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Date:         Sun, 26 Dec 2004 02:57:06 -0700
Reply-To:     jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Subject:      Re: Broken Head Stud
Comments: To: jbange <hfinn@INGRATES.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <6.1.2.0.2.20041225214420.03970db0@mail.dslextreme.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

I have seen bad head studs with leakage around them. cause was a head stud that had had leakage around it from bad gasket and then got severely corroded/eroded away by steam. Yours was probably a severe version of it. Pull and probably dispose of that head. I would bet it is warped. The worry part is if you had any erosion of the cylinder surface area. High temperature steam can not only cause extreme pressures put also cause severe pitting of surfaces like aluminum.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• jimt Planned insanity is best. Remember that sanity is optional. http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info) http://www.westydriver.com

On 12/25/04 11:11 PM, "jbange" <hfinn@INGRATES.NET> wrote:

> Well, it just wouldn't be Christmas unless I had SOME kind of catastrophic > mechanical failure. Driving along to mom's place, about 3 miles from home, > when I hear a loud POW! Sort of halfway between a backfire and a tire > blowout. I look in my side mirror and see clouds of white vapor spewing out > the back. Pulled over, shut off the engine, and ran 'round back with the > fire extinguisher in under 15 seconds (I've seen the burnt Vanagon pics, > and they scare me). As I rounded the back corner and smelled the vapor I > was somewhat relieved to find a stream off coolant spilling from the > driver's side of the engine and splashing on the exhaust pipe. No fire at > least. > > By pure bizarre luck, Ross (my neighbor down the block) happened to be > driving by in his syncro Adventurewagen and he stopped and helped me > diagnose the problem. Coolant was coming out of the hole located at the > top-aft corner of the left/driver's side head-- a hole that should have had > a threaded stud through it and sealed with a cap nut. The head stud > apparently snapped and shot off like a projectile. Being only 3 miles from > home I decided to have AAA tow us bcak home, get the other car, and deal > with it later. I haven't pulled the head off yet, so I'm not sure the > condition of anything I might find. My neighbor has a spare stud and nut > he's offered to give me, so I'm wondering if just replacing the one stud is > a good idea. It's the 5th stud in the torque-down sequence in the Bentley > on page 15.23, which looks to me like it's right be the water inlet from > the water pump (this being the driver's side head). Does proximity to the > inlet make that stud more likely to snap due to accelerated corrosion while > the others remain serviceable, or am I just asking for trouble only > replacing the one that broke? I'd hate to get it all back together and > (bad) have one of the others snap when I torque it down, or (worse) blow > another one off the same way this one went, only 200 miles from home > instead of 3. It's bad enough that the side that went is OPPOSITE the side > where the head gasket is already leaking and I'll have to pull BOTH heads. > I'd hate to have to do one head twice because I was too cheap/lazy/dumb to > replace the studs when I had the chance. > > John Bange > '90 Vanagon "Geldsauger" > >


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