all's well that ends well

The long saga of the mysteriously misfiring 3.3L engine in the 1999 Grand Voyager has finally concluded. This is the one with the stuck valve, perforated rocker, and lots of oil sludge. I changed the oil, installed a $40 junkyard head, and started it up. It runs great, smooth as glass (for those of you who were wondering how this would all turn out). Now I'm just going to do a few oil changes to get some of the crap out, and we'll see how many miles I get out of it. It's a really nice van, so I hope the engine doesn't suffer a catastrophic failure, not that I expect it to, but you never know.

By the way, I also had an insert installed in the spark plug hole on my

1999 Voyager 4 cylinder because the JB Weld blew out. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a little cylindrical steel doodad that screws into the repaired hole, and you screw the spark plug into it. It's better than factory new, and I would highly recommend it over helicoils. I paid a mechanic to do it because I didn't want to learn how on a spark plug hole, not to mention that he said the tool cost him $150. The mechanic speculated that the former owner had used Liquid Steel to glue the spark plug in, because he said he had done the same thing on a VW years ago and it lasted 50,000 miles. Whatever it was, it was good stuff, because I put about 50,000 on mine before I pulled the original repair out.

Anyway, I'm glad these projects are in the history books.

The name of the product? I think he said it was a Thread-something. It's black steel, and the thread on the outside has little gripping teeth cut into the last couple of threads.

It is like a reducer, threaded inside and out. We used them all the time on VW engines back in the 70s for spark plugs and case studs. The other major problem those engines had was dropping the exhaust valves for #3 and #4 cylinders. That bank ran hotter because the oil cooler was placed over that side of the engine. Contrary to advertising hype the engines did overheat, and there was no indication of it until it sucked a valve sometime afterwards. There are two types of VW owners: those that have been stranded, and those that will be. I know, I have been.

I drove two VW Beetles for many miles over several years. I was never stranded and my main maintenance was the two year muffler replacement cycle.

Let me guess: not anywhere near the Southwestern US, right? :-)

At various times, my circle of gearhead friends has included aircooled VW and Porsche 914 (VW powered) aficianados. They ALL routinely roasted components in the Texas summers. The Porsche guy probably held the record, about one piston crown holed per summer, the bug guys usually just stretched valves at worst. He finally graduated to a 911, which carried enough oil, had enough oil coolers, and was built stout enough to survive the heat (and his right foot) much better than the VW engines did.

That's the same thing this mechanic said. He was telling me stories about racing VWs, and getting 100 hp and more from a 42 hp engine. They used these inserts to keep the cylinder heads from blowing off.

Several years is about the life span of the VW beetle. Good thing you got rid of them when you did!

Not true. I drove them many more miles after getting them used, already with about 30K miles on them. Every year I drove 1,350 miles each way to the east coast in 2 days. Not as fast as more powerful cars, but it chugged along at a steady 60 mph if there wasn't a head wind. They were very tough. My neighbors couldn't believe it when I towed a stuck neighbors Plymouth on our snowy street. The overheated clutch slipped a bit right after that, but when it cooled down was better than previously as it used to chatter a bit on take up. I drove that VW for several more years and as I said all I had to replace was the muffler every 2 years. The body was extremely well dip painted and didn't rust even though I drove where there was lots of road salt. The bumpers did rust from the road salt as did all chromed bumpers then. Engine work was zero, except for occasional new plugs. However the VW had problems with interior heating and the clutch need adjustment every year. This was in the 50/60s. It was the mid 80s before big 3 cars were as durable. Two I had were our only car, so were heavily used. Later I bought a high mileage used one as a second car and used it a few years with no maintenance needed.

True in a colder climate, but in the summer it did get up in the 90s, plus there were long hills. Also I'm a more gentle driver and don't push my engines that hard, although I drive slightly over the speed limit when possible. In strong head winds the VW sometimes couldn't get to 60mph, so I just drove it in a comfortable manner, not straining it.

You remind me of a friend who had an early VW van back around '60. He destroyed two engines in one year by pushing them too hard. That Porsche chap surely drove very fast. I'm sure I could take any car on a hard summer drive through our western mountains, where the temperature gets up to 100?+, and destroy the engine within one day.

My son has an '85 Van which now has about 200K miles on it, with no engine work needed. He is a ships engineer, knows engines, and drives it conservatively. The body will rust away before his engine needs work.

Oh, I think there are a LOT of engines you couldn't possibly harm that way. Granted, you can kill anything through outright abuse (clogged radiator, deliberate over-revving). But I think you could put, eg. a Chrysler 318, 383, 440, etc. in a massively over-weight vehicle like a full-size truck towing a loaded trailer, put your foot to the floor on the east side of the Rockies and not back off until the continental divide, and it wouldn't even snort at you. In fact, I KNOW you can do that because I've done it... repeatedly. Just last summer we ran the '66 Polara (440) from Junction to Van Horn on I-10 at 85 mph (legal on that stretch) and then all the way up into western Colorado. Never missed a lick, AC blasting all the way, ambients ranging from the low

90s to over 110.

Do you mean a HeliCoil?

Back in 1985 my brother and I drove a 1970 Polara from Lubbock to McAllen by way of Laredo nonstop in July. It never missed a beat. There aren't any mountains there, but the temperature was 110 in some places. To say that such extreme conditions would kill any car is a bit of an overstatement. If that were the case, nobody in these places would be able to keep a car running.

Not a Helicoil. It's a little metal cylinder with threads on both sides.