Date:         Tue, 18 Apr 1995 07:26:57 -0500 (CDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Gerald Skerbitz <gsker@lenti>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Head Gaskets (fwd)

=========================================================================
Date:         
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Head Gaskets

On Mon, 17 Apr 95 19:30:38 CDT David Kao said:
>When I eventually tried to replace I did not drain the system completely
>before refilling. Anyway, my head gaskets are apparently OK at 106k miles
>now. I remember I even used the green stuff to top off once for a while.
>I am just wondering if the head gasket problem is caused by something else.
>My 83 westy had the gasket problem (not fixed yet as of today) when it
>was owned by my buddy. He had all maintenance/repair done by VW dealer and
>yet the problem occurred. My friend got very disappointed with the westy
>and unloaded it to me when he went to work on a job overseas. It's got
>60k miles only. I am trying to determine if I should seek VWoA to pay the
>(majority) cost to fix it.

i'm sure that the coolant can't be the ONLY problem causing head gasket
leaks. don't forget that vw had a recall on the head bolts for the early
water-cooled engines to be re-torqued.

and there had to be SOME sort of problem with the gasket material or it
wouldn't have dissolved as some people say, would it? but then, that
toyota truck i was talking about also had a partially dissolved gasket.
aluminum in the gasket??

but the point is, the coolant is something that you CAN do something about
.. and it's cheaper than the parts and labor of replacing the head gaskets
later. and the heads themselves if the leak gets too bad.

but i don't mean to imply that ALL of the head gasket leaks are ONLY the
result of the coolant being non-vw or containing phosphates.  i don't KNOW
what causes any of it, but based on what i've been told and what i've seen,
i suspect that the coolant is much more critical than the owner's manual
might lead us to believe. :(

anybody know for sure if the bmw's and audi's and mercedes and saab's and
volvo's have had this same rash of gasket problems?? i only know that Mercedes
was very very very strongly against using anything but their own phosphate-
free coolant (properly co$tly, thank you very much!). overly caustious?
they also felt the same way about all replacement parts. it's a wonder they
didn't have their own brand of gasoline! ;)

joel