Rachel-
I sketched the part (that I think you are talking about) and put it as a
bitmap image. It is at:
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/snow/images/gasket.bmp
Maybe others more knowledgeable than I can weigh in here, but I kind of
doubt this is the offending gasket, because it is open at the bottom and
doesn't (AFAIK) hold any pressure. It is probably the crankshaft seal. This
is a part that is replaceable with the motor in, and it shouldn't be a whole
lot more involved of a job than just replacing the gasket in the picture.
BTW, you might want to look in the archives about Scot(t) Sullivan's leak
woes. He had the same leak, and it turns out it was caused by an oil
pressure relief valve that wasn't opening, so it put too much pressure on
the crank seals. This is also a fairly easy fix, once you locate a new oil
pump. Hope this helps.
-Dan
PS, I think the gasket (And perhaps the crank seal) are standard I4 VW
items, not specific to the diesel engine.

>From: Gnarlodious <Gnarlodious@CYBERMESA.COM>
>Reply-To: Gnarlodious <Gnarlodious@CYBERMESA.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Oiga Amigos!  Free Part /  Shifter Boot Frame!-UPDATE
>Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2002 21:17:12 -0600
>
>UPDATE!
>Forgot to say,
>Logon: "vanagonlist"
>Password: "public"
>
>Original message:
>
>Free part, new, I bought it last year. See here:
>http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/vanagonlist/vwp?.dir=/Photos&.dnm=ShifterBootF
>rame.jpg&.src=bc&.view=l&.done=http%3a//briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/vanagonlist/l
>st%3f%26.dir=/Photos%26.src=bc%26.view=l
>
>Hope that makes sense...
>
>Rachel http://www.gnarlodious.com

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