Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:36:04 -0500
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: head gaskets
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed; delsp=no
So, does this mean I should ignore the leaks? I'm not accustomed to
ignoring failures on a vehicle, but if this is truly "normal," then I
can sure use the money elsewhere. But maybe this is just one more
reason for me to rethink whether the van is worth more to me than the
money I could get from one of the vanagon nuts around (there seem to be
a good number of them).
Thanks, David McNeely
On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 7:01 PM, Allan Streib wrote:
> It's not the head gaskets proper but the rubber water jacket gaskets.
> Well... the head gaskets may be leaking as well, but in very cold
> weather there's evidently enough shrinkage between the metal and the
> rubber to cause some slow-drip leaks. Mine does this too.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>
> Dave Mcneely writes:
>
>> 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.
>>
>> First really cold weather of the winter last week. Started up the
>> van,
>> only to see a coolant drip underneath. Methinks, well, a loose clamp
>> on
>> a hose, not tightened adequately. Take off the lid, search all over
>> for
>> a hose leaking. Nada. Continue searching, coolant drip diminishing.
>> Stops.
>>
>> Didn't drive the van for a week. Cold weather returned, and methinks
>> the van should be driven a bit. Start it up, and it drips, then
>> drips
>> more, then a larger drip, then drips from more than one place. When
>> the
>> engine was warmed up, the leak quit.
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> How much should a fix cost? If I need heads milled, am I better off
>> having a local guy mill them than buying rebuilt heads?
>>
>> The engine only has 30K on a rebuild, according to paperwork I got
>> with
>> the beast.
>>
>> Thanks, David
>>
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