Date:         Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:03:34 +0000
Reply-To:     J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      I should Have Known Better, I Brought it on Myself!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

So Sunday I take the family shopping in the '85, which I've owned now for 4 months. On the way into town I look down a t the odometer and realize I've driven this Vanagon more than any other I've owned, I've already put 2K miles on it, and my other two I barely put 3K a year on. So I start thinking about how it's been pretty reliable (I know, one should never think about such things) So I drop the wife and daughter off at Kohls and head to another store a couple of miles away. When I come back out, I find a good size puddle (OK, maybe 3/4 of a cup) of coolant on the ground under the van. I start hoping that maybe it was from the car parked there before me, but soon realize thats wishful thinking. Pop the engine cover off to find coolant dripping from under the expansion tank. The top of the tank is dry, as are the two hose connections into it, but the bottom of the tank is wet. I head back over to pick up the wife and daughter and we head for home. The temp gauge never rose above normal. Once home I thoroughly clean the engine compartment around the tank. Can't find anything wrong but suspect a crack in the bottom of the tank. The van has been sitting in the same spot since Sunday afternoon and has not leaked a drop of coolant, so now I am suspecting a crack in the tank that only leaks under pressure-sound reasonable? Jeff 



Jeff Stewart