Date:         Wed, 4 Nov 1998 10:39:02 +0000
Reply-To:     "R. Hotchkiss" <hotch@NETAXS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "R. Hotchkiss" <hotch@NETAXS.COM>
Subject:      Head Leak
Comments: To: vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
              x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"

Hey Guys,

I woke up to find a small puddle of coolant, about an ounce, coming from
my left head gasket. My 86 GL has about 148K miles on it nad had the
heads changed once at about 80K.  I checked my coolant overflow tank and
I have lost some coolant (i'm still trying to keep my cool :) ) .  I
think I'm probably due to replace the head gaskets.

I tried top get to the archives through http://www.vanagon.com but could
not get through.

Would re-torqueing the heads be something to try?  I know VW tried this
before they ended up replacing the heads the first time with the PO and
it seemed to doom it quicker.

Does anyone have a copy of the proceedure to do this job without
removing the engine?

How many nights at about 3 hrs a night will this take?

Do I have to replace the heads or how do I make that determination?

I need to drive from Philly to Chicago around Christmas so I don't want
to risk adding chemicals and hoping for a good seal.

If I can't find the time to do it myself, how many hours should I be
paying a mechanic to do it?

Hotch
hotch@netaxs.com
http://www.hotstrings-inc.com
86 Vanagon GL (w/ the Drip)
89 Jetta GL (to get me to Ron's)
Philly