How's your neck? You should be able to get enough money to rebuild your van

entirely! What luck!!

Tom Corbitt wrote:

> The other day someone was too busy talking on their cell phone to notice
> my vanagon, and I was rear-ended. The bumper and end caps are history,
> and I seem to have developed a leak at/around my left front pushrod
> tube. It doesn't seem to leak while I'm driving, but as soon as I shut
> the engine off, oils starts dripping/running out of the first tube on
> the drivers side. It continues to leak for a while after the engine is
> shut off, and the force is controlled by the amount of oil in the engine
> (if I try to fill it to the full mark on the stick, it will quickly leak
> (over a day or two) out until it's at the add mark on the dipstick, then
> it's back to 10-50 drips per run. I've also discovered that the position
> on the van seems to impact the strength of the leak.  Is this kind of
> behavior consistent with just a push rod tube leak, or is it possibly
> something deeper in the head?
>
> I looked in the archives for insight into how hard a job this might be,
> and I have the bently, but I'm still scratching my head. Could one
> normally be expected to stop such a leak by replacing the push rod seals
> and tubes without pulling off the head (i know I'd need to buy the
> collapsible tubes)?
>
> I'm probably going to take it to a local vw garage to have them look it
> over for other trauma and maybe have them get into it due to the fact
> that the others drivers insurance is responsible and is paying for it,
> but I'd like to have an idea of what's involved. Part of why I got the
> van is because I wanted to work on it.
>
> thanks in advance,
>
> tom corbitt
>
> 83.5 Vanagon
> In muggy Raleigh, NC

--

Anthony Kimmons, Houston Texas
http://www.akimmons.com