeps time with the revs of the engine.
>Speculation has been that the valves are getting hit by the piston, and it
>does kinda have that metal-hitting-metal sound. What's gonna happen? and
>does a reputable shop's price of over 2000 smackers to fix the head thing
>sound right?
>
>I want to keep this bus; I like the way it fits me and drives..but I just
>started making payments on the 4000 buck loan I took out on the thing and
>can't really afford the engine work right now. If I WERE to sell..what's it
>worth as it sits now? (Body wise no rust to speak that much of, and its
>rather clean, but not perfect)
>
>Thanks in advance for any glimmerings on these issues
>
>Dan Clark
>90 Vanagon
>