hmm well put and i thank everyone for great feedback on this since i have been suffered
this dreaded WP replacement, and now have all the parts except a 1.50 o-ring, i call it a
cockring now. ;)

anyway on the rtv front seems its need at the end of the water pipe not really coating the o-right aka CR.
its needed. also a light speck on the WP base to make a good seal, could VW have been telling us something
all these years selling this at the dealer? LOL

thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: George Goff <THX0001@AOL.COM>
Sent: Sep 3, 2005 10:03 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: o-ring cooling crossover tube

In a message dated 9/3/05 8:07:19 PM, lauterba@BELLSOUTH.NET writes:

<< Disagree.  When I installed crossover tube on new 1.9L long block, fitting

in question got a new O-ring as well as plenty of the copper-colored

Permatex. >>

I see this misinformation on the List so often that I have to wonder just
where it came from; it must have rolled down from the Great White North a la the
RTV King of Canada.  An o-ring seal is not meant to have anything applied to
it except some assembly lubricant.  Using RTV on an o-ring makes the user look
like a dilettante, at best, and, at worst, the RTV can cause a failure of the
assembly.  The only catastrophic failure I ever experienced in a Vanagon
cooling system was whenever the small flanged stub on the rear of the right head of
a 2.1L blew out.  I found that it had been assembled with a copious amount of
RTV in addition to the o-ring.

Judging by the amount of the stuff which is sold, this country must be
suffering some kind of RTV fetish.  While RTV has its place, it is not the cure-all
most people think it is.  There are better sealants available even for
architectural applications, but when a Happy Homeowner walks through the doors a Home
Depot, he makes a beeline for the aisle and a half of RTV products.

George