dumb question

i have the same cold, vinny.

I had a sandwich, i also like sandwiches.

i had indian food and because of the naan each bite became a sort of makeshift sandwich.

I hope you sorta enjoyed it. Oh, and i also had a cold Beer, that's always enjoyable in moderation.

Annaliese, Roland built my engine a couple of years ago. No oil leaks or oil burning. 2176 dual Weber carbs He is a great guy too.

Annaliese, I think Vinny's sweating has nothing to do with chicken soup.

He's been watching those videos he downloads from the internet again.

markos, my dad seemed to think that roland seemed like a good guy and a competent mechanic and my dad knows a lotttt about cars so i feel confident that whatever they give me back will be better than what i had before and just find for my purposes.

sacto, i imagine that vinny spends a lot of time with those sorts of videos.

my leak was caused by a bad gasket, i think. i was on so much cold medicine with my dad called me to summarize his conversation with roland that i spend most of it in a partial coma.

Does anybody know how long Roland has been building motors for VS.

I'm curious as to who built my motor, My car is a 2006 model. Does Roland ever put his stamp on the motor.

Thanks, Art

my dad made it seem like roland has been building motors for kirk for a long time. first working at VS and now as a provider with his own shop.

Does he have his own shop, separate from VS if so, does anybody have his contact info, i'm interested in talking to him , regarding business.

Thanks, Art

i could give you his number. i have it. his shop is separate now.

Thanks Annaliese, ok let's see it. post it. i'm sure that would be fine on this format.

Art

Roland - 562-743-5732

wow i have made a billion weird typos in my last few posts. thank you, cold medicine.

Thanks

roland built my motor. Strong great engine. No leaks. Your going to like what he gives you much better.

yum..... indian food....

Art - I have a 2005 VS and am also curious who built my motor.  Let me know if Roland says he put any sort of a stamp on his engines.  My engine has a skull painted on the case that you can only see if you remove the fan shroud.  The shroud also had the engine ccs painted in white on the back. 

Whoever built it, it's still doing fine at 14000 miles, 7000 of which I've put on in the last two years. 

Thanks!

You got it Ted, i'm calling him in the morning.

I'd be interesting in hearing Roland's rational on putting a single carb on a 1915 engine.  I'm not trying to slam Roland.  He's been building engines for a long time and knows his stuff. Just curious.

I bet that small German carb would be great on a small turbo engine. 

This is starting to sound like it will have a good ending and I'll be happy for Annaliese about that.

All this because of a "bad gasket"---yikes.

I'd be curious to know the brand of that German carburetor too---I always believed that dual carbs were better on a boxer type engine because it's harder for one carb to provide the fuel/air mixture for both sides of the engine.  Learn something new every day.

Both Kirk and Roland are first class and I knew this would have a happy ending.

We are all anxious to read the final chapter on this with details ---was that red light indeed the oil light?  Why wouldn't the engine start after the red light went on?  How much oil was lost?  Was  oil lost because of a bad gasket?  Reason for a single carb?  Will the A-C remain on the engine?  Does the car start and run well after the fix(es) What MPG will it get after Annaliese gets it back (indicates engine health) and did she finally get rid of that cold that held on so long?

Good luck, Annaliese--I know you are going to enjoy the Speedster after it gets returned to you!

Moral of this story;

Treat any speedster like a "old car" no matter how "new" it is. I check my oil EVERY time I drive. These are not a Toyota Corolla/appliance. YOU the owner have to keep an EYE and a EAR open for any fluid level loss or mechanical noise.

 If you had just checked the oil and added some,you would possibly be getting a small gasket replaced,and not a engine replaced.

 Check your oil EVERY time you before drive for the day,I am not talking about every stop,just before you fire it up in the morning or after a long drive. 

 Heh, Ted i did talk to Roland, and he did confirm that one of stamps on his motors is a skull. i'll leave it at that.

Very nice guy, i'm going to have him rejuvenate my motor in the near future.

Later, Art

this problem with my car has NOTHING TO DO with me.

Thanks, Art.  I hope that the skull didn't mean anything negative!  I wish I'd taken a picture of it.

About checking the oil before anything - 

I love the illustrations.

I don't think the implication in this post was that it was your fault for the issues that your car was having.  People just seem to like to 'give advice', and hopefully, most of it is well intended.

You did seem to have a few more problems than most speedster buyers, but it looks as if your car is going to be sorted out, and you can get back to enjoying it soon.

Hello Annaliese- just for "FYI", the gasket referred to is probably the main seal. Here's a quick video I found-mainly between 3-1/2 minutes-to-5-1/2 minutes. The new seal is the orange ring...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLaA6flr9DA

I think you're asking all the right questions-and I think you'll be pleased with the engine.

For reference sites, you can also try "The Samba" and "Shop Talk Forums"-very active VW sites.

SS

Add: a correctly well-built engine really shouldn't be leaking any oil. Over time there usually are some spots-usually dime-size. Not to fret too much about these- unless your garage floor is like Leno's.

My 1986 Westy leaks a few spots here and there, but the engine has close to 100,000 miles on it.  My IM engine leaked like sieve at 3000 miles.

 Hello,I am not "blaming" anybody,but as a shop owner I cannot count how many times people have caused themselves financial and emotional hardships due to neglect or disregarding basic automotive care.

 You don't need to be a mechanic to check the oil,and even if your main seal was leaking,all the engien oil would have not pissed out in 15 minutes. Ask yourself when the last time you checked the oil was before your motor blew up.........

 Sorry I am not kitty-cats and sunshine,but we are talking about machinery and maintenance,not rainbows and unicorns.

