Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 12:25:03 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: FW: "Extraordinarily bad engines"
In-Reply-To: <01BD5B0D.FDA2F6A0.lahorgue@ix.netcom.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Having wasserboxer die (or not require a head fix) at 170,000mi
(~250,000km) would be a blessing to what I have seen. There are lots of
wasserboxers that have head leaking heads under 60,000mi (~100,000km). To
get the dealer to rebuild a leaking head is quoted here (Canada) at about
$1500. C$1500 is a lot of money the last time I looked! And knowing that
the wasserboxer **WILL** leak again is not comforting news to me. This is
why I am swapping over to the inline 4 VW engine that is found in the VW
Rabbit & Golf. The cost of the adapter kit and flywheel is C$700 and to
locate a decent engine would cost about $500 to $700. For a total cost of
C$1400 plus labour to do the swap so lets call it C$2000 total. Now
granted this is the same price (if not a little more) as rebuilding one
side of the wasserboxer but I expect that the Golf engine will last at
least 300,000 km before I should start thinking about a rebuild. When this
time comes I will just buy another one at about $500. The swap would take
an afternoon and I am going again. After the initial hassle of doing the
wasserboxer to I4 swap the maintainance level goes way down the the power
and reliablity goes way up (most likely fuel effenciency too).
At 12:22 3/29/98 +0100, Frank LaHorgue wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: AVPWW [SMTP:AVPWW@aol.com]
>Sent: Sunday, March 29, 1998 6:31 PM
>To: lahorgue@IX.NETCOM.COM
>Subject: Re: "Extraordinarily bad engines"
>
>Hello,Sir if you got 170,000 out of a vanagon, that is considered average.
>wev'e had customers that were up tro 200,000, but most are between 170-190.
>You actually got normal expected life, and wb engines aren't all BAD. If well
>maintained, there's lots of people who absoleutely love them, and wouldn't
>even consider swapping for another style because of hassle, and cost. You can
>get a rebuild for 1650. and it should last you 150,000-200,000 with proper
>maintenance. All the folks talking bad on the vans and considering swapping
>don't appear to be true VW lovers. Thanks AVP
>
>Thanks for the feedback on my bad engine post. I intend to do a better
job caring for my rebuilt engine than I did the original. Frank
>
>
-- David Marshall Email: david@volkswagen.org --
-- 78 1.8L VW Rabbit, 80 2.0L VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KQ --
-- 85 VW Cabrio, 88 VW Syncro Double Cab Transporter --
-- Volkswagen Homepage http://www.volkswagen.org --
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-- USE DAVID@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG WHEN SENDIGN EMAIL --
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