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Hi, all -?

I took my van to the dealer as my local go to guy wasn’t available for a 40K service at 155K miles. Major issues discovered included a coolant leak and an oil leak. The coolant leak requires a new water pump altho it was replaced 4 years and 20K miles ago. The part is on order.

I was told the oil leak was from a valve cover gasket -which was diagnosed by putting something in the oil and using a UV light. The engine is still intact. The dealer told me the gasket parts are no longer available and they couldn’t find an aftermarket source. I did get the part numbers which are listed here as follows:

022-133-227B -1 needed?

022-133-227D - 2 needed

022-133-227A-1 needed

Other gaskets that were available included 022-103-483-E (1 needed) and 022-103-484-F (6 needed).

I am at the dealer's mercy as I have no clue about any of this. The only positive thing is that I was told the technician working on the van was a Eurovan owner but of course I didn’t think to ask to talk to him.

My question for those who know about these things - are there alternatives to these gaskets? I did look on GoWesty and found 022-133-227A which is listed as an intake manifold gasket-lower for the princely sum of ?$8.94. ?The Bus Depot has A ($6.82) & B ($28.81) but not D.?

My sense is to let the dealer do the water pump and the rear brakes - but to keep searching for gaskets and find someone else to do that repair. Is that reasonable? What kind of risk to harming the engine do I have by putting off this repair? Much of my reluctance is the dealer’s charge of $280 to diagnose each issue … - for example I asked them to find out why the motor for the external mirrors didn’t work - ?$280 ?to tell me the fuse was ok but wanted $480 to take door panels off to continue to diagnose the issue ?and then whatever to fix it. Plus a warning that the plastic parts could break. Grrr. Said no to that one.?

Thanks for any advice!

Kate

Phil

#163545

Kate
Very sorry to hear of your dilemma. I have the exact same model/year, (absolutely love it, and do almost all the work on mine) ?Indeed without checking, that sounds like the proper list I recall for the intake manifold removal- the six of one are for the spark plug/coil slots. ?I’ve done mine 3 times over the years. It’s required for a timing chain job, or removal of ?the trans (for a timing chain job) and they are as a mechanic once said, notorious for leaking oil. As I recall, they wanted $500 for exactly the job your speaking of. (5 years ago- and by the way, coincidentally, I too only had 20 kmi. On my coolant pump- the shortest I’ve had on any). I had him do the water pump, and I now carry a spare. - I don’t like Gaff(?), but it’s a total crap shot on brands/ bathes as Duane has said before. ?( I did the intake myself, but was in the middle of my longest trip so couldn't do the water pump conveniently- don't recall what it ran, but was very reasonable- and a simple job if you have the tools- even on the road-the intake job was not simple, and great care must be made with the M9 bolts at the base of the manifold. ? As to the door panel- that’s very high and not a bad job. ?Your problem most likely is the door jamb wires- there are lots of old links in the forum- I did mine long ago, if you don’t replace the harness, a better long run, cheap choice is splicing the wires with “18g fine stranded silicone insulated” wire. Done right, they will never break again. ?Lastly, yes plastic parts can easily break, and many mechanics have (occasionally me) have it happen-that’s what zip ties and JB Weld are for.
Best of luck and happy trails.
Phil B 2003 EV WE AXK engine 322 kmi

#163547

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I just had a pretty big oil leak develop on my 2002 with the AXK VR6 motor. It has around 250k miles on it and has never really leaked oil until recently. I removed the oil cooler and oil filter mount assembly and replaced the 4 gaskets and also the oil pressure switch too. I cleaned up the Polly motor as best as I could with super clean and the garden hose. I left the belly pan off and have been driving the van for a week with no oil leaking from the motor since. Still nice and clean. ?The oil cooler gaskets sound like they are a pretty common oil leak source. It was pretty easy to remove the parts to replace them too. I would try those to see if it slows down your oil leak. I got the parts from autohausaz. Be careful as the 2versions of vr6 appear to have different gaskets for the oil filter housing. The AXK needed 2 “square” ring while the older version has a gasket that looks like an 8.?

I also found my coolant pump had locked up at some point and ordered a new one online for around $50. I found it because it caused a fuse to blow for the coolant pump which made my AC compressor clutch not turn on. ?

Regards,

Mike Clough

Show quoted text

On Aug 25, 2022, at 5:19 AM, Phil <apothecarymortar@...> wrote:

?
Kate
Very sorry to hear of your dilemma. I have the exact same model/year, (absolutely love it, and do almost all the work on mine) ?Indeed without checking, that sounds like the proper list I recall for the intake manifold removal- the six of one are for the spark plug/coil slots. ?I’ve done mine 3 times over the years. It’s required for a timing chain job, or removal of ?the trans (for a timing chain job) and they are as a mechanic once said, notorious for leaking oil. As I recall, they wanted $500 for exactly the job your speaking of. (5 years ago- and by the way, coincidentally, I too only had 20 kmi. On my coolant pump- the shortest I’ve had on any). I had him do the water pump, and I now carry a spare. - I don’t like Gaff(?), but it’s a total crap shot on brands/ bathes as Duane has said before. ?( I did the intake myself, but was in the middle of my longest trip so couldn't do the water pump conveniently- don't recall what it ran, but was very reasonable- and a simple job if you have the tools- even on the road-the intake job was not simple, and great care must be made with the M9 bolts at the base of the manifold. ? As to the door panel- that’s very high and not a bad job. ?Your problem most likely is the door jamb wires- there are lots of old links in the forum- I did mine long ago, if you don’t replace the harness, a better long run, cheap choice is splicing the wires with “18g fine stranded silicone insulated” wire. Done right, they will never break again. ?Lastly, yes plastic parts can easily break, and many mechanics have (occasionally me) have it happen-that’s what zip ties and JB Weld are for.
Best of luck and happy trails.
Phil B 2003 EV WE AXK engine 322 kmi

#163554

Thanks, Mike - appreciate the parts source. I will order today. I’m definitely not the type to take the car apart - whenever I take things apart there are always bits leftover when I put the item back together. But I appreciate knowing how it’s done!
How do you know which engine version you have? 
Thanks again!
Kate

#163577

I don’t remember how I figured the engine code out. I think there is a label under the hood or maybe in the driver’s door jamb that says what it is. 

Regards,
Mike Clough

Show quoted text

On Aug 26, 2022, at 1:30 PM, kta95409 <kaldrich@...> wrote:

?Thanks, Mike - appreciate the parts source. I will order today. I’m definitely not the type to take the car apart - whenever I take things apart there are always bits leftover when I put the item back together. But I appreciate knowing how it’s done!
How do you know which engine version you have? 
Thanks again!
Kate

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advice and parts for 2003 EV MV WE

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