Date:         Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:33:43 -0500
Reply-To:     Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Subject:      Re: head gaskets
In-Reply-To:  <4B297FED.1030304@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I have an '86 that I bought in 2001 with about 180k on it.  It had
green coolant in it.  I did all the flushing and put in dexcool.  It
dripped coolant from one head starting that first winter.  After a
few years of that, I used some of the Subaru stuff that was
mentioned.  It no longer leaks coolant from that head, or at least
not at a rate that I ever see it.  I still lose a tiny amount of
coolant somewhere.  I can smell it in the cabin so probably tiny
leaks at heater cores.  Not enough to drip though.

I've got 207k miles on it now and not about to pull the heads or
engine just for that reason.  I've got a tiny leak at my torque
converter seal also, but again not about to pull the tranny to fix
that alone.  Sooner or later I'll have a better reason to do those
things along with a bigger project.

Edward

At 07:48 PM 12/16/2009, mark drillock wrote:
>This is a typical failure mode. Leaks in cold weather, stops when warmed
>up, leaks worse as temps drop. May go on this way for years depending on
>you and it. Mine has. On more than one van.
>
>Mark
>
>
>Dave Mcneely wrote:
>>So, I've done about everything I thought I should to make my '91 camper
>>as reliable as it could be, including lots of cooling system fixes.
>>Just replaced all coolant hoses, since so many think that should be
>>done.
>>.......
>>
>>Head gaskets are leaking. The question: I find it difficult to think
>>the gaskets just all of a sudden turned loose (I'd even removed the tins
>>to look for evidence of leaks when I did the hoses, and saw none).
>>Could it be that the heads and or gaskets were already loose or
>>whatever, and the cold weather made them looser and so they leak? If I
>>run the engine a little while, the leaks dry up, suggesting to me that
>>temperature plays a role -- expansion, contraction ..... . So, could
>>the heads be sealed better even with the temperature difference between
>>normal fall temps and the quite cold temps we've had lately? I'm just
>>trying to understand why this suddenly showed up, and wonder if it being
>>coincident with the cold weather is more than a coincidence.