Zoltran & Larry,

My engine was rebuilt by AVP. I went at least 25,000 miles on poorly
tightened heads.  I had a compression test done under warranty to see if
there was any problem.  The compression came out good on each cylinder so
they didn't think there was any problem.

I continued having cooling problems. Right after I installed the rebuilt
engine the radiator failed, then a heater core hose burst, and the front and
back heater cores began to leak. The main symptom was after driving non