Hope your right Karl.  In the grand scheme of things, it seemed to be too
convenient though.  Maybe God just doesn't want me to own any of these vans.
On the same day, the clutch slave cylinder started leaking uncontrollably on
my '85 westy...

wade

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Karl Wolz
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 9:27 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: The moral of the story is... (Semi-long tale of woe)

Wade,

If the gauge was only 3/4 up, you most likely didn't cause any damage by
driving it.  Most likely just a coincidence.

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wade Shen" <swade@UMIACS.UMD.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 6:22 PM
Subject: The moral of the story is... (Semi-long tale of woe)

> 'Tis the season for fables and parables so here's one that may, hopefully,
> save y'all the thousands in repair costs that I'll now have to pay.
>
> I just bought a new '90 Vanagon GL the other day.  It seemed to be running
> well, and everything seemed to be in great condition - even the mechanic
> that I had check it out commented on how well it had been cared for.
>
> Then the other day, I was returning from the Airport (an 80 mile drive
round
> trip) when the flashing LED came on.  I was about 1/4 mile from home and
it
> was late in the evening, so I just parked the car, figuring that I would
> look into the problem the next day.
>
> The next day, I open the engine compartment and noticed that the coolant
was
> low, so I fill everything and start the engine.  The blinking LED didn't
> come on for a while, but when the thermostat opened, I noticed coolant
> dripping out of the T-connector <-> thermostat housing hose and the LED
> started blinking again.
>
> After shutting off the engine for a couple of hours, I decided to risk
> driving the car to the local mechanic (about 2 miles away, but in city
> traffic).  Nervously watching the temp gauge and the blinking LED, it took
> almost 15 anxious minutes to get to the mechanic.  By this time, the temp
> gauge was almost 3/4 up, steaming coolant out of the broken hose, and a
> blinking LED all the way (however, there was coolant in the system).  I
> thought to myself, "I should have paid to have her towed."
>
> Well, this morning, upon getting her back from the mechanic, she ran well,
> but i noticed a small puddle of green coolant under the right cylinder
> head/engine body interface (God, I hope they forgot to tighten the drain
> bolt), and the coolant reservoir was down 1/2 from Max.  I'm pretty sure
it
> was doing this before...
>
> So it turns out a small risk may turn into a $1300 head gasket job.  I
guess
> I should be glad I didn't melt the entire engine.
>
> wade
>