Hi Paul,
    The oil cooler O ring you mention seems to be just thick enough to seal
the gap between the cooler and the block without much squeeze.  I had one of
these fail on a cold weather startup shortly after overhaul. Since then I
have used the O ring from a mahle oil filter instead of the one in the
gasket kit. 3 engine rebuilds and  no failures. I rebuild with a heavy duty
oil pumps which ups the pressure about 20 percent. Neither is probably a
great idea but it works for me.
Darrell Boehler

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Kirsch <Vanagony@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 6:58 PM
Subject: Cold Weather Oil Leak

> Here in the northeast, we have been experiencing some cold weather.
Sunday
> night the temperature dipped below 0 F (-18 C) with some awful wind gusts.
> When our 90GL  was started Monday morning, an oil leak (gush) had
developed
> but was not detected.  The engine's lifeblood steadily poured out as the
van
> was allowed to warm up and then driven away.  Unfortunately the oil light
and
> buzzer did not convince the driver to shut the engine off.  The van made
it
> back to our driveway, but the engine was a goner...siezed!
>
> Probably what happened was a failure of the gasket at the oil cooler
(2.1L).
> This gasket experiences a lot of heat in normal use and the extreme cold
can
> cause it to crack.  I will know after the autopsy.  An improved version of
> this gasket is available.
>
> A friend with a Passat experienced the same failure on the same day  He
made
> the mistake of leaving the engine running while he went into a store for a
> few minutes.  When he went back out to his car, there was a puddle of oil
> under his car and some terrible noise coming from it.  Luckily his engine
did
> not sieze.
>
> I had been planning to replace the head gaskets in the Spring.  I will
> probably replace the engine with a used one.  This time, I will do the
heads
> before installing the engine.  I will also replace the oil cooler gasket.
>
> This is Vanagony!
>
>
> Paul Kirsch
> 90GL  (Exxon Valdez)
>