Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:31:38 EST
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 11/02/2007 10:11:38 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
I just drained all the coolant and oil and can't find any evidence of
cross contamination. It runs great with no loss of "power". Is there
anything else that would cause the coolant level to rise after driving?
It will raise about two to three inches in the coolant fill bottle. I
bled the system with the nose raised and all the air seemed to come out.
There is no coolant leakage out of the outer water jacket gasket either
which last time my head gaskets leaked the combustion gasses seemed to
force coolant to leak out of those.
Don't know what to look for next. I would hate to tear down my top end
to find out it was something else.
You, do realize that the coolant normally expands when the engine is up to
operating temperature ? That's why there is the expansion overflow tank
behind the licence plate door. When the coolant gets hot it expands and needs to
go somewhere so that it can get back in the main system when the system cools
off and creates a vacuum. That's the job of that cap on the main tank.
Now, if your getting more than the normal amount of expansion then you have a
combustion leak into the coolant system. This does not always result in cross
contamination of the fluids. If there is a crack in a head that only opens
when under sever heat & load then the combustion escaping prevents coolant
from entering but over pressures the coolant system. When the engine cools the
crack seals so no leak is detected. The only way you find these leaks is
with a leak down test done on a hot engine and possibly a coolant system
pressure test, however if the crack is small and only opening up under extreme
loads then it may be difficult to find.
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
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