Date:         Mon, 1 Dec 2003 22:37:09 -0500
Reply-To:     robertmstewart <robertmstewart@MAC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         robertmstewart <robertmstewart@MAC.COM>
Subject:      When to replace head gaskets? Synthetic oil over 20w50? When to
              redo the heads?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Hi everyone, 

I noticed that when I purchased my Van from the Florida owner that the
gasket seals around the heads head caked on dried oil. The compression test
on the van came out very good considering it has 150,000 miles on it.

My  question is when should I replaced the head gaskets? The van is running
great so right now I donšt see it to be a priority but I do plan on a cross
county trip from NYC to Los Angles California.

How much should it cost to replace the gaskets?

And how long should it take?

When would the engine need to have the heads redone?

I have thought of putting in synthetic oil in instead of the 20W50 I
currently use but I wonder if that will cause the slow leak to get worse,
any ideas?

Thanks for your advice in advance,

Regards to all.

Rob

NYC
89 Auto Carat