Soooo... Last winter I got in my van and started to drive, the heat took 15 minutes to start going. That only meant 1 thing, there was not enough coolant. I've been very diligent over the years keeping an air free system and have enjoyed a temp gauge that never, even on hot days idling, went more than a hair past the led. After putting in about 2 cups of water and bleeding the system I was back to normal and the heat worked fine. A few weeks later the top coolant tank was a cup or two low. Figured I have a slow leak somewhere but since I planned to have the engine rebuilt I could just keep on top of the coolant. So all summer long I've been putting in a cup or so a week and I've actaully had to turn the heat on for the first time to cool off in traffic. The same day my van's brakes went out I had smelled hot coolant for the first time when I parked so I had the mechanic search for leaks after fixing my brakes. He found a weeping head gasket that stopped leaking when hot and a weeping water pump. OK, I plan on a late fall rebuild for the engine BUT my question is should I throw some Bars Leaks in there for my fall trips? I've got a 300 mile round trip to MD for Pony Pitch next weekend and a few short hops like "Buses by the Depot". The van is also a 2 day a week daily driver. Being that I'll probably only put another 1000 miles on before the rebuild I'm debating whether to do the stop leak or not.
Bryan |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.