Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 16:01:57 +1100
Reply-To: Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@UWS.EDU.AU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@UWS.EDU.AU>
Subject: Post Mortem (Was Return of the Waserleaker)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Volks,
For anybody interested,here's the post mortem for my '92 WBX
that turned into a steam engine last week with only 58,500
&*%$ing kms since fitting 2 new AMC heads.
I simply didn't have the time to tackle this myself at
present so I took the van to my trusted VW chaps from whom
I purchased the thing when new.As it turned out,probably
good that I did...
The head for #3 & 4 cylinders was the culprit,not the gasket
as I'd hoped for.The head appears to have suffered an internal
crack allowing coolant into the combustion chamber.
The crack could not be seen,however since #4 cylinder was as
clean as a whistle,there's not much doubt there's a crack
somewhere in there that just got a lot worse.
Given that the head is only a little over 2 years old with
<60k kms it is being sent back to the Aus.supplier of AMC heads
in the US where it will be X-rayed to get to the bottom of this.
We are hoping to get some sort of warranty out of them or at least
a pro-rata re-imbursement for the head and hopefully labour costs.
Dunno what the chances are (esp.labour)but it can't hurt to try.
While the van was in the shop,it was also put under a pressure
test which also exposed a small leak from the water pump and also
from a plastic elbow fitting on the RH side of the block.
Given that the water pump had over 160,000kms on it (it was replaced
under warranty when the van only had about 30k kms on it) I was
getting a bit paranoid about how long it was going to last,especially
with summer just around the corner here in the southern hemisphere
and the fact I have a 3000km round trip coming up,driving up to
the tropical north of Queensland to play at a folk festival right
at Xmas time.So replacing it now was a good thing. Y'know,for some
funny reason I really didn't want to be stranded on Xmas day,miles
from a trusted VW mechanic with a failed water pump and none to be
accessed for days,or cooking the engine and missing the festival
(I know,call me old fashioned and unadventurous...:)
Also,the plastic elbow that was leaking has been replaced with
a new metal one.Hopefully that takes care of that problem(touch wood)
I'm still rather p'd off with AMC heads but if I end up with some
kind of partial reimbursement I'll be somewhat happier.I think
I've probably just been unlucky however as this van is kept in
very good nick with all recommended servicing attended to religiously
and never been over heated....ever.Hopefully I just ended up with
the one that slipped thru quality control,but now I'm paranoid about
the other side.
The good thing at least is that I had been concerned for a while now
regarding the slow mysterious coolant loss which occasionally set
off the blinking light,yet never sucked in more coolant from the
expansion tank (which remained full) so to have finally had the slow
leak turn into an obvious failure before leaving me stranded at least
brought things to a head (as it were...)
May the rest of you out there with AMC heads have better luck.They
are supposed to be reliable heads (please tell me it is so!)
I've gotta try to start liking water cooling again.My aircooleds
have never given me that much grief...:(
Cheers,
Steve O.
'92 Transporter WBX Kombi
'76 Transporter Double Cab
'68 Beetle
'00 Transporter 5Cyl Double cab
'48 Fairmont M19 speeder
