Hi Volks,

Colleen took the Vanagon to work today; got within a mile of the house
and was just exiting the highway after a 12-minute run when the motor
quit on her. It gave no warning, no sign of a problem at the dash; it
just made a quiet clicking sound and stopped running. Attempting to
restart just gave a click at the starter. There was a puddle of coolant
on the ground but no blown hoses; I am pretty sure the ill-fitting cap
blew off the overflow tank after the fact. If the coolant had gone out
of it beforehand I am sure Colleen would have seen a guage flashing.

I drove out to the scene with my Baywindow, and I couldn't turn the
engine by hand or with the starter. We towed it home and backed it up
the driveway to consider the options.

The engine on this van has been an enigma from the get-go; it's an
unknown-history 1.9L block wearing 2.1 cooling and FI. It was running
strong right up until it wasn't; though the fuel milage did drop back in
November. Compression was 100/145/100/145 when checked back in February;
a complete overhaul of the ignition system in March did nothing to
improve it.

Luckily, I have a spare engine in the garage; a 1.9L VW of Canada reman
which I was told has low miles on it. It looks very clean and has
excellent compression. I will talk to my local shop on Monday and see
how soon they can swap it for me. I could probably do it myself, but I
need it done ASAP and am just too busy right now with other projects.

Comments, commiseration & friendly advice would certainly be appreciated.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
1987 Wolfsburg Weekender Hardtop
www.busesofthecorn.com
www.pottsfamily.ca