>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."

Sounds, then, as if these T3s need a turbo-timer to delay engine shutdown?
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut