Date:         Sun, 10 Nov 1996 21:17:13 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Terry Tan <terrytan@onyx.interactive.net>
Subject:      Re: VW Camper Cooling problems

> 
> > 
> > 
> > What's the chances of the heads just needing re-torquing?
> 
>    Waste of time.
  I agree. This head combustion leak is one of VW's  engineering design
flop. VW has tried to cover up by providing all kinds of excuses but your
only alternative is to replace those head gaskets or badly pitted heads.
Again , you should be lucky if you can get 40 k miles after the rebuilt.
Thats about average for most of those 1.9L engines.  
>  Is this common at 102,000 
Are you the original owner ? If so, you are one of the lucky few.
     
>     It will cause other problem in a Vanagon!
> 
>     Will clog up the heater cores and the Rad. cap!
    Yup, dont waste your money and time with those stuff, they dont work.

> 
>  Anyone have any experience with 
> > thems stopping VW Camper head-gasket leaks? If so which type? I've seen metallic aluminum 
> > (dry) types, liquid types, etc. Since the type of anti-freeze you use is so
>  important to these aluminum head engines, I'd think the wrong type of stop-leak could also damage the
> 
>  Regular prestone Anti-freeze is fine in a Vanagon! It's the water that
>  is mixed with it that causes the problem! Here in the US most Water
>   supplies are not a problem at all.
 I would stay away from anything that contains any "phosphate" regardless
of what they claim on the label.
 There are several new brands on the market that are environmentally
safe and phosphate free. Unfortunately they cost several dollars more.

Does anybody have any experience with head problem leaks on the Subaru
engines.
These horizontally opposed engines are almost identical to
VW's . 
It would be interesting to see whether Subaru's engineers did a better
job in their design.
				Terry Tan