Is it water or antifreeze? Are you actually loosing coolant? Water
production is a normal part of the combustion process. While the exhaust
is still cold, this water will condensate and drip out. You don't see
this when everything is hot since the water will remain a vapor and
dissipate when it leaves the pipe. If you did mess up, you are looking
at a weld repair or a new head. Temperatures here are too much to rely
on epoxy and thread sealants.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Owen
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 11:29 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: exhaust header thread repair gone wrong?

I think I may have penetrated the water jacket when repairing the
stripped exhaust header bolt holes on the head of my 1.9l wasserboxer a
few months ago. Next steps? remove the headers (again ugh!) and
determine if I can visually make out where the leak is. Failing that
drop the engine for a better look or maybe pressurize the coolant system
and see where it is leaking? Any suggestions welcome.

Here is the detail of the goring I managed -

After successfully (thanks to the fine people on this list) repairing
stripped threads securing the power steering pump I got bold and went
after the exhaust header bolts with the engine in. There was just enough
room to fit the drill in there. The new threads went in fine and the
exhaust was amazingly quiet. I left for a trip into the hill country and
drove all weekend without incident. The van sat for a while as I worked
through replacing the ac lines. When I started it up quite a bit of
water came out of the exhaust pipe. Not good. Enough water to puddle the
driveway. The engine ran fine and the plugs weren't fouled or rusty
leading me to believe that the penetration happened only on the exhaust
side.

84 Westy 1.9l wasserboxer
Owen Brand