Hello dear reader,
We left off the story last night after Steve and I got my '81 Vanagon
engine started after head surgery.

It was making quite a loud noise which I attributed to an exhaust leak.
Plus it was smoking like the Marlboro Man thanks to the oil I spilled on
the exhaust! Woohoo, what a smell!

Anyway, today I pulled the left side heat exchanger thinking my leak was
there.  I did find a pretty screwed up gasket but after I replaced it
and re-installed the exchanger, there was no real difference in the
noise.

So, I said, it could be lifters (they are hydraulic) though I've never
heard them this loud before (of course, perhaps my ears were fooled
because the engine was running in a garage and echoing -- yes the doors
were open).  So I did a quickie valve adjustment and found not one
spongy lifter like I found when I originally did the adjustment, but
instead like 5 spongy lifters.  Now THAT could make a racket :-)

So I adjusted everything carefully (due to the spongy lifters) and let
it run for a few minutes.  I crawled under with the engine running and
could not detect any exhaust leaks.  After a few minutes most of the
lifters seem to have pumped up, with the possible exception of 1 or 2. I
will take it out on the road soon and try to get the others to pump up.
I gotta let the engine cool down a bit before I can install the lower
tin and hook up the heat pipes.  Also gotta time it before I go driving
around in this heat!  Hopefully it will run significantly cooler.

I will also do a compression check when I get done with my drive.

Sean Bartnik
Fairfax, Virginia
============================
'81 Vanagon L Westfalia
'74 Karmann Ghia convertible
http://www.type2.com/bartnik/tech.htm

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