Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 15:44:10 -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 Loss- is it that time again?
In-Reply-To: <CAGbP_PiomTHPJYtv+ECjAUM_d0QntizOHFDWtpSr6jEEKX973Q@mail.gmail.com>
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My son’s ’87 was losing a pint every 500 miles and I could see no leaks. So, I followed the Bentley procedure and pressurized the system to 15 psi. You need to have a dry driveway, garage, or cardboard, but trust me, you’ll find your leak(s) within an hour, or at most in 12 hours. His was dripping from both head seals and the plastic coolant pipe, where one of the hoses was nearly pushed off by the corroded sleeve used in the plastic pipes.
I used my Motive Products pressure brake bleeder, but you can use a bike pump with a gauge, or carefully use compressed air. The cap is supposed to open at just under 16 psi, so you are testing it too. If you want a special tool, Go Westy sells one, but the Motive is a better choice if you bleed your own brakes, and you should change the fluid every two years.
I put two bottles of the Subaru “head gasket conditioner” in and it reduced the leak, but it hasn’t been driven enough to see if it will really work.
Stuart
From: David [mailto:fjazzbass@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 11:01 AM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: vanagon list
Subject: Re: Coolant Loss- is it that time again?
Thanks, Stuart...I'm befuddled...no coolant popping out of overflow...
Heads look clean :-) I will give it a more once over when I'm off work...maybe I'm just losing it from one of the less obvious places....
On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com> wrote:
Internal leak would be into the crankcase, and you'd know about that! Blown internal head gasket ring would over-pressurize the system and coolant would come out of the overflow bottle. Keep looking, the front heater valve above the spare or a cracked expansion tank can leak under pressure and you don't always see it.
Since you have metal coolant tubes to the radiator, I doubt those are leaking like the plastic tubes do, but I'd make sure all connections are tight. Last, it could be the outer rubber head gaskets with a slow leak. :-(
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of David
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 7:02 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Coolant Loss- is it that time again?
On my 85 1.9 (second set of heads...that we did 11 years ago) I'm suspecting internal leakage...
I have had a lot of coolant loss over a long period of time...I topped up the bottle- thinkng that maybe when a heater control switch was switched out that we just didn't get all the air out of the system...
I did have another external leak that I fixed- but something just doesn't seem right.
Just finished pouring about a gallon of antifreeze into the system this AM- and doing some bleeding...what's next? How can I locate this internal leak?
Or would there be some other not so obvious places? Rear heater is bypassed...maybe lost coolant from that operation and it's only showing up now...something aint right!
The engine runs like a champ- full power - after my more recent electrical (I believe to have been) issues- reseating all major suspects...it runs and idles wonderfully....
Any advice is welcome... do we have to check for exhaust in the coolant?
Dave
85 1.9 GL MT
