So, what are tough miles? Did it over heat? Have any sudden coolant
loss? Radiator fan not work? How many years ago was the rebuild done?
The gaskets should last more than 30K but sometimes they do go early.
I've had new ones split before leaving the driveway. If the leak is very
small and there are no signs of the gaskets splitting or curling, a mild
stop leak will seal it. Do not use the Bars Leak pellets. Only a powder
or thick liquid. You do not want to clog the radiator or heater cores.

The good books say ~11 hours labor to do both sides. There is no need to
remove the engine.

The 2.1L engine is the same head and gasket design but the cooling
system has some design differences that make it superior. Much more
tolerant of air or gases in the system and mostly self bleeding if there
are no leaks.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Jim Heissenbuttel
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 6:44 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Head gasket replacement: how much?

Well, it appears that I may have coolant leaking from the head gasket.
The engine is a remanufactured core that has about 30K on it (some
pretty tough miles, I admit), so I think it still has some life in it.

Questions are:

How much will the total cost of the job cost (ball park) for replacing
the head gasket?

Are there other things that I should have done while (I assume) the
engine is out?

Are the 2.1 L engines in the 86 and newer Westies that much better that
I should consider "upgrading" to a newer model year Westy?

Thanks in advance.

jh

83.5 WBX Westy