For the past few weekends, I've been working away at my engine swap in the Vanagon. I did as much as I could with the new engine for now. This past weekend I started work to pull the existing engine out of the van. So far, I've disconnected all the electrical items and fuel lines. I haven't had more than a few hours each of the past few weekends to get anything done.
This coming weekend I plan to pull the intake manifold and a few remaining items off the old engine to get some more clearance to pull the engine out from below the van. Once that's done, I'll block off and disconnect the cooling system. With any luck, I can unbolt and get the engine out this weekend.
One of the reasons I haven't had much time to work on the van is that I've started to look at project cars again. What, you ask? Old, Mercedes diesels, of course. I don't necessarily regret selling the 220D. If I knew that I was going to find a new engine for the van so soon, I would have held on to the Mercedes. But, such is life, and I'll be happier with a W123.
Not that I need another project - far from it. But, I'm at the point where I'm wired for this, and I feel like I almost need to have something to work on. Plus, I'm still looking for another Subaru to add to the fleet. I haven't committed to buying another Mercedes, but I've certainly got the itch for it again.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Updates on the Dahon and the Vanagon
It occurred to me the other day that I never updated the blog vis-a-vis my progress on the Dahon rebuild project. Well... it's done.
...more or less. Well, it's all reassembled, but it's been too cold and I've been too busy to do the final tuning and take it for a test ride. The biggest obstacle will be tuning the internally-geared 3-speed hub. But, I'll get to it soon.
I've been working on the van's new engine these past weekends. I cleaned it up this past weekend, after stripping off the intake manifold and accessories:
My first load of parts arrived this week, so I'll be doing more work this weekend. I'm waiting until I'm sure there won't be any more snow before I pull the old engine out of the van. The logic is this - aside from dealing with the cold... when it snows, I need to have all my cars off the street and in the driveway. The garage may not be tall enough for pulling the van's engine. I may need to do that outside. If so, and I need to wait for more parts, the van could be sitting outside on ramps for a week or more. It's been a warm winter (55-ish in Boston today), but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. If the van is sitting outside, then there MAY not be enough room to park everything.
This weekend I'll be measuring my jackstands, the ceiling height in the garage, and the height of the engine. If I can, I'll pull the old engine with the van still in the garage, which will also speed the project up.
Also, I randomly picked up a new project last week. Now that the Dahon is "done," I found another folder - a 1990s Fuji Marlboro promo folding bike. I'm saving this project for when I have nothing else to do:
...more or less. Well, it's all reassembled, but it's been too cold and I've been too busy to do the final tuning and take it for a test ride. The biggest obstacle will be tuning the internally-geared 3-speed hub. But, I'll get to it soon.
I've been working on the van's new engine these past weekends. I cleaned it up this past weekend, after stripping off the intake manifold and accessories:
My first load of parts arrived this week, so I'll be doing more work this weekend. I'm waiting until I'm sure there won't be any more snow before I pull the old engine out of the van. The logic is this - aside from dealing with the cold... when it snows, I need to have all my cars off the street and in the driveway. The garage may not be tall enough for pulling the van's engine. I may need to do that outside. If so, and I need to wait for more parts, the van could be sitting outside on ramps for a week or more. It's been a warm winter (55-ish in Boston today), but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods. If the van is sitting outside, then there MAY not be enough room to park everything.
This weekend I'll be measuring my jackstands, the ceiling height in the garage, and the height of the engine. If I can, I'll pull the old engine with the van still in the garage, which will also speed the project up.
Also, I randomly picked up a new project last week. Now that the Dahon is "done," I found another folder - a 1990s Fuji Marlboro promo folding bike. I'm saving this project for when I have nothing else to do:
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Coming soon to a road near you... again
Well, life has a way of surprising us sometimes, doesn't it?
As you know (if you've been reading along these past few months), the Vanagon died way back in October. The bottom end of the engine finally just got tired and wore out on me. That, or the oil pump went and took the bearings with it. Either way, the damage was done.
I contemplated what to do next. Eventually, I got my Mercedes 220D project running again, and put the Vanagon into the garage, presumably for long-term storage until I could afford an engine swap. I even sold the 220D and used the proceeds to start my "Save the Vanagon" fund. As best I could figure, it would be a few years before I could afford to swap in a Subaru EJ22 engine or a Bostig Ford Zetec.
