After months of of procrastination and rationalization I've finally gone out
and found myself a vanagon.

It's an 89 Carat with 143K on it. Head gaskets done at 111K. Brand new
Michelins all around. Body used and dinged here and there but pretty solid.
Recent muffler, linkage and clutch. I paid 4K for it.

Here's the problem: The vehicle is doing the oil light/buzzer routine.
Intermittent...but usually between 2200 and 2900 RPM after about a 15 minute
warm up. Got the vehicle this past week and haven't changed the oil yet.
Sometimes the buzzing just stops and doesn't start again until next trip. I
thought (perhaps rather naively) that this shouldn't be a huge problem because
both my Fox and Jetta started doing the same sort of thing at around 125K.
Both have been passed on to new owners and currently have over 160K and 200K
respectively (I like to keep tabs on my old VWs).

Is this oil pressure guessing game typical of high mileage Vanagons or have I
just seen a lot about it because resolving the underlying cause is so
frustrating? I never did seem to get it completely under control with the
other two cars (checked connections, changed oil, changed filter, etc), but
the vehicles never seemed to manifest any real pressure problems.

I looked and sniffed and couldn't find any signs of leaking coolant. The
coolant seemed a bit low, but I topped it out for now, with plans for a flush
and replacement with Autobahn next week (it smells and looks like Prestone in
the expansion chamber... uh oh!). The temperature indicator never gets past
the leading edge of the LED (ran just past it on the Fox and Jetta). It seems
to be running cooler than I would expect. Turning on the heat gives good heat
front and back (again, no smell).

I'm going to attempt an oil and filter change this weekend (should I go with
20-50 until I figure this out or use the Castrol 5-50 I have in the garage?).

So what does the collective wisdom of this group think? Am I paranoid? Should
I just work it through and shut up? Are actual oil pressure problems that
prevalent in this engine? When does this engine typically start to have bottom
end problems (assuming normal treatment)?

Any thoughts appreciated. I'll be more brief in the future.

Paul Damiani
89 Carat (not orange)