On Wed, 23 Jul 2003, Allan Kirk wrote:

> Does anyone have words of wisdom about what would be likely to be the
> cause of a "gusher" of a coolant leak on an old diesel vanagon?  We're
> not talking "drip, drip, drip"; we're talking a steady stream from
> somewhere on the other side of the belly tin.

Hard to say 'till you pull off the tin.  Most of the stuff that can leak
is on the top side of the engine, though, so if you're not seeing it
coming out of the water pump or one of the hoses it may be a freeze plug.
There are three of them underneath.  Unless you've let water freeze in the
engine a cracked block is probably the least likely possibility.  I've
only heard of two -- one was due to a thrown rod, and the other was due to
vastly over-tightened head bolts.  (Someone followed the tightening
procedure for the stretch-type bolts on an engine with non-stretch bolts.)

If you *have* blown a freeze plug make sure the cap on your expansion tank
is venting properly.  If it's plugged you can build up too much pressure
in the cooling system and start blowing up all kinds of stuff.

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si