On Mon, 1 Dec 2003, robertmstewart wrote:

> I noticed that when I purchased my Van from the Florida owner that the
> gasket seals around the heads head caked on dried oil. The compression test
> on the van came out very good considering it has 150,000 miles on it.
>
> My  question is when should I replaced the head gaskets?

Bad head gaskets generally leak coolant, not oil.  (Well, that's not
necessarily true on diesels, but it is on Wasserboxers.)  I bet if you
look closely, you'll find that the oil is leaking from under the valve
covers and running down to the bottoms of the heads.

A set of valve cover gaskets will cost you maybe $10, and you can put them
on in 15 minutes.  Maybe 30 if you really have trouble getting the valve
covers off.  This is an easy repair.

> I have thought of putting in synthetic oil in instead of the 20W50 I
> currently use but I wonder if that will cause the slow leak to get worse,
> any ideas?

Fix the leak first, then switch. :)

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Volkswagen Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si -- For Sale
'86 Volvo 240DL wagon