Date:         Mon, 11 Dec 1995 10:10:36 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         EAGAN@loyola.edu
Subject:      the other head gasket leak...


 How many of you list members have experienced the other type of
 vanagon head gasket leak ?, that being the situation where
 the inner cylinder seals fail allowing the compression generated
 by the engine to be forced into the cooling system. The cooling
 system then slowly loses coolant because air is being forced into
 it. The coolant is usually lost out of the refill tank which is next 
 to the main expansion tank. This problem usually starts slowly and
 can go for a while with out being noticed. The first signs are that the
 levels in the tanks tend to change and that air will be present in the 
 main expansion tank, while the refill tank will tend to become filled
 with coolant. eventually it get to the point where engine compression
 forces do much air into the cooling system that coolant begin to
 just almost be continually force out of the refill tank.
 
 There will also be alot of bubbles present in the main expansion tank
 while the engine is running. you can bleed the cooling system, but
 within a few minutes the air will begin to slowly reappear in the
 system.

 The engine that i had which did this had no other external leaks 
 or problems and it really ran very good, but eventually the problem
 became bad enough that continued use of the engine would have
 damaged it making a rebuild more difficult or impossible.
 
 also i almost forgot, but this problem can and does make the 
 coolant level indicator come on and flash sometimes, because
 the coolant level fluctuates.

 I will be tearing this engine down soon, but i dont expect to find
 anything that unusual inside other than the failure of these compression
 rings and cylinder seals.

 all of this is probably common knowledge, but i hadn't
 seen much mention of it, so i though i'd throw it out to you all...

Patrick
86 crewcab
lots o 2002's
R50 in a box