Date:         Sun, 5 Apr 1998 10:38:11 -0500
Reply-To:     ChuckKuecker <ckuecker@MCS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         ChuckKuecker <ckuecker@MCS.NET>
Subject:      Leaking head hell..
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I got the rebuilt steering gear back into the '91 yesterday. Had to cut and
braze the hydraulic lines, but everything is back together and running fine.
Got the toe-in set up, and it handles nice and tight again, due to the new
tierods..

So I took the family out for the day, to visit my Mom in Tomah, Wisconsin,
about 200 miles away. I had put Aluma-Seal in the coolant last week, and it
seemed to have fixed the head seepage.

When we stopped in Janesville for lunch, I checked fluid levels. No leaks in
either the head gaskets or the power steering. Got to Tomah without incident.

At 8:30 PM, we started home. 17 mileso out of town the temeperature guage
light started blinking, so we stopped at a truck stop. The coolant was down
an inch in the expansion tank, but no apparent leaks. I guess the coolant
evaporated, and the leak stopped when I opened the cap on the tank.

The store there had Bar's Leaks, so I put two small bottles into the engine,
along with more antifreeze. Idle testing showed no leak, so we continued
driving.

100 miles later, the rear window misted over, and the blinker came on again.
The leak in the head had let go with a burst. Again, there was little
evidence of coolant on the engine, but the whole back of the car was wet. I
topped off with antifreeze and limped to the next exit, and another truck stop.

This one only had Prestone stop leak. It was now 12:30 AM, and we were still
90 miles from home. So I took the chance and put the Prestone leak stop in.
This made two bottles of Aluma-Seal, two of Bar's Leaks, and 8 ounces of
Prestone stuff, total. Topped it off again.

We made it home with no more trouble, but now I dread seeing how messy the
cooling system will look when I pull the engine to do the ehads properly...

Chuck Kuecker

ckuecker@mcs.net

'83 Scirocco (Katy's car now)
'58 Ghia Convert
'75 Bug
'67 Bug
'63 Bug (*still* for sale)
'91 Vanagon