Hi John,

There are a few other ways for combustion gases to enter the cooling system
(bad O rings or the metal compression gasket). Have the suspect head leak
tested at an auto machine shop, many heads with the crack you have described
are fine. I have in the past, on my 85 westy replaced just one head, I had
and exhaust valve burn on one side so I replace that head with a junk yard
head ( 70,000 miles on junkyard head so far). No experience with BD rebuilt
heads.

J.R. Beckham
Narragansett Rhode Island
85 Westy
87 Wolfsburg
91 GL

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of
John Houser
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 5:38 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Just one head?

Volks,

I have a 1984 Westy that I have been working on for almost a year.  When I
finally got the engine to quit bucking and stalling, It ran ok for about a
week but then started getting exhaust gasses in the coolant and would try to
overheat.  I took the passenger side cylinder head off and found a crack
that ran from the exhaust valve seat to the intake valve seat on one of the
cylinders.  I think that this is the source of my problem.  This head was a
replacement head and had no pitting under the outer gasket.

I have three questions:

      1.  Can an auto machine shop weld up this crack and I reinstall the
head.

      2.  If  I have to get a rebuilt head, can I replace only one head or
must cylinder
           heads be replaced in pairs.

      3.  Does anyone have any experinece with rebuilt cylinderheads from
Bus Depot.

Thanks in advance and If anyone has any relevant cylinderhead wisdom that
they would like impart--please feel free.

John Houser, Jr.
Perry, Ga.

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