Date:         Mon, 3 Mar 2003 11:12:06 -0800
Reply-To:     gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      My heads leak!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Andy and all,
             I have to say something about those who
blame their head problems on the antifreeze that I do
not think kind of antifreeze matters much in causing
the leak as much in the cost of repair.   The cause of
the leak is clearly the design of the gasket set.
Climates that have more extreme cold and heat will see
the problem sooner.   The very first sign will be a
very small loss of coolant after the engine cools down
particuliarly on a cold night.   The coolant loss will
start very small and will be unnoticed if you have the
pushrod cover on as it will seep and dry over any over
until the leak get large enough to drip beyond the
pushrod tube cover and become visible to you as
something on the ground.   A good nose or eye can
catch the leak at the early stage.
   Here is the rub on the phosphate.   Phosphate
antifreeze unlike the other orgainic will dry as
phosphate salts at a ph above 8.   Dibasic phosphate
is higher than monobasic phophate.   It is the salts
drying on the head that corrode the head and make it
unusable.   If you catch the leak early, even with
phosphate antifreeze, the head can be repaired for the
cost of the head set and a lot of sweat labor.   If
you wait too long particularly with the caustic
phosphate salts the head will be too pitted and
corroded to use.  Take home lesson here is fix your
leak early if you want to save the head.   If you plan
on replacing the heads anyway, keep on going until you
got the time and money to do the job.
           regards gary
Date:    Wed, 26 Feb 2003 09:06:00 -0600
From:    Andy Yarnell <Andrew.Yarnell@KIMLEY-HORN.COM>
Subject: My heads leak!

Yep, it is true. The fate of my wasserboxer has
finally come true. I
had =
to park it in the driveway yesterday while I was at
work. I got home =
late in the snow, and moved it back to the street, saw
the two puddles
=
in the driveway. Double checked it this morning, two
little green/blue
=
drips coming off the bottom of the block. I am so
disillusioned. I =
thought it could never happen to MY Vanagon. The P.O.
used some cheap =
green stuff, I should have flushed and refilled with
the correct
coolant =
sooner. I have not even driven my Van all that much
this winter, I keep
=
going back and forth with selling it because we have 3
cars, and 2 =
drivers. With another baby on the way we will need the
extra room, so I
=
would like to keep it and possibly sell my 1992 GTi.
But, I need to =
either replace the heads, engine swap, 2.2L Eurocars
engine, Boston Bob
=
engine, I just don't know. I need to make the decision
mainly based on
=
cost, so I am just not sure what to do now.

Any support, words of encouragement, ideas, engines,
etc. etc. would be
=
appreciated.

Hey Tom Shanley, maybe we will be doing business after
all.

Thanks for reading my little rant here. Sorry if it
took up too much of
=
your time.

Andy
Lakewood, CO



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