Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 10:06:07 -0800
Reply-To: mike twombley <twombleyw@JPS.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: mike twombley <twombleyw@JPS.NET>
Subject: Re: [Diesel-Vanagon] leaking head gasket ?
In-Reply-To: <BC33FB90.34A83%gnarlodious@earthlink.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
On 1/21/04 8:49 AM, "Gnarlodious" <gnarlodious@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Entity Al and Sue Brase spoke thus:
>
>> I agree with your conclusion. It might have been more pleasant for you
>> to simply retorque the head immediately.
> I wasn't willing to take the risk. I knew it was tight since I did it myself
> 2 years earlier. I ran the risk of stripping the bolts trying to tighten it
> down more.
> When I took it apart, it was already as tight as it needed to be. I suspect
> it was the gasket set since several of those gaskets blew out and I had to
> replace them.
>
> -- Gnarlie
>
>
>
>> There's a good chance it might
>> have healed up the leak.
>> Even though the 1.6 engines often have head gasket problems, they don't
>> usually cause unrepairable problems unless the engine is severly
>> overheated. (Having said that, MANY people drive them till they lock up).
>> My brother has a TD Quantum. this is exacty the same engine as used in
>> the TD Vanagons in Europe. It is a fun little car. It will go 100 and
>> get over 45mpg.
>> His had rotted out the o-ring on the head so that there was transfer of
>> oil into the coolant. He drove it that way for 3 years, finally becoming
>> worried that the oil would rot out the radiator hoses!
>> BTW, you don't happen to know where there is an 83 diesel parts car?
>> Al Brase
>>
>> Gnarlodious wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Somewhere in Arizona it stopped leaking so profusely and slowed to a
>>> dribble, presumably thanks to the higher elevation. By the time I got to
>>> Santa Fe the back of the van was a real mess, but I hadn't even used
>>> all of
>>> the 2 gallons of coolant!
>>>
>>> So I guess the moral of the story is, don't act too hastily, as long
>>> as your
>>> combustion chambers are tight you can wait for better weather to fix it.
>>>
>>
>>
And a note on diesel heads. When you do tear it down.... Consider replacing
the head bolts with head studs. I believe ARpm makes the kit and I know
Techtonics Tuning is a distributor. This will put the clamp on the cylinder
head for certain.
I have used head studs and main bearing studs on every water cooled l4 VW
motor I have been into for years. Once they are studded, I have never have
a head gasket problem again. I learned this from my mechanic.. He won't even
work on a diesel head for a customer without studding it. With that 22: 1
compression ratio he wants every advantage. He used to have recurring
sealing problems especially on old diesel motors... They now all get
surfaced, get studded, and he uses nothing but Genuine VW head gaskets on
every job. Problem solved!
Of course check that head very closely if it has been overheated you may be
able to surface it but the cam bores will be so far out of line it's junk.
Those little suckers will really bend.
Mike Twombley
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