Date:         Thu, 4 Dec 1997 01:49:49 EST
Reply-To:     JLDilworth <JLDilworth@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From:         JLDilworth <JLDilworth@AOL.COM>
Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com)
Subject:      Oil in intake air distributor (2.1L)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

I recently bought an 86 Westy syncro with 73K miles on it.  About 1200 miles
before, the valves and rings were redone on the left cylinders.  The PO said
he had been driving along when suddenly there was a big cloud of smoke, and no
compression in one cylinder.  The shop that did the work said that there had
been oil in the intake air plenum that had evidently caused fouling that led
to burned valves.  They thought they had straightened out the cause (having to
do with the crankcase breather circuit), but didn't seem to completely
understand it.  They did inspect the plenum after the repairs and found it dry
(although in retrospect I recall that the crankcase oil level was low when
they made that check).  They told me that after the new rings break in (which,
I was told, might take a while because they used "high quality German rings,
which are very hard"), oil consumption should be minimal.

Maybe it's a matter of the new rings not sealing yet (how long should it
take?) but now that I've driven it another 1000 miles and had to add 3 quarts
of oil, I'm feeling a little perplexed.  For one thing, I have the impression
that when I add oil up to the top mark on the dipstick that the level drops
back to about 3/4 of the way to the low mark very quickly.  Thereafter it
seems to go down at a much more leisurely (and less scary) rate.  But it makes
me wonder if oil isn't still escaping via the crankcase breather.  I could
understand this happening if there were too much oil in the engine (the PO
said that his episode happened shortly after an oil change at JiffyLube, and
thought that it might have been over filled), but I've been careful to try not
to do that.  Is there something else that could cause that -- plugged oil
passages or something?

If I sound a little tentative about the oil consumption rates, it's because
I'm having a lot of trouble getting consistent readings from the dip stick.
Compared to my old 83 (1.9L) van, this one seems very touchy.  Often when I
check the level it seems a little higher than it was the time before.  Then
next time it'll be a lot lower. Maybe it's more dependent on the vehicle being
completely level, but that's not all there is to it.  For example, yesterday I
parked in a pretty level place, waited a minute or two and checked the oil.
It was right about at the lower mark on the dipstick.  Then I left it standing
for about 30 minutes, and checked it again.  This time it was much lower --
just above the twist on the dipstick.  I would've thought it was down about
1.7 quarts, if the marks are 1 quart apart, like the book says.  I also
would've thought that after standing, more oil would have drained down, and
the level should've been higher, not lower.  With the van still in the same
place I added only one half quart of oil and checked again.  Now it was about
2/3 of the way up between the marks -- about a quart higher than I would've
predicted.  Maybe my Vanagon dipstick technique is faulty, but it seemed to
work ok on the old van.  I'm pretty confused.

If anyone can shed any light on any of this, I'd be greateful.  Thanks.

-John