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Date:         Mon, 25 Mar 1996 13:38:36 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright, SMUS Network Analyst" <swright@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      re: Rear Heater leak

This is an easy job, only taking a few minutes to do, but when I went to lift up the heater, my left hand got wet. Hmmm... blue goo... :( Coolant is leaking ever so slowly from the max/min valve. It appears to be coming out of the shaft of the lever that goes into the valve. There were no puddles, but after I disturbed it, it would leave a drip about the size of a dime *when the engine was cold*. As the engine warmed up, it didn't leak. Yeah, sure... make me insane! This is *exactly* what mine did when I bought it a few weeks ago. The valve is available separately for about $100 at the dealer. Mine is now fixed, but the heater core itself leaks. I noticed some dried coolant on the core before, but hoped it was just the valve dripping onto it. No such luck - I have to take it in *again* to have the core checked & replaced. I'd suggest popping the front piece off the heater so you can inspect the core. Mine has a white buildup along the botton 1/2" or so of the aluminum fins.

Does anybody know if these valves can be changed independently from the heater core?.. it looks like it all comes apart, but who knows how VW sells these parts. The Bentley doesn't say much about this heater, and is rather disapointing.

This is a major bummer... just had the cooling system pressure checked last week, and coolant flushed. Tell me about it. The dealer pressure test failed to locate the leaky valve, and *another* test failed to find the leaky core. Apparently you can replace the core/valve without bleeding the system - just clamp the hoses first then fill the new core/valve using the bleeder screw before opening the clamps.

Good Luck.

Shawn.


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