Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: Wasserleaker -- we will soldier on, but how?
From:Greg Potts
Date:Sun, 1 May 2005 22:10:10 -0400

Hi Mike,

Subaru has a coolant treatment that might help, Mark Dearing
recommended it to me at Dixie Bus Gathering last summer.

Order it at the local subaru dealer as part # soa635071.

> Hello Guys  This isnt really true  Sabarus have their own head
> problems even
> make a coolant treatment to stop it. which is what happens when you
> take one
> back under warrenty at the dealers for head gaskets. I have probably
> done twice
> as many head gaskets on Sabus than on vanagons. The biggest thing is
> not too
> ever overheat them both. Also the coolant treatment works very well in
> vanagons. part # soa635071  dont know what it is made in england by a
> company call
> holts  This is true snake oil that works.
> later and have fun  Mark Dearing   Salem Import Service  Salem Va

Happy trails,

Greg Potts
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1973/74/79 Westfakia Conversion **Bob the Tomato**  LY3H
1977 Sunroof Automatic L63H/L90D
1988 Vanagon GL 8-passenger Automatic
http://www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
http://www.busesofthecorn.com

On 30-Apr-05, at 9:52 AM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:

> Last night my wife and I decided to hop into Mellow Yellow, our 84
> Westy, and have a sunset dinner at the beach. We drove a few miles
> south
> on Highway 1 parked on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ate
> while watching the sunset. We had pelicans, we had surfers, I had a
> nice
> bottle of Porter ale from the Stone Brewing Company.
>
> We talked about how much we love camping in Mellow Yellow. We talked
> about the disappointing fact that the the engine has developed the
> famous coolant leak at the head. And we decided that our choices were
> to
> get rid of her or fix the problem. We want to fix the problem.
>
> Though I have replaced my 71 bus's engine myself, I just don't feel
> like
> tackling the considerably harder job of pulling the engine to do the JB
> Weld fix on the heads, or anything like that. I've got a full-time job,
> I'm a student and a father, yada yada yada, and the bottom line is that
> I just don't have the inclination to do the work myself.
>
> I can take it to Brad's Foreign Auto, in Encinitas (California),
> nearby.
> A list member recommended them, and they did some brake work on my 71
> bus -- they do seem to know what they are doing.
>
> But I need a plan before I give them Mellow Yellow. Find a good rebuilt
> 1.9l WBX? Are there such things? Hand them a printout of how the JB
> Weld
> the cracks and ask them to do it? Find a Subaru Legacy engine, buy a
> conversion kit and say, "Here, do this"?
>
> Though I'd like them to do the work, I just don't know what work I want
> them to do.
>
> Folks - what's the reasonably-priced approach here that won't make a
> shop crazy?
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: "Mellow Yellow (The Electrical Banana)"
> KG6RCR
>
>