Date:         Mon, 23 Sep 1996 17:53:08 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David E Most <most@gibbs.oit.unc.edu>
Subject:      Need advice for head gasket leak

I know, the subject heading is quite surprising, but I thought a few of 
you might have some ideas.

First, I just replaced the water pump, and before and after this repair, 
I've had no overheating problems at all....no flashing light, no needle 
at the extremes, nothing.  Then engine's been running quite well in fact.

Second, I look under the vanagon often, and I only noticed the leak this 
morning.  It had been sitting for many hours over night, and was dripping 
slightly as it was completely cold.  On the ground were two small spots 
of coolant about 3-4 inches in diameter, each of which was under one of 
the bolts holding the tin under the passenger side head gasket.  The tin 
has a semicircular shape thereby probably causing the coolant to fall 
from the area of those 2 bolts once it has leaked from the gasket.

I drove by the VW dealer in town, and a mechanic took one look at where I 
said the leak was coming from (no visible leak at the time), and he 
confirmed my suspicicion.  I drove a few more miles, the engine was up to 
normal operating temp., I looked at the same area again after stopping, 
and it was completley dry.  Could it be that with heat and expansion that 
the leak will only be apparent when cold?  By the way, when I saw the 
leak, the drops were coming at (very rough estimate) 1 drop per minute.  

So, what i'd like to know is if this sounds like the head gasket leaking?

Also, it seems that people have had varying degrees of success with VOA 
in getting assistance for this repair.  Any thoughts on the best way to 
go about it?

Many people say they experience overheating when the gasket starts 
leaking, but this may be due to not checking the coolant level daily.  On 
the other hand, I've been noticing the coolant level going down slightly 
for a little while now.  The problem though is that this symptom was 
confounded by the presence of a leaking resevoir and bad water pump.  
However, I've noticed the level dropping even in the last few days since 
the water pump was replaced and before I noticed the spots on the ground.

As always, thank you very much for the help.  I figure that once I 
replace every component of the cooling system, I'll be in great shape.

david