Kevin,

Here you go!  I did promise it.  It's a little late, but it's here.   I'm
going to post this to the Vanagon List also.  You might want to follow to
see what other people have to say, as I am just one of many.

P.S. I'm going to post it on my website also

http://members.accessbee.com/heinlein/

Hope this works for you,
Blake Heinlein
blakeheinlein@hotmail.com

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Retorqing Vanagon Waterboxer Heads

Why?
You might want to try this first if you find that your Vanagon might need
new head gaskets.  (i.e. you have exhaust leaking into your coolant system
or you have coolant leaking onto the ground)

Step One � Remove Valve Covers
Take a long screwdriver and pry the spring clip that holds the valve cover
downward towards the ground.  Then wiggle off the valve cover.

Step Two � Remove Rocker Arms
There are two bolts holding the rocker arms onto the head.  Remove both
bolts and the rocker arm will fall off into your hands.  The reason you have
to remove the rocker arm is the bottom two nuts that hold the head on are
inaccessible unless you remove the rocker arm.  Don�t pull out the push rods
and make sure you put back the rocker arms on the same side they were
removed from.  If you don�t take these two last precautions is will upset
you valve adjustment.

Step Three � Retorque Head Nuts
Take your torque wrench and torque all 4 head nuts.  (Some people say you
should remove each nut and put sealant under it so coolant doesn�t leak out.
  Personally, I have not had any leaks by just torqing the nuts again.  So
don�t worry about sealing the nuts, just torque them to the rated value in
the Bently Manual.)  If the nut doesn�t turn at the prescribed torque don�t
force it any further.  I would hate to see you break a head stud.  Well
hopefully that part solves your head gasket problems

Step Four � Reinstalling Rocker Arms
This is a little tricky.  Put the rocker arm, with both bolts, finger tight.
  The rocker arm will have to compress the valves a little bit.  The tricky
part is the end of the pushrod closest to the cam shaft needs to be FULLY
seated in the hydraulic lifter once the rocker arm is fully torqued down.
To make sure that this is happening, rotate the engine slowly while wiggling
the pushrods so the pushrod end will drop into the hydraulic lifter seat.
Tighten down the nuts on rocker arm by finger to take up space until you are
confident that all the pushrods are seated properly.  Then torque to rated
value with a torque wrench.

Play around with one of the pushrods while the rocker arms are off so that
you can feel what it is like when the pushrod isn�t seated properly.  If the
pushrods aren�t seated and you get everything back together the engine will
not start.  The extra distance created by the unseated pushrod will cause
the intake and exhaust valve to be open continuously while the engine is
cranking and not allowing the engine to create any compression.

Step Five � Installing Valve Cover
If the cork gasket on the inside of your valve cover is brittle you might
want to replace it.  Mine didn�t need to be replaced and they didn�t leak.
Some mechanics like to replace the gasket each time they remove the valve
cover.  That�s a little excessive.  Just position the valve cover and pry
the spring back over the top of the cover and you are DONE!

Final notes:
You will start your engine up and the hydraulic lifters in the engine may
make a ticking noise.  This will go away after a little bit (10 - 30
minutes), no damage is being done.  The engine might run a little rough for
10 minutes or so but just idle slowly for a little while and the pushrods
and lifter will all settle back in where they were before and everything
should be fine.  I have put on over 15,000 miles since I did this procedure
and I have not had any more gasket problems.

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