@ItalianScallion For the trifecta. it needed to be a Vanagon Diesel so that once you had arrived, you became a permanent resident, determined never to drive it anywhere again. (The Vanagon with the waterboxer was significantly peppier, but had an annoying tendency to blow a head gasket for no good reason.)
@werehatrack Interesting about the head gasket. Here’s the story on that. The Vanagon water-cooled engine was developed to get more power so the Vanagon wouldn’t be a slug, like the microbus or the earlier air-cooled engines they were built with. Rather than design a new engine, VW adapted the air-cooled engine to be water-cooled. They didn’t do a great job, specifically in adding the water cooling jacket. There were small areas in which coolant didn’t circulate. In those areas, the coolant ate away at the aluminum head causing pitting and eventual leaking of the coolant. This was a fairly common problem with the engine that happened somewhere in the 40,000-mile range of engine life. Sure enough, it happened to mine and the repair was costly. I worked with the dealer that serviced my Vanagon and we got VW to pay for the “solution”: replace the head with a cadmium-plated one that was supposed to greatly slow future corrosion if not resist it completely. I kept the Vanagon until just over 100,000 miles and during that time never had the problem again.
Where?
no
Why?
Yes! I miss my Vanagon Camper for those spontaneous decisions to go to a campground for a few days.
@ItalianScallion For the trifecta. it needed to be a Vanagon Diesel so that once you had arrived, you became a permanent resident, determined never to drive it anywhere again. (The Vanagon with the waterboxer was significantly peppier, but had an annoying tendency to blow a head gasket for no good reason.)
@werehatrack Interesting about the head gasket. Here’s the story on that. The Vanagon water-cooled engine was developed to get more power so the Vanagon wouldn’t be a slug, like the microbus or the earlier air-cooled engines they were built with. Rather than design a new engine, VW adapted the air-cooled engine to be water-cooled. They didn’t do a great job, specifically in adding the water cooling jacket. There were small areas in which coolant didn’t circulate. In those areas, the coolant ate away at the aluminum head causing pitting and eventual leaking of the coolant. This was a fairly common problem with the engine that happened somewhere in the 40,000-mile range of engine life. Sure enough, it happened to mine and the repair was costly. I worked with the dealer that serviced my Vanagon and we got VW to pay for the “solution”: replace the head with a cadmium-plated one that was supposed to greatly slow future corrosion if not resist it completely. I kept the Vanagon until just over 100,000 miles and during that time never had the problem again.
Not since 1977!
Used to do it for a living in a number of different countries. Lots of fun but doesn’t pay much.