Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 21:26:14 -0500
Reply-To: Mark Rokus <marokus@VOYAGER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Mark Rokus <marokus@VOYAGER.NET>
Subject: Re: heads leaking
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Rick
I ran mine for 2 years with a leaky rear heater core and radiator (the
heads had already been done with the JB Weld method) A little saw dust,
and a close eye on water level will get you a long way. Keep an eye out
for other leaks though. My close call was with the metal tube to the
radiator near the engine. When it let go, it would have been
catastrophic had I not caught it. In this condition, check immediately
whenever the red light blinks. Most of the time its just low but that
ignoring it that one time could be bad. After a while you will be able
to tell when you are low from the gauge. So as not to scare you, the
tube had been wet for a long time and I knew better. I don't know of any
other area besides hoses that would fail that completely without
warning, and that could be expected with any car. When the pipe
completely rusted at the elbow, the sealant just wouldn't do it anymore.
I could stick my finger through the bad section of pipe. Simple fix
with a generic hose and a bit of extra pipe that I cut off when it
blew. Seems to happen specifically at that elbow. The adjacent
straight pipe looked perfect. In fact, that is where I robbed the piece
to hook the generic hose back to the original. Just got a section of
hose that would reach back to the good pipe after I cut an extra 3" out
for the splice piece. Must be the right combination of heat and
turbulence there. In case you think I'm Rube Gold berg's nephew, this
happened along the side of the road on a long trip. Fixed it right
there and it worked so well that I never re-did the patch. 3 hose
clamps, 1 hose, a hacksaw and some antifreeze. Added plug for the JB
Weld method... worked for over 100,000 miles on mine. When I did it, I
went ahead and the bearings and rings also. Under $400.00 with me
doing the work. The van now has over 200,000 on it and still doing
good.
Good luck
Mark Rokus
Rick Ferguson wrote:
> well the inevitable seems to be occuring...after about 20k miles of
> extention granted by the Morosco ceramic sealer, and due to the
> additional strain of climactic conditions, the heads are leaking
> again...my question is what to expect now...how long can I go just
> adding coolant? will the engine explode or totally go down at some
> point? as I was waiting in a long line the other evening the temp
> gauge went up significantly...it went down when I got back on the
> highway...thanks for any advice,
> Rick
> 85 Westie
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