Last week, somewhat randomly, I ran across a local ad on Craigslist... for a good-running VW Vanagon 2.1L waterboxer longblock... cheap. Apparently, it was a running takeout from an engine swap, and I knew the seller already. Well, 24 hours later (give or take a bit) that engine was loaded in the back of the Legacy and I was headed home.
I haven't done much yet, aside from moving the engine out of the Subaru and into the garage. I start this weekend.
The engine is out of an automatic, so I'll need to swap out the flexplate for my clutch and flywheel (from my engine, which is still very much mounted in my van), as well as some other ancillaries which are much newer on my engine. But, I should be rolling again long before the summer.
I know I swore up and down that I wouldn't be putting another VW engine back in, but I couldn't pass it up at this price. This keeps me rolling until I can afford a proper engine swap.
As you know (if you've been reading along these past few months), the Vanagon died way back in October. The bottom end of the engine finally just got tired and wore out on me. That, or the oil pump went and took the bearings with it. Either way, the damage was done.
I contemplated what to do next. Eventually, I got my Mercedes 220D project running again, and put the Vanagon into the garage, presumably for long-term storage until I could afford an engine swap. I even sold the 220D and used the proceeds to start my "Save the Vanagon" fund. As best I could figure, it would be a few years before I could afford to swap in a Subaru EJ22 engine or a Bostig Ford Zetec.
Last week, somewhat randomly, I ran across a local ad on Craigslist... for a good-running VW Vanagon 2.1L waterboxer longblock... cheap. Apparently, it was a running takeout from an engine swap, and I knew the seller already. Well, 24 hours later (give or take a bit) that engine was loaded in the back of the Legacy and I was headed home.
I haven't done much yet, aside from moving the engine out of the Subaru and into the garage. I start this weekend.
The engine is out of an automatic, so I'll need to swap out the flexplate for my clutch and flywheel (from my engine, which is still very much mounted in my van), as well as some other ancillaries which are much newer on my engine. But, I should be rolling again long before the summer.
I know I swore up and down that I wouldn't be putting another VW engine back in, but I couldn't pass it up at this price. This keeps me rolling until I can afford a proper engine swap.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Musings on automotive diagnostics
Part of owning a car, and for me, part of having owned a LOT of cars, is dealing with a lot of problems. I've never had the money for a new car, and have thus never had a car in for warranty service. Why is this worth mentioning? Well, the long and the short of it is that any problem that crops up with the car is ultimately my responsibility.
Early on, this meant making a dreaded trip to the mechanic when some part or other would fail. Eventually, I started doing my own work, bit by bit. At this point, I haven't taken one of my own cars to a mechanic in about five years. Keep in mind I drive 25,000 miles a year or so, and have plenty that needs to be fixed on a regular basis.
Of course, before I can fix something, I need to determine what the problem is. Some things are obvious. Failed brakes spring to mind. As does worn-out suspension. But, when the car doesn't start, or doesn't run just right, I need to get into detective mode.
I had to do quite a bit of this last year, especially with the Vanagon and the 220D. The van had one problem after another until the engine failed on me in October. Even if I had been a bit quicker with my diagnostics, I wouldn't have been able to save it. The engine was just tired. As for the 220D, once I decided I needed to get it out of storage, I went through a lot of troubleshooting before the engine actually started for me.
With both of those cars, the thinking was all on me. I'd have to pay attention to what each car was (or wasn't doing) and use my best reasoning skills to figure out what the problem was. For the record, I did get the 220D to start and sold it running a little over a month ago.
Fast forward to this past week. The Legacy is my only running car at the moment, and takes me 45 miles each way in and out of work. If something breaks or otherwise malfunctions, I need to figure it out and fix it quickly. This past week, I was in exactly that situation.
On Tuesday, I was on my way home from work. It was wet and freezing, and I was on the highway. I was only a few miles into my journey when for no explicable reason, the "check engine" light, also known as a CEL or MIL (malfunction indicator light) came on. For me this was a new experience, as the 1995 Legacy I bought last year is the first car I've owned with a modern diagnostics system. This system, known officially as OBDII (on-board diagnostics 2) allows you to plug a scanner into the car and learn what the problem is.
I digress. I pulled off the road to check the car over. Nothing obvious was wrong. The car still seemed to have all its power and wasn't running any different. I opted to continue on my journey. When I got close to home, I stopped at the local Autozone. For those that don't know, Autozone will hook up a scanner and pull the trouble codes for you. This is convenient for me, as I don't own an OBDII scanner yet.
The clerk scanned the car and came up with a single trouble code - P0420 - Catalyst efficiency below threshold - bank 1. Long story short, this likely indicates a problem with an oxygen sensor or catalytic converter. I did some checking, and for my car the most likely candidate was the front oxygen sensor. Still, I decided to reset my engine computer and see if the code came back.
A little later in the week, I disconnected the car's battery while I was at work. As of today, several hundred miles later, the check engine light has not come back on again. Long story short, it looks like I got lucky, and the original "problem" was probably just a momentary sensor glitch, due to the cold, wet weather I was driving in on my way home.
So, the OBD codes aren't definitive, but they do help narrow down potential problems. As for me, I'm happy with the system. I'd much rather have a false alarm than have a sudden failure without any advance warning at all.
Early on, this meant making a dreaded trip to the mechanic when some part or other would fail. Eventually, I started doing my own work, bit by bit. At this point, I haven't taken one of my own cars to a mechanic in about five years. Keep in mind I drive 25,000 miles a year or so, and have plenty that needs to be fixed on a regular basis.
Of course, before I can fix something, I need to determine what the problem is. Some things are obvious. Failed brakes spring to mind. As does worn-out suspension. But, when the car doesn't start, or doesn't run just right, I need to get into detective mode.
I had to do quite a bit of this last year, especially with the Vanagon and the 220D. The van had one problem after another until the engine failed on me in October. Even if I had been a bit quicker with my diagnostics, I wouldn't have been able to save it. The engine was just tired. As for the 220D, once I decided I needed to get it out of storage, I went through a lot of troubleshooting before the engine actually started for me.
With both of those cars, the thinking was all on me. I'd have to pay attention to what each car was (or wasn't doing) and use my best reasoning skills to figure out what the problem was. For the record, I did get the 220D to start and sold it running a little over a month ago.
Fast forward to this past week. The Legacy is my only running car at the moment, and takes me 45 miles each way in and out of work. If something breaks or otherwise malfunctions, I need to figure it out and fix it quickly. This past week, I was in exactly that situation.
On Tuesday, I was on my way home from work. It was wet and freezing, and I was on the highway. I was only a few miles into my journey when for no explicable reason, the "check engine" light, also known as a CEL or MIL (malfunction indicator light) came on. For me this was a new experience, as the 1995 Legacy I bought last year is the first car I've owned with a modern diagnostics system. This system, known officially as OBDII (on-board diagnostics 2) allows you to plug a scanner into the car and learn what the problem is.
I digress. I pulled off the road to check the car over. Nothing obvious was wrong. The car still seemed to have all its power and wasn't running any different. I opted to continue on my journey. When I got close to home, I stopped at the local Autozone. For those that don't know, Autozone will hook up a scanner and pull the trouble codes for you. This is convenient for me, as I don't own an OBDII scanner yet.
The clerk scanned the car and came up with a single trouble code - P0420 - Catalyst efficiency below threshold - bank 1. Long story short, this likely indicates a problem with an oxygen sensor or catalytic converter. I did some checking, and for my car the most likely candidate was the front oxygen sensor. Still, I decided to reset my engine computer and see if the code came back.
A little later in the week, I disconnected the car's battery while I was at work. As of today, several hundred miles later, the check engine light has not come back on again. Long story short, it looks like I got lucky, and the original "problem" was probably just a momentary sensor glitch, due to the cold, wet weather I was driving in on my way home.
So, the OBD codes aren't definitive, but they do help narrow down potential problems. As for me, I'm happy with the system. I'd much rather have a false alarm than have a sudden failure without any advance warning at all.
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT - ON
CHECK ENGINE LIGHT - OFF
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Winter projects
Traditionally, I've taken the winter off from my projects. I live in the northeast. It gets cold.
Damn cold.
I don't care for the cold.
In general, if something breaks during the cold season, I'll fix it. But, in the past, I've never been one to look for MORE work to occupy my time when it's freezing. When it's cold out, I prefer to stay inside, order a pizza, and let my feet NOT turn to ice cubes.
This all changed last winter. I refer you to the tale of the Volkswagen that tried to murder me: http://mercedesdieselguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/jetta-that-nearly-killed-me.html
I ended up working on that car all winter last year, outside, in the snow and ice. Granted, it was by necessity, not by choice. But, it showed me that keeping a project going in the winter isn't an insurmountable task. As such, I was originally planning to finish up the 220D this winter, but as you know, I had to sell it last month. Right now, the plan is to pick up another fixer-upper Subaru. Aside from rusty bolts, they're pretty easy to work on, and the extra car would come in handy.
