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Date:         Sat, 26 Jan 2013 18:05:49 -0800
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: Coolant Overpressurization / Head Gasket Leak
Comments: To: Walter Houle <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2013012620244316@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

if it pushes coolant out cold .. that sure sounds like the heads will be coming off to me.

I get a little nervous when heads have been on a waterboxer engien for a long, long time.. as things are often corroded .. two main areas can be an issue .. pitting of the bottom of the heads.. and the other more serious one ... cylinder head stud/s breaking off at their bottoms rather than the nut unscrewing nicely on top. It's fairly rare for them to not unscrew properly ..the nut .. usually they do , but you sure do not want a stud broken off down in the engine.

I don't necessarily new heads' myself.. I'm very happy with decent heads and a fresh valve job.. pretty testing comes to mind in your case ..

you might also want to upgrade to a 2.1 long block .. the entire thing will bolt right in, with all your engine stuff on it.

OR .. even betterbut more parts / work .... .this is what I run in my 85 Adventurewagon.. I have a whole 2.1longblock .. I run the 2.1 intake runners , plenum and throttle body on it .. and the full complete2.1 exhausts system .. but I keep the Digijet Fuel Injection and the 1.9 Distributor and Igniter and also . 1.9 crank pulley .. and that set up runs just great. I go up most hills in 4th gear . like it's boring ..themajority of the time the tach is between 2,500 and 4,200 in 4th gear. Fuel milage is about what you'd expect,high teens touching 20 on an easy run.

and .. I kept the 2.1 oil cooler/heat exchanger ..and plumbed into my 1.9 cooling system .. that seems to work real well too.

oh right .. with a leak down test I have been able to figure out which side is doing it on a 1.9 before .. then you can take that head off right in the van as a first step .. see what you learn doing that, about how good/bad things are.

scott turbovans

On 1/26/2013 5:07 PM, Walter Houle wrote: > The morning after the 300 mile drive home from BBB I noticed that the > coolant overfolw tank was full and overflowing a few drips. The expansion > tank was also 100% full. I opened the pressure cap a little bit at a time > and a lot of coolant pushed out - this on a stone cold engine that was > sitting for 12 hours. It looks like I have an internal head gasket leak. > The strange part was that the van ran strong all the way home and didn't > show any obvious signs of overheating. We stopped and checked it twice > along the way, no drips, no smell, and no excess heat. The temp gauge was > over the right edge of LED and it behaved normally, up a tad on the > climbs, and down a tad on the descents, just like always. I did a > compression test today and it was 170-170-140-150. Its been low on 3 & 4 > like that for a while, last test was 6 months ago, but this is the first > time I've had coolant issues. I will try a hydrocarbon sniff of the > coolant and then a leakdown test to confirm. I've read a lot in the > archives, and its looking more and more like its a compression leak, and > it looks like it is only occuring under load. The heads are old and have > never been off, original VW factory rebuild, 15 years and 75K miles ago. > Yes, this is way overdue and I should have taken care of this earlier. > > I am assumming new heads are in order, and I'm hoping that is going to be > it. What about the rest of the engine? If it was pushing coolant away from > the cylinders, it was doing it for a long period of time. WHat else should > I be looking at? > > Thanks, > Walter > 1985 Vanagon 1.9 in San Diego >


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