Jim, it is hard to say if this motor is worth putting new gaskets or
heads on until you have the thing apart.  If the engine was overheated
then stick a fork in it it is probably done.  We had two Vanagons come
in both with recent rebuilds (under 50k miles).  They were both VW
factory rebuilds that for one reason or another had been overheated and
the head gaskets were bad.

Here is what to look for:
When you remove the heads, look inside the cylinders with a good
flashlight.  Do you see small lines that run parallel to the piston
motion or spots on the cylinder walls that are not shiny (an oval patch
of dullness)?  Your pistons have gotten too hot and expanded to the
point where they have rubbed against the cylinder walls.  This means
your engine has gotten too hot and it needs to be rebuilt all the way.

If you don't believe me then take the rods off of the crank (not that
difficult) and you will see that not only are the pistons beat but the
rod bearings are also beat and probably showing bronze.  Finally if you
took it all the way apart you would see that your main bearings were
scored and therefore toast as well.

Head gaskets leaking is not a terminal problem.  If you keep driving
when the van starts to get hot this will kill your engine.  Some folks
say, "Hey I was on a bridge, it was dark, I was alone, aliens were
attacking (I have heard all of these excuses and I am sure they are all
quite valid except for the last one)."  That is fine.  Just take a look
at the clock and make a note of the time.  That was the "time of death"
of your motor and now you need a new one.

Hope this helps,

Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com

Jim Heissenbuttel wrote:

> 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
>