Jonathan, thank you for your excellent suggestion.  I got my shirt dirty,
but I found the problem.  One of the two bolts holding the pipe to the left
rear cylinder had fallen out.  I had a new exhaust system installed in
April.

John Lauterbach
----- Original Message -----
From: Cooper, Jonathan R. <cooper@mbq.com>
To: 'John Lauterbach' <jhlauterbach@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 1999 11:31 AM
Subject: RE: tappet noise or worse?

> Sounds silly but make sure your exhaust gaskets are still sound. I had
> this problem and it took forever to diagnose. One day someone just
> looked up at the right angle and saw where it had blown out a little.
> Just a thought
>
>
>
> Jonathan R. Cooper
> Martindale, Brzytwa & Quick LLC
> 900 Skylight Office Tower
> Cleveland, OH 44113
> Cooper@MBQ.com
> jonathanrcooper@worldnet.att.net
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Lauterbach [mailto:jhlauterbach@EMAIL.MSN.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 1999 9:01 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: tappet noise or worse?
>
>
> My '84 (1.9L engine) has come down with an apparent case of tappet
> noise.
> However, another list member has suggested that it might be connecting
> rod
> noise.  I added 1 qt Rislone last night and have driven about 25 miles
> since
> then.  The noise has not gone away.  The noise started last Thursday
> night
> when I was out grocery shopping.  The noise gets louder when the engine
> is
> under load.  Performance seems okay.  I suspect that the van has 150,000
> +
> miles on it although the odometer shows only 80,000.  The heads are not
> leaking and compression this time last year was 125 psig in all
> cylinders.
> I really don't want to have my mechanic do exploratory surgery unless
> absolutely necessary.  If it is connecting rod noise, how long will
> engine
> survive assuming better than average maintenance?
>
>
>
> John Lauterbach
> Macon, GA