Date:         Fri, 28 Dec 2001 09:59:21 -0600
Reply-To:     John Hawk <jhawk@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Hawk <jhawk@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
Subject:      Re: 85 Westfalia (New to me) Help please
Comments: To: max2@BELLSOUTH.NET
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hello Brad,

Cute story.  On the drain plug.  I mistakenly had a regular oil change place change my oil and they 
stripped my plug.  They also put the wrong filter on once and it blew out dropping all my oil.  
I do my own oil changes now.  I have an 84 manual and an 84 GL automatic.  And a 68 westy.
I think you should pry out the plug while turning it.  Go to Farm and fleet and get a bigger one.
The guys at the oil change place just stuck a bigger one in and force threaded it.  It's been fine.
I don't know what others on the list think to that????  As for the cooling.  I get overflows too.  My light 
doesn't go red.  I seem to get better heat at higher rpms but it is always warm.  I'd be interested 
in knowing how to do all this too.

John

>>> Brad Williamson <max2@BELLSOUTH.NET> 12/28 12:35 PM >>>
Hello everyone:
 I'm pretty new so please be kind. I just bought a 85 westie with 93K miles on it. I'm not new to VWs as I have an 88 GTI 16V and a 87 GLI 16V. My last westfalia was a air cooled 78 campmobile( I sold in the fall of 95 ) we called her"The Snickers bus" and I miss her still. We ended up calling her Snickers because of her Rich Chocolate brown paint and her creamy nougat colored poptop and .... she was packed with nuts. She was a sweet little bus,always smiling. We used to do the Summer tours following the Greateful Dead. Snickers would roll into the parking lot and we would start looking for other bussed to park next to. I didnt know it then ,but out there in that big parking lot, was a sweet girl who owned a 68 Creamy white westfalia.The Girl who now will soon be my wife. I remember seeing that bus of hers i think. we ended up meeting in Collage at Michiganin 96 after our busses were long gone and now its time that we get a new one. I was reading the posts you all wrote and I see im not the only one with such a love for the VW van.

 Ok so with all that said. Onto this 85 westie. She has some wired problems I cant seem to figure out.
its got a 1.9 liter, 4 speed manual trans,and A/C that is not working. when i picked the bus up the guy told me it needs a radiator. It works but it gets plugged up he said.And then you have to burp it,open the cap in the back and let air out,or do it in the front with a 13mm at the bleeder bolt on the radiator. He said he put a new thermostat in it and he is sure its the radiator. here is what happens.
  I start the bus and pull out onto the road, i drive for say 8 miles and finaly there is heat coming out of the vents on the dash and then cold air,then hot,now cold. it will do that till i get to where im going. and sometimes the red light will blink when the needle is in the middle of the heat gage and instantly it will peg to the over heat mark. So when it does this I put the clutch in and turn of the bus, coast for about 20 seconds and turn the key on and let out the clutch.air bubble ? like the guy said ?the bus runs fine and the needle goes back to about the middle of the gage. cold air then hot air coming out of the front vents still.The back heater under the seat in dissconected. Now i drive for 25 miles, i have to do the coast thing once, and when i get home the tank in the back of the bus, the one you can see when you open the liscens plate door, is about 2 inches above the Max mark. it seems to me the over flow tank fills up after a while and the other tank the one with the blue cap and the sensor gets low. 
I took it to the dealer and they want to replace the heads for $3K,another guy says its the thermostat, and another guy says its the radiator. I just got the bus and i knew it had some problems but this is scaering me. Even the oil drain bolt is stripped and wont come out. what do i do about that ?
Anyone know a good reasonable VW master in the Knoxville area?
please send any info you think will help.
how much is a TIICO kit anyways :)