Club 80-90 Forums

Whilst in the Loire France

Not happy with way engine was performing so:

The van was taken to a VW Specialist who was operating in the next village to where we were staying

Crank shaft bolt was loose! (original type that came with engine)

The head was removed and was found to be cracked (not caused by the bolt failure).

A VW technician from the local town got involved who explained that this has been seen many times before on the AAZ Engine,


The engine was removed and stripped to the block, the following done:

Complete new cylinder head from VW.
New camshaft
New type crank shaft bolt - pip on top and touqued to correct settings.
New bottom pully.
new belts (all of them)
Head gasket
Water Pump
All associated gaskets for the re-build.

So i would advise when doing your AAZ conversion - get the important bits sorted. My engine was from a one owner car with FSH and with only 90k on it.

sorry to hear that about your camper.I ve just had a aaz put in my campervan,so far so good.Were the french ok with you,was they cheaper over there,and helpful.were you traveling to holidays,or on your way back.hope its all ok now for you.cheers

Cali. would be good to know where that VW specialist is based as the Loire is likely en route for a lot of vans heading to and from the south.

your AAZ seemed to be doing a fine job by the time i met you.

Westy End wrote:Cali. would be good to know where that VW specialist is based as the Loire is likely en route for a lot of vans heading to and from the south.

your AAZ seemed to be doing a fine job by the time i met you.

Good idea _but don't judge a book by it's cover if anyone uses his services- wild dogs, goats and chickens around a barn in the middle of nowhere!!

Atelier Mecanique, Bruno Servouze.
1 Rue Du Pont - 37150 Civray De Touraine
Tel - 02 47 23 94 11

He does not speak any English, but is good at drawing pictures and thinks French cars are sh!t.

Nearest town is TOURS, based on the river about 5km from Chenonceaux.

Campsite Le Moulin Fort is 5 min down the road (English owned - very, very helpful).

I bet Sundials bottom clenched a bit after reading this

glad your sorted ... albeit expensively

Fully Loaded Cali' wrote:

Westy End wrote:Cali. would be good to know where that VW specialist is based as the Loire is likely en route for a lot of vans heading to and from the south.

your AAZ seemed to be doing a fine job by the time i met you.

Good idea _but don't judge a book by it's cover if anyone uses his services- wild dogs, goats and chickens around a barn in the middle of nowhere!!

Atelier Mecanique, Bruno Servouze.
1 Rue Du Pont - 37150 Civray De Touraine
Tel - 02 47 23 94 11

He does not speak any English, but is good at drawing pictures and thinks French cars are sh!t.

Nearest town is TOURS, based on the river about 5km from Chenonceaux.



Campsite Le Moulin Fort is 5 min down the road (English owned - very, very helpful).

We must have been a day behind you, we drove right through Tours. Did you have a standard aaz in your van or any JX shnizel on it?

jed

I know of him... you were bloody lucky to be near.. anywhere else in France and you would be pretty much fubbard to be fair...

toomanytoys wrote:I know of him... you were bloody lucky to be near.. anywhere else in France and you would be pretty much fubbard to be fair...

He knows his VW's.

I know some mechanics, but this guy I can only describe as a 'Doctor' in mechanics.

When I went to collect the van it was together as far as the head was back onto the block. I got a bit worried but he assured me it would be ready 'very soon' and gave me a beer.

It took him 'on his own' just 2.5 hrs to build the engine back up. Pump, fuel pipes, belts, cables, rocker cover, water pipes, turbo connections, air filter, oil filter, re-fil oil, re-fill cooling, electrics, power steering hydraulics, exhaust down pipe & back box. Fire up, run & check bleed radiator, and anything else i forgot

I paid him up and gave him all the tins of Banks's beer out of the van i could find! I was going to give him my pork scratchings but thought he may think the Engish as 'very' strange so thought better of it.

jed the spread wrote:

Fully Loaded Cali' wrote:

Westy End wrote:Cali. would be good to know where that VW specialist is based as the Loire is likely en route for a lot of vans heading to and from the south.

your AAZ seemed to be doing a fine job by the time i met you.

Good idea _but don't judge a book by it's cover if anyone uses his services- wild dogs, goats and chickens around a barn in the middle of nowhere!!

Atelier Mecanique, Bruno Servouze.
1 Rue Du Pont - 37150 Civray De Touraine
Tel - 02 47 23 94 11

He does not speak any English, but is good at drawing pictures and thinks French cars are sh!t.

Nearest town is TOURS, based on the river about 5km from Chenonceaux.



Campsite Le Moulin Fort is 5 min down the road (English owned - very, very helpful).

We must have been a day behind you, we drove right through Tours. Did you have a standard aaz in your van or any JX shnizel on it?

jed

Must recommend the campsite, we going to do 10 nights there nxt year.

The AAZ has the usual JX sump and Turbo etc but am still running the AAZ Altenator set up. VW tech and 'bruno' said that this was no problem now the 'new' crank bolt was in place.

p.s

make sure you bring some French sausages to Vanfest'

will do

jed