Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:53:44 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject: Re: Diesel Powered Vanagons
In-Reply-To: <000601c5be97$1ee6aba0$6400a8c0@masterpc>
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Dennis,
I'm going to have to disagree at least just a little bit. I drive my 90
waterboxer less often than my diesel westy, because I get great mileage
in the diesel and it's competent and fun to drive.
First, you're talking about something very subjective here. The diesel
vanagon, for this particular owner, might be just the ticket, or it
might be a poor choice. But saying that a diesel owner would only be
happy with a 1.9 (till he needs parts) or that he needs a TDI just
ain't so in many cases. Including my own, to some extent.
I say to some extent because I haven't had my diesel westy for hundreds
of thousands of miles so I can't personally vouch for the fact that
they can run a very very long time, but the PO ran mine for 224000
miles before I got it.
I build a new TD engine up this summer and it is a pleasure to drive.
I'm getting up to 28.1 mpg, and it now flies over hills it once
struggled up. Because the engine is in good shape and the injector pump
rebuilt, it no longer is smoky and barely smelly (what car smells GOOD,
anyway?).
But it wasn't all that bad even without the turbo engine. The old tired
engine did smoke a bit and burn oil, but the new one doesn't.
How long will it stay that way? I don't know, but it isn't that hard or
expensive to do.
A lot of cars have no bearings, including honda engines that run for
hundreds of thousands of miles. Why choose that feature to pick on? I
have about five good 1.6 diesel heads, all good (I think) so they can't
be that self-destruction or they wouldn't be so common. And not one of
them has a cam bearing problem that I can discern.
Anyway, I love driving mine and would love to have a plain van (they
get along better with the NA engine because they are lighter than the
westy) since I have this spare diesel NA lying around to rebuild.
If the original poster wants to see what diesel owners think about
their vanagons, come on over to the Yahoo! list for diesel vanagons.
I don't think in the entire archives you'll find a single post about a
cam bearing problem.
BTW bus depot sells cam bearings for the diesels if you just have to
have them.
And yes, the power of the 1.9 or 1.9 TD (or TDI/TD hybrid that Karl
Mullendorf creates) would be a boon. It just wouldn't be cost-effective
for most of us, compared to what these durable little engines provide
for the money.
Jim
On Sep 21, 2005, at 5:27 AM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> The 1.9 is much better than the 1.6. It is still a bit of a dirty
> smelly
> beast and every 100K will be an accomplishment. Another problem with
> these is the cam bearing saddles in the head wearing out. There are no
> bearings, just the cam against the aluminum.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Arnott [mailto:jrasite@eoni.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 11:24 PM
> To: Dennis Haynes
> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Diesel Powered Vanagons
>
> On Tuesday, September 20, 2005, at 07:14 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
>
>> Unless you are looking to modify it with say 1.9 TDI or otherwise
>> tinker, I'd steer clear. They are grossly under powered, no AC or
> power
>> steering. The like to crack heads, blow head gaskets, and destroy
>> rings.
>>
>>
>> Dennis
>
