Been looking for an owners manual but that darn BenT got the one that came
up.

Mike

> From: SpaceKommander <jboldway@BEE.NET>
> Reply-To: SpaceKommander <jboldway@BEE.NET>
> Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 19:29:07 -0500
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Questions from a Vanagon Newbie
>
> Here's my 3 cents - drain coolant and replace with VW coolant (yeah, it's
> almost $20/gallon but worth the extra insurance over stuff like sierra.
> Strange that they don't have as many head gasket problems in Europe. Also,
> tucked in the owners manual is a secret to the life of the VW head gaskets.
> It says never stop the engine immediately after a highway drive. Worst you
> can do is pull off highway in to rest area and turn off engine - let it run
> for 2 min. The earliest car engines did not even have water pumps - cooled
> by convection. The VW is a horrible cooling design as there is no natural
> convection flow. What happens is that you have very hot engine and turn off
> engine means there is NO coolant flow any more. Super hot heads have no
> coolant flow over them, and coolant temperature can exceed the coolant
> boiling temperature - pressure goes sky high locally and head gaskets go
> "pop." This is called "heat soak." Don't belive me - just read your owner's
> manual. Ok, to avoid questions from list members I went outside and got my
> owner's manual(s). Here goes - PAGE 25 (1985 manual, PAGE 28 1986 owner's
> manual) "DO NOT STOP ENGINE IMMEDIATELY AFTER HARD OR EXTENDED DRIVING.
> KEEP ENGINE RUNNING AT INCREASED IDLE FOR ABOUT TWO MINUTES TO PREVENT
> EXCESSIVE HEAT BUILD UP."
>
> Interesting, huh?
>