Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 23:24:02 -0400
Reply-To: Karen Gritis <gritis@IBM.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Karen Gritis <gritis@IBM.NET>
Subject: 91 Vanagon - blown head gaskets - oh no!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Oh most wise list:
I knew this would happen if we tried to take a vacation. We packed the
van to the gills with beach stuff and headed down 95 towards Nags Head
from Fairfax. We had just mentioned that all gauges, etc. were fine,
when suddenly they no longer were! The temperature gauge (which
normally rides just to the left of the light) suddenly zoomed all the
way to the right and the light started flashing. There was a
corresponding loss of power.
We immediately pulled to the shoulder and the engine died of its own
accord. We saw a trail of coolant to mark our route. We unpacked
everything and saw lots of steam escaping from the engine.
To make a long story short we called a tow truck and had it towed and of
course there were no VW mechanics open on Saturday in the outskirts of
Richmond. We did find one shop that had a Bentley in their possession.
They diagnosed what we had feared - both head gaskets blown. I decided
to have it trailered back to Fairfax to the shop where the heads had
been replaced approximately 1 year and 12,000 miles ago. I just got
home from vacation and immediately turned to the list for help, I plan
on speaking with the mechanic tomorrow to find out his assessment of the
problem. I would like to feel a little more knowledgeable before I
speak with him.
I don't know whether this has any bearing on the head gasket failure or
not, but for what its worth. I picked my van up after the repair last
year (new heads) and as I was driving up a 25 degree incline, the
warning light and buzzer both came on with no increase in temperature
registered by the needle. Both warning signals stopped before I could
stop, so I drove back to the repair shop where I left it once again. I
was told that the oil was changed to 20W50 because sometimes "older,
looser" engines need that weight and that the second warning sensor was
defective and the best fix was to disable it, which was done.
What's my next course of action? My van is very important to me and I
don't want to have to settle for some inferior method of transportation
because I can't afford what's happening with this engine.
Any suggestions, help, etc.?
Thanks,
Karen