Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:09:05 -0500
Reply-To: Kurt Camealy <camealy@CTSR.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Kurt Camealy <camealy@CTSR.COM>
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?
In-Reply-To: <000e01c74f22$3a49dcb0$0200a8c0@MAINCOMPUTER>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I guess the fact that the behavior is new is what bothers me. The water
cooled has a Min/Max and it will go from the middle of that range to
halfway past the fill cap.
Thanks,
Kurt
-----Original Message-----
From: Courtney Hook [mailto:courtneyhook@shaw.ca]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 10:51 PM
To: Kurt Camealy; vanagon
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?
Kurt, my coolant in all my vehicles rises after it is hot. That is why
my
coolant tank has a max - hot level and a max - cold level. In fact the
radiator has a hose that rises out of the top radiator cap, and pours
water
into the tank. When the engine cools down, it sucks the water back into
the
radiator. Water expands when it's hot. Are you sure this just isn't
normal?
I have an aircooled westy, so can't give you exact westy info, but my
shiny
new Mazda 3 has a max level for coolant marked hot and cold.
Courtney
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kurt Camealy" <camealy@CTSR.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:01 PM
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?
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.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Condelli
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 7:11 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?
In a message dated 09/02/2007 12:48:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
I have a 2.1 that was rebuilt top and bottom at 150K and now it seems
to be
leaking through the inner head gasket again. I have 215K now and the
engine
runs great but my coolant level will rise significantly during driving
and
has a slow steady stream of small bubbles in it. I remember this
happening
last time before a catastrophic head blowout. (engine had a roaring
boil
coming of the coolant bottle and never started again after cooling off)
Is
roughly 70K average for a head problem on a rebuild?
My real questing is what next. I am still not ready to part with my
Vanagon, but I don't have a ton of money to spend on it right now. If
I
continue to drive it will I ruin the top of the Cylinders requiring
more
than a top end rebuild? If I do just a top end will I most likely need
new
heads instead of just gaskets? Should I try to re-torque the current
heads
or will I most likely just crack them?
Thank you for everyone's insight,
If the head gaskets are installed correctly they will not leak - ever !
See my _VW Vanagon waterboxer head & gasket repair_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/gasket.htm) webpage. They are now
leaking, corrosion has started , it
will only get worse, re-torqueing will do noting but stretch the
studs. Maybe
they are already stretched and that's why the leaking. New heads vs
old
heads, if the old ones are not cracked or pitted beyond reasonable
reuse use
them otherwise it's better to have new AMC heads for many reasons
explained in
the archives over years of postings.
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
