Date: Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:28:40 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: '90 2.1: What are the chances that I just fried my engine?
UPDATE
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I just had a case similar to this.
A small hose blew out - the one to the right of the crankshaft pulley
..........short straight hose there.
The person kept driving. Then there was the usual story of overheating,
white clouds of smoke,, it finally quit etc.
And then got coolant added and limbed to where I am.
After fixing that small hose, I find it runs fine but coolant is being
pushed out the top of the left head at the rubber gasket.
It has AMC heads, and I had done that left side about 6 months ago.
there was evidence of the rubber water gasket being pinched there, so I had
just a bit of material removed from the left head, to reduce the pinching
affect on the rubber gasket. All was fine, until this small hose blow-out,
and driving it with only little coolant in it.
I find compression lowish on two cylinders.
I find that the left rubber gasket was pinched and split just a little
mid-way between the ends, at the top and bottom.
We decide to do a whole number, including new pistons and barrels and put on
VW heads, not these AMC ones.
Taking things apart, I find the right AMC head has been pinching and
spitting the rubber gasket for a long time, and it was about to fail anyway.
Plus the green o-rings were deteriorated to nothing < this is not a rant,
it's just a report of facts - things I find interesting and worth sharing. ,
I'm not yelling or going on about how bad waterboxer engines are >.
What I found.......which people might find to be useful helpful information
is.....
by carefully measuring rubber water gasket thickness uncompressed, and
measuring the rubber gasket gap with VW heads installed without green
o-rings or rubber gaskets, is........the vw heads sit .140 inches from the
block, compressing the rubber gasket about .006 inches. Which I consider
just right.
The AMC heads have a gap of .133 inches, which is compressing the rubber
gasket about .007 inches more by my calculations, or .013 inches total,
which is why I suspect those rubber gaskets are pinching and splitting.
Just saying, I'd pay particular attention to how much whichever kind of
heads you have on there, are squeezing the rubber gasket. Can't be too
much, or too little. I've seen that too- the rubber gasket was barely
compressed, and that leaked just a tiny seep, after about 6 months of near
daily running.
Scott
turbovans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: '90 2.1: What are the chances that I just fried my engine?
UPDATE
> Definitely do both of those rubber gaskets Jeff - thermal cycling is what
> makes them wear out and you just stressed them harshly.
>
> Robert's advice looks good to me...
>
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 6:09 PM, Jeff Lincoln <magikvw@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> OK, well this might get kind of long and there will most likely be
>> several
>> questions. I'll provide as much info as I can.
>>
>> *The driver's side head gasket is most definitely shot
>> *The large plastic water distribution piece blew an end out
>> *The coolant line/pipe that enters the passenger side head at the rear
>> (rear
>> of the van) appears to be leaking coolant
>> *Oil shows no sign of water in the oil but was very low (it wasn't low
>> last
>> I checked last week)
>> *No leaking from the block
>> *The van starts right up runs and sounds normal
>> *No leaking from the passenger side head
>>
>> The Plan:
>>
>> 1. Check compression
>> 2. Remove heads have them checked - if warped replace with heads from
>> parts
>> bus.
>> 2. Replace head gaskets
>> 3. Replace gasket to the coolant line/pipe at the rear of pass head
>> 4. Replace coolant distribution piece
>> 5. Change oil
>>
>> The Questions:
>>
>> 1. Do both head gaskets need to be replaced if the pass side isn't
>> leaking?
>> (seems the right thing to change both but someone has suggested
>> otherwise)
>>
>> 2. If compression test proves poor (I suspect it wont) is it worth even
>> proceeding with the repair?
>>
>> 3. Where did my oil go? Could it have been purged during over heating
>> too?
>> There is clearly oil in the engine bay.
>>
>> 4. The age old question - remove the engine to do the repair or do it in
>> the
>> bus?
>>
>> 5. I know I'm missing something, misguided, or not thinking of something
>> because I lack the knowledge and experience with this type of repair. So
>> set
>> me straight :)
>>
>> There you have it Sorry to present such a long post but this is very new
>> ground for me. Now I guess I need to go look through Benny Boys website
>> for
>> a while.
>>
>> Thank you all in advance for any words of wisdom advice and whatever else
>> you can send my way. Good Grief.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jeff
>> '90 Carat (Grover)
>> '86 (We call this one Parts)
>> '78 Bus (Melissa) Patty's Bus
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Beverley Anne de Villiers April 20, 1930 - July 4, 2009
>
> Jake
>
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
>
> Crescent Beach, BC
>
> www.thebassspa.com
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27
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