Date:         Wed, 02 Oct 1996 12:34:28 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Mark McCulley <raven@halcyon.com>
Subject:      Re: Need advice for head gasket leak

At 11:32 AM 9/24/96 -0500, David E Most wrote:
>
>So, is there any concensus on whether or not there would be any external 
>indication recognizing that what I might be calling the head gasket is 
>not the head gasket?  Also, for those who've had external indications, 
>under what temp. and operating conditions was the leak apparent, and what 
>was the rate of the leak?

I had similar symptons on my 87. There were no puddles, but coolant appeared
underneath the tin on the passenger side. The leak only appeared at fairly
high rpm, 2500 or so, and never at idle. I traced the leak to an area around
the nut that secures the upper right side of the head to the block. It
appeared to me that coolant was actually weeping out of the head from a
hairline crack. I did the BarsLeak treatment with no success. I then tried
Alumaseal with some results, the leak was slowed but not stopped. Next I
replaced the nut with a new one and sealed with some stuff recommended by
Dennis Haynes (can't remember the name right now, but it was FLAPS stuff,
not VW). This fixed the leak and it hasn't leaked since (5K miles have
elapsed). To properly replace and seal this nut, you have to drain most of
the coolant so that the area is dry. Be sure to torque new nut to specs if
you do this. Before deciding anything, you need to determine exactly where
your leak is coming from.

-Mark McCulley