It is rare for the water pumps to be defective, regardless of brand. You
may have a pressure problem that is blowing them out or something stupid
is being done installing them. Sometimes, they will seep a little until
the seal seats but no enough for one to see a puddle. The erratic
operation of the gauge tells me that you are probably getting combustion
gasses into the cooling system. Head seals or cracked heads are the
usual cause. Make sure the pressure cap is venting at the correct
pressure. I have seen them get melted closed. Anytime the engine is
overheated, this should be replaced.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of zampano
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 11:10 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: water pump #4 in a year, vent hole leak

Hi Volks,

I had the water pump replaced under warranty again two weeks ago by a
mechanic. The thing is leaking out of the vent hole. It did it before,
and before that it did it before. You get the idea. My van is a 84 WBX
1.9l w/manual tranny.
What puzzles me most is the erratic behavior of my temp gauge. It went
up to little past where usually the van comes on, a hair past the LED,
after going uphill in 4th  gear on the freeway, at about 3200rpms,
doing maybe 55mph (my speedo is highly embellished), for 5 minutes
tops. It then went back down, but came back up, on the flats. I pulled
over and saw squirted water, not just steam, allover my pulley, coolant
pipes, extension tank etc. Can the vent hole squirt out so intensely???
I double checked all my other hoses, clamps etc and don't see where
else it would come from. Maybe it's venting out on to the belt, then
tossed allover.

I know it is leaking, but that usually only happens overnight, and
leaves a puddle the size of a spread out hand. It has snail tracks from
the vent hole running down, but doesn't do it when I run the motor, to
my knowledge.

What is the right water pump to install??

Happy Trails

matthias