On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Urs Rothacher wrote:
> We are looking for a 81-87 Westie.
> Yesterday I was testdriving a 82 4spd man gas and it accelerated very
> slowly (I have driven Vanagons before but this one was *very* slow).
> The owner mentioned that the cylinder pressure is low and this is the
> reason for the weakness and that the engine would maybe have to be
> rebuilt again. The bus hat 190000miles and 25000? after last (top?)
> rebuilt.
> I am a car dummie and couldn't find a good explanation for this in any
> FAQ.
> Q: Can anyone guess what's wrong with the engine?

As a first guess I'd say the owner is telling the truth -- if the
compression is low the power is low.  Before I rebuilt mine, I
had  60, 90, 120, 120 (in no particular order) and it ran ok,
but not what you'd call lively.

A top-end rebuild only helps with compression if
the valve seals are bad or the valves beat up or the head
cracked (don't laugh...), so that rebuild doesn't really count
for this problem.

I did my usual overkill rebuild job and it cost me a hair over
$2k, including dynamic balancing.  Not cheap.  Under slightly
different circumstances (i.e., if I'd had any money and another
car to drive), I'd have dropped a 1.9L diesel in there instead.

        Gary

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Shea                                       shea@xmission.com
Salt Lake City                      http://www.xmission.com/~shea