But, until that happens, I've dusted off one of my reserve projects. Thankfully (?), I have so many little projects piled up that I always have something to keep me occupied. So, until another car needs my attention, I've started work on my Dahon folding bike rebuild:
This isn't a big project, and obviously won't take long. But, it's something to keep me busy in the immediate future.
Damn cold.
I don't care for the cold.
In general, if something breaks during the cold season, I'll fix it. But, in the past, I've never been one to look for MORE work to occupy my time when it's freezing. When it's cold out, I prefer to stay inside, order a pizza, and let my feet NOT turn to ice cubes.
This all changed last winter. I refer you to the tale of the Volkswagen that tried to murder me: http://mercedesdieselguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/jetta-that-nearly-killed-me.html
I ended up working on that car all winter last year, outside, in the snow and ice. Granted, it was by necessity, not by choice. But, it showed me that keeping a project going in the winter isn't an insurmountable task. As such, I was originally planning to finish up the 220D this winter, but as you know, I had to sell it last month. Right now, the plan is to pick up another fixer-upper Subaru. Aside from rusty bolts, they're pretty easy to work on, and the extra car would come in handy.
But, until that happens, I've dusted off one of my reserve projects. Thankfully (?), I have so many little projects piled up that I always have something to keep me occupied. So, until another car needs my attention, I've started work on my Dahon folding bike rebuild:
FIRST VIDEO WAY BACK WHEN I BOUGHT IT:
Parts 1 and 2 from this past weekend:
This isn't a big project, and obviously won't take long. But, it's something to keep me busy in the immediate future.
Monday, January 2, 2012
My hopes and plans for 2012... in automotive terms
Well... it's 2012 now. It's that time of year when we talk about our plans and resolutions for the coming year. Although some people think that the whole idea of New Year's Resolutions is a bit disingenuous. After all, why take a seemingly arbitrary point on the calendar to think about improving oneself, rather than keeping true to that ideal year-round?
I, on the other hand, like the idea of NYRs. Although I fail at some of them like anyone else, I certainly do try to come up with a strategy to improve my life at this time of year. I feel that without NYRs, I, and probably most people, would be less likely to make a self-improvement effort at all. The new year, symbolically, is about new beginnings, and getting another chance to start from scratch.
As such, here are my New Year's Resolutions (well, the ones that relate to my cars, anyway) for 2012, in no particular order of importance:
1) First and foremost, I'd like to keep this blog a little more active for those of you that may be reading. I video pretty much my whole automotive life for Youtube, but I'm putting far less content up here on Blogger. This is particularly disturbing to me, as I consider myself to be a writer more than anything else.
2) Make a real attempt to repair my Dahon folding bike. True, it's not a car, but if I can get it roadworthy again, it becomes a source of backup transportation that I can take on the train and/or throw in the trunk of my car.
3) In reference to my first resolution, I'd like to get another 200-300 videos up on Youtube this year. But, the challenge is to make sure they're all relevant, or at least entertaining, and not simply me jabbering on for the camera. Obviously, I'm referencing my automotive videos.
4) This is the big one... If possible, I'd like to be able to save enough money to be able to start repairing the Vanagon before 2013. The van's in storage now while I save to put in a Subaru engine. I just sold the Mercedes 220D to make room to store the van.
5) As the Mercedes is gone, and the van is not driveable, I'd like to find another Subaru to add to the stable. This will be the source of a lot of my videos for a while. Once it's ready, it'll become my wife's daily driver, and I'll retire her old car to serve as backup transportation for us.
Have a good 2012, everyone. As always, make your time count - you don't get a lot of it.
I, on the other hand, like the idea of NYRs. Although I fail at some of them like anyone else, I certainly do try to come up with a strategy to improve my life at this time of year. I feel that without NYRs, I, and probably most people, would be less likely to make a self-improvement effort at all. The new year, symbolically, is about new beginnings, and getting another chance to start from scratch.
As such, here are my New Year's Resolutions (well, the ones that relate to my cars, anyway) for 2012, in no particular order of importance:
1) First and foremost, I'd like to keep this blog a little more active for those of you that may be reading. I video pretty much my whole automotive life for Youtube, but I'm putting far less content up here on Blogger. This is particularly disturbing to me, as I consider myself to be a writer more than anything else.
