Date:         Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:36:16 -0700
Reply-To:     Chris D'Amico <chrisdamico@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chris D'Amico <chrisdamico@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Tiico: oil in the water (need advice)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

hey there everyone.

So my tiico was running beautifully for 8 months. Then
wham, at the end of an hour drive 2 blocks from my
house, the water light started flashing, and then the
oil light started flashing. I'm no mechanic, but i
knew this wasn't good. Parked it checked the coolant
and it looked and had the consistancy of a chocolate
shake. Smelled like oil. So I towed it to my mech who
helped me install it.  His plan of attack: First
replace the oil cooler and flush the system. He did
this (not replacing my old oil filter I noticed) and
automatically the oil came right back into the system.
So the next step was to check the head gasket, so
again he flushed the system, put a new oil cooler
(#2), and then pulled the head. From what he saw he
could not tell if there was gasket failure, so he
advised a new gasket and put the whole thing back
together. And that is where I am today. New head
gasket, new oil cooler and this time new oil filter.
260 miles and no problems yet.

If you've read this far thanks.
So this is question #1:
Where did the oil come from? Is it possible that two
oil coolers could fail? Could an oil filter fail, and
cause the oil cooler to fail? Could there still be a
hairline crack in the head?

Second set of questions in regards to cooling:
Right now there is mostly water (no coolant) in the
system and the cooling fan is working great! It comes
on when the needle is right above the light. Why is
this? (My mech is going to flush and return to normal
once we have sufficient miles on the rig).

Last set, and thanks again for reading and hopefully
having some input for me.
This engine is still under warranty from Tiico. but
for parts only. Have spoken with Peter during this
entire experience and he has been helpful, sending me
both oil coolers, and if the head was a problem he
would have sent me a new one. But what about the labor
costs I owe my mech? Because this problem affects so
many other systems (time to flush) and you can't
pinpoint it right away (pulling head and putting it
all back together again) I have encurred alot of
labor expenses and I would like Peter of VWSA to pay
for. What does everyone think?

Thanks for reading and any input is appreciated.
Chris D.
89 wolfie weekender tiico


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com