Date:         Thu, 9 May 2013 10:31:47 -0700
Reply-To:     Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: coolant overflow fears and thoughts
Comments: To: Tom Carchrae <carchrae@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <518BD7FB.6010404@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Face it, it's already bad.  Procrastination could leave you with nothing to
rebuild or even use as a core to trade in.  Park it or fix it, those are
your only good choices. BTDT.

Good luck!

Stuart
'85 Westy

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Tom Carchrae
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 10:08 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: coolant overflow fears and thoughts

Thanks Larry!

Sadly, when I checked my van the other day after going up a somewhat serious
hill and I saw some small amount of bubbling in the tank behind the license
plate when it was idling - so I suspect there are combustion
gasses coming through.  :/   I'd like to do the sniffer test again.  Is
there any chance this could be coming from anything natural - eg, like
steam/water vapour from the coolant?   Engine was probably on for about
15 minutes in total - warm enough to get up to full operating temperature,
but not for any length of time.

I'm torn on what to do.  I really don't have the time on my hands to do a
full engine removal and disassembly ala
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=286798 - so do I keep
driving it gently with this knowledge and wait until it gets so bad the
engine overheats?...   I suspect it'll get worse over time and force me
to fix it.

Tom