KEN They may be right about the heads, but if that is the case they installed a new radiator for no reason. Clearly they could have figured out what was wrong before hitting you with a new radiator. If they do the head work ask for a price reduction. The price should be reduced by half the labor cost that went into the radiator. The fact remains you have the new radiator and should pay for that. Before doing the heads replace the thermostat and confirm that your coolant fan is coming on. Do this yourself if you can. Bleed the system again to rule that out. If this does not solve the problem ask them to sniff your coolant with the smog machine to look for combustion gases in the coolant. and then bend over. good luck, gary Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 09:59:25 -0700 From: Ken Baldwin <baldwin@ROGUEWAVE.COM> Subject: Help! 84 Westy coolant problem I've got a 84 Westy. About a month ago, the temp warning light came on suddenly and started flashing, even though the van had only been running a few minutes. I checked the rear coolant reservoir and the level was way too high. (That's the overflow reservoir visible behind the license plate.) I took it in to my local VW shop and they replaced the front reservoir and sending unit. It was ok for a week or so, then exhibited the same problem. They said the raditor was probably clogged, so I had them replace it ($400). Again, ok for a couple weeks, then the problem returned (warning light coming on suddenly, too much coolant in the rear). Today they said they think that pressure is building up in the system and forcing coolant into the rear. They said the only place this could be coming from is a leaky head gasket. They quoted me $800 for the job, assuming they can reuse the heads. More like $1800 if they have to replace the heads. Yikes. Does their diagnosis make sense? Is there any other explanation I should explore? Thanks for your help, Ken
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