2) Make a real attempt to repair my Dahon folding bike. True, it's not a car, but if I can get it roadworthy again, it becomes a source of backup transportation that I can take on the train and/or throw in the trunk of my car.
3) In reference to my first resolution, I'd like to get another 200-300 videos up on Youtube this year. But, the challenge is to make sure they're all relevant, or at least entertaining, and not simply me jabbering on for the camera. Obviously, I'm referencing my automotive videos.
4) This is the big one... If possible, I'd like to be able to save enough money to be able to start repairing the Vanagon before 2013. The van's in storage now while I save to put in a Subaru engine. I just sold the Mercedes 220D to make room to store the van.
5) As the Mercedes is gone, and the van is not driveable, I'd like to find another Subaru to add to the stable. This will be the source of a lot of my videos for a while. Once it's ready, it'll become my wife's daily driver, and I'll retire her old car to serve as backup transportation for us.
Have a good 2012, everyone. As always, make your time count - you don't get a lot of it.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
2011 - my car year in review
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. What little time I've had I've been spending updating the Youtube page. Now that we're a few days away from 2012, I thought I'd step back and look at 2011 in review, automotive-wise.
2011 was pretty eventful, all touched off by the events of October and November 2010. As you may remember, my 1994 Subaru quit on me in mid-October 2010, which I replaced a few weeks later with a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta GL diesel.
I started 2011 driving the Jetta. After taking care of a few repair items, I figured the car would be good to go. Unfortunately, more repairs kept creeping up faster than I could take care of them. Before long, I'd overhauled the car's suspension, did a bunch of rewiring, installed carpets, replaced the thermostat, the battery, installed new CV axles, and replaced the ever-breaking alternator belt more times than I can remember. Keep in mind that I had to do all this work outside during one of the worst winters in recent memory here in Massachusetts.
I'd say the car was killing me slowly, but the fact is the Jetta was making short work of my demise. Four short months later, I threw my hands up in defeat and sold the Jetta for what I could get out of it. Thankfully, I got almost all my money back, including the parts I put into it.
I'd say that the Jetta was off the road about as often as it was actually running. I ended up driving the Vanagon to work a lot last winter and took the train a lot, too. A funny thing happened, though, while I owned the Jetta. I posted a lot of my problems with the car to Youtube, and soon realized that people were watching. I decided to continue posting videos with my next car.
In early March I sold the Jetta. Just over 24 hours later, I was behind the wheel of its replacement, a 1995 Subaru Legacy:
It soon became clear that I'd overpaid a tad for the Subaru. Although it was advertised as a private sale, the seller turned out to be a small time dealer working out of the back of a dirty shop in a dirty corner of a dirty city. Still, I was low on options and decided to buy the car. It needed as much work as if not more than the Jetta. However, there was one advantage. After driving my old Subaru for four years, I knew practically ever nut and bolt on it, and I knew that if I fixed something, it'd stay fixed. Over the course of the year, I repaired the rear brake hard lines, replaced the front CV axles, the steering rack boots, the alternator, did a full tune-up including timing belt, and a lot more.
It may sound like the car was a total lemon, but the fact is that all the work was spread out over 20,000 miles of driving on a car that had 142,000 on it when I bought it. So, all in all, not too bad. Plus, I find Subarus to be very easy to fix. Long story short, I'm happy with it. Here's a few of my repair videos from this car:
Even though the Subaru needed a lot of little repairs over the course of the year, it was driveable pretty much all the time. I was able to confine most of the work to the weekends. As such, I was able to park the Vanagon and get to some lingering items that had crept up on me. First off, I had to repair a couple of minor oil leaks that added up to one big leak. Then, I had to take care of a long list of minor bodywork items. When all was said and done, it was early September, but I was very happy with the results:
However, as soon as I started driving it again, the oil pressure monitor started going crazy. At first, I thought it was just a faulty sensor. To be sure, I plumbed in an oil pressure gauge. It turns out I was wrong, though, and a month later, the engine quit on me:
The Vanagon's death left me with something of a dilemma. The van was my backup transportation - a necessity given the amount of miles I drive. I still had the Mercedes 220D, and realized that I didn't have the time, space, or money to keep two projects. Given my long history with the van, I decided to keep it and sell the Mercedes. Of course, the Mercedes hadn't been started in nearly two years and had been sitting in the garage while I worked on it bit by bit. So, the first thing I had to do was get the 220D running so I could move the Vanagon into dry storage and then sell the Benz:
I got the van into the garage and was eventually able to sell the Mercedes. Long term, I plan to replace the van's engine with a Subaru EJ22. Short term, I plan to add another Subaru to the stable as backup transportation.
So, 2012 will likely involve a lot of content around the yet-to-be next Subaru and planning for my Vanagon engine swap. When that's all done, I'll get myself another old diesel Mercedes... eventually.
Happy New Year, everyone! Make 2012 a good one!
2011 was pretty eventful, all touched off by the events of October and November 2010. As you may remember, my 1994 Subaru quit on me in mid-October 2010, which I replaced a few weeks later with a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta GL diesel.
I started 2011 driving the Jetta. After taking care of a few repair items, I figured the car would be good to go. Unfortunately, more repairs kept creeping up faster than I could take care of them. Before long, I'd overhauled the car's suspension, did a bunch of rewiring, installed carpets, replaced the thermostat, the battery, installed new CV axles, and replaced the ever-breaking alternator belt more times than I can remember. Keep in mind that I had to do all this work outside during one of the worst winters in recent memory here in Massachusetts.
I'd say the car was killing me slowly, but the fact is the Jetta was making short work of my demise. Four short months later, I threw my hands up in defeat and sold the Jetta for what I could get out of it. Thankfully, I got almost all my money back, including the parts I put into it.
I'd say that the Jetta was off the road about as often as it was actually running. I ended up driving the Vanagon to work a lot last winter and took the train a lot, too. A funny thing happened, though, while I owned the Jetta. I posted a lot of my problems with the car to Youtube, and soon realized that people were watching. I decided to continue posting videos with my next car.
In early March I sold the Jetta. Just over 24 hours later, I was behind the wheel of its replacement, a 1995 Subaru Legacy:
It soon became clear that I'd overpaid a tad for the Subaru. Although it was advertised as a private sale, the seller turned out to be a small time dealer working out of the back of a dirty shop in a dirty corner of a dirty city. Still, I was low on options and decided to buy the car. It needed as much work as if not more than the Jetta. However, there was one advantage. After driving my old Subaru for four years, I knew practically ever nut and bolt on it, and I knew that if I fixed something, it'd stay fixed. Over the course of the year, I repaired the rear brake hard lines, replaced the front CV axles, the steering rack boots, the alternator, did a full tune-up including timing belt, and a lot more.
It may sound like the car was a total lemon, but the fact is that all the work was spread out over 20,000 miles of driving on a car that had 142,000 on it when I bought it. So, all in all, not too bad. Plus, I find Subarus to be very easy to fix. Long story short, I'm happy with it. Here's a few of my repair videos from this car:
ALTERNATOR REPLACEMENT:
IGNITION LOCK REPLACEMENT:
FULL TUNE-UP DIY GUIDE:
Even though the Subaru needed a lot of little repairs over the course of the year, it was driveable pretty much all the time. I was able to confine most of the work to the weekends. As such, I was able to park the Vanagon and get to some lingering items that had crept up on me. First off, I had to repair a couple of minor oil leaks that added up to one big leak. Then, I had to take care of a long list of minor bodywork items. When all was said and done, it was early September, but I was very happy with the results:
However, as soon as I started driving it again, the oil pressure monitor started going crazy. At first, I thought it was just a faulty sensor. To be sure, I plumbed in an oil pressure gauge. It turns out I was wrong, though, and a month later, the engine quit on me:
The Vanagon's death left me with something of a dilemma. The van was my backup transportation - a necessity given the amount of miles I drive. I still had the Mercedes 220D, and realized that I didn't have the time, space, or money to keep two projects. Given my long history with the van, I decided to keep it and sell the Mercedes. Of course, the Mercedes hadn't been started in nearly two years and had been sitting in the garage while I worked on it bit by bit. So, the first thing I had to do was get the 220D running so I could move the Vanagon into dry storage and then sell the Benz:
I got the van into the garage and was eventually able to sell the Mercedes. Long term, I plan to replace the van's engine with a Subaru EJ22. Short term, I plan to add another Subaru to the stable as backup transportation.
So, 2012 will likely involve a lot of content around the yet-to-be next Subaru and planning for my Vanagon engine swap. When that's all done, I'll get myself another old diesel Mercedes... eventually.
Happy New Year, everyone! Make 2012 a good one!
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