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Date:         Wed, 19 Jan 2000 20:36:31 -0600
Reply-To:     Darrell Boehler <midwesty@MIDWEST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Darrell Boehler <midwesty@MIDWEST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Cold Weather Oil Leak
Comments: To: Vanagony@AOL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi Paul, The oil cooler O ring you mention seems to be just thick enough to seal the gap between the cooler and the block without much squeeze. I had one of these fail on a cold weather startup shortly after overhaul. Since then I have used the O ring from a mahle oil filter instead of the one in the gasket kit. 3 engine rebuilds and no failures. I rebuild with a heavy duty oil pumps which ups the pressure about 20 percent. Neither is probably a great idea but it works for me. Darrell Boehler

----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Kirsch <Vanagony@AOL.COM> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 6:58 PM Subject: Cold Weather Oil Leak

> Here in the northeast, we have been experiencing some cold weather. Sunday > night the temperature dipped below 0 F (-18 C) with some awful wind gusts. > When our 90GL was started Monday morning, an oil leak (gush) had developed > but was not detected. The engine's lifeblood steadily poured out as the van > was allowed to warm up and then driven away. Unfortunately the oil light and > buzzer did not convince the driver to shut the engine off. The van made it > back to our driveway, but the engine was a goner...siezed! > > Probably what happened was a failure of the gasket at the oil cooler (2.1L). > This gasket experiences a lot of heat in normal use and the extreme cold can > cause it to crack. I will know after the autopsy. An improved version of > this gasket is available. > > A friend with a Passat experienced the same failure on the same day He made > the mistake of leaving the engine running while he went into a store for a > few minutes. When he went back out to his car, there was a puddle of oil > under his car and some terrible noise coming from it. Luckily his engine did > not sieze. > > I had been planning to replace the head gaskets in the Spring. I will > probably replace the engine with a used one. This time, I will do the heads > before installing the engine. I will also replace the oil cooler gasket. > > This is Vanagony! > > > Paul Kirsch > 90GL (Exxon Valdez) >


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