 Check the oil!!  LOOK under your car!! If you see **** dripping,put some oil in and get it looked at....don't find out on the freeway that your car has no oil!

BTW,my 1971 Westfalia that I bought for 10K has a rear main seal leak,it drips,and I add oil,it has not blown up in 6K miles so far....

the oil was not empty. you are making a lot of assumptions maybe.

have a nice night. =)

His 1971 Westfalia is very relevant to this conversation???? Not!  Annaliese, you bought a new car, you did nothing wrong and the previous messages from Silver are way outta left field and have no relevance in your situation.  Instead of checking your oil that wasn't empty and didnt cause your many problems, maybe you should not have bought a Vintage....  You got a raw deal and it ain't your fault.... At All.

P.S my wife's 2007 Toyota Landcruisers A/C isn't working.... Just thought you might find that helpful and relevant as well.

I just had a text from Roland and he says that he does build most of the engines for Vintage, but Vintage does occasionally buy engines from a company in Riverside.

The oil was not empty, is a relative term. you can be running down to your last quart of oil, and abviously still have oil but do damage to you engine if you don't heed the warnings.

Annaliese, this is real simple everybody has a good idea of what happen, let's face it, and trust me i'm not trying to be an ass.

Do you now understand how important it is to check, your dipstick, you must make this a speedster ritual, even if you don't leak oil, check it before you take a ride, keep it on the high - side of your dipstick, i'm assuming you know how to read your oil dip stick, not trying to be funny.

99.99 percent of the people here are just trying to help, and seems like your not absorbing it , or are you ?

I had a porsche 912 that leaked oil for 5 years, i had to add a quarter of a quart every 4th or 5th time i drove it. It was one of the best cars i ever had, This motor was rebuilt by one of the best in the business, Walt from Competition Engineering, Some i'm sure are familiar with. I ran the hell out of that car, i put over 60,000 miles in 5 years, before i sold it, and it was still wanting more.

 Later, Art

Art.

I'm not sure why you sense that she may not be "absorbing it."  Seems to me that she understands perfectly well.

Does she understand that if you have a oil leak and the red oil light comes on that you may be low on oil, or empty of course there's other situations that may cause the oil light to come on. She said her oil was not empty, what's the difference, running very low oil or running it empty, both situations may cause damage. That's what i mean by understanding. I think we all know the damage will be done potentially before the oil is entirely empty.

I think she's definitely learning, But she seems more defensive over the whole thing, i can point that out to, but is it worth it probably not.

I can go on..... ?  Mr. Sloan.

At the beginning of this thread, Annaliese said it was the light on the right of the tachometer that was on.  The VS manual in the library says this is the ignition light.  On my VS, this light stays on until the engine first crosses 1500 rpms or so after startup.  This is consistent with an alternator warning light: http://intermeccanica.com/athi...011/07/operating.pdf (bottom of page 2).

The VS manual states that the light on the left of the tachometer (i.e., NOT the light that Annaliese was talking about) is supposed to be the oil light.  On my VS, this light goes out virtually immediately after starting the car.

Yes, she said that the engine was leaking oil, but type 1 engines are almost synonymous with oil leaks and no one apart from the people dealing with the car can say they know how much oil it was leaking.  More importantly, nobody, including Annaliese, is arguing that you don't need to check the oil in these things and the mere fact that the previous engine happened to leak oil does not necessarily mean that its failure was caused by Annaliese.

Even if you choose to completely ignore Annaliese's statements that the oil was not empty and that the previous engine's failure was not caused by her (and you shouldn't) you need to remember that:

1) a mechanic came from VS and looked at the motor and seemed confused.  If it was something as simple as the engine seizing from not having oil, the mechanic probably would not be confused -after all, everybody's making a big deal about how easy it is to check the oil;

2) VS is putting a new motor in, evidently without charge;

3) the guy who built the previous motor has apparently been fired.

Taken together, these things point to the previous engine failing because of a defective engine build, not due to operator error.

I suppose it's conceivable that VS's customer service is so remarkable that they'll replace your engine for free even if its failure was entirely your fault, but do all of you who suspect this failure was caused by operator error believe that's realistic?  I don't.  

There are crappy engine builders out there as well as good ones who occasionally make a crappy one.  I would bet that there is probably at least one poor person out there who bought a GEX engine that failed and which, coincidentally, happened to leave oil spots here and there.  That doesn't make its failure was the owner's fault.

I am partially to blame for the focus on checking the oil in this thread since I posted the above page from the VW owner's manual but I did it for the nostalgia value. Besides, how many people actually check their tire pressures before every drive? 

^ exactly.

thanks again to everyone who helped to answer my initial question when posted and who has followed along with advice and curiosity. this community is obviously a very valuable resource for all levels of speedster enthusiasts. i really appreciate everyone's input, advice and tips.

i do, however, resent the implication that anything that has gone wrong with this car was because i am some kind of a moron who doesn't know that a car's oil needs to be checked or that anything that has gone wrong with this car (reminder: there have been numerous incidents on my brand new, turnkey speedster aside from this engine issue) is somehow my fault or due to my negligence. i did not glue my hubcaps on with silicone, for example.

i love these little cars and that is why i spent a lot of money at vintage. i look forward to having a lot of fun with this car once it's issues have been sorted out. i even look forward to regularly checking the oil, although, i doubt that a future as a hobbyist mechanic is truly for me. i am glad to pay a qualified mechanic to work on this car over the years. i don't agree that these cars should only be purchased by people who are personally inclined to work on them. i will read a VW book and familiarize myself further with my engine but i don't need to work on it myself so i won't. i purchased this car for the pleasure of driving it-- not the pleasure or, in my case burden, of working on it.