Check for cracks or warpage. Make sure you have the correct gasket. The
screws do not have to be that tight.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Dan Erlandson
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2003 9:20 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Coolant leak at thermostat?

ok so the heads are back on after a few mistakes and I adjusted the
valves
(one push rod seems a little loose in some firing positions, normal??) I
filed her up with oil and started with distilled water and found a leak
a
the new water pump... I had mistakenly put the tab for the oil cooler
hose??
on the bottom of the water pump, not between the screw and thew water
pump...duh...but now I seem to have a leak that I can't resolve,
although
maybe I'll try permatex in the morning.  As I fill the van with coolant
it
starts to drip from the thermostat housing.  If I take off the top of
the
housing and let the water overflow a little, the drip stops, so it is
coming
from the seam between the two halves of the thermostat housing.  Bentley
does not show a gasket there, only an o ring around the
thermostat...I've
torqued the bolts that hold the two halves together as tight as I dared,
still a leak.  Suggestions?? Thanks

--
Dan Erlandson
Flemington, NJ
> danoer1@eclipse.net
91 VW Vanagon GL 170,000 mi
99 VW Passat 107,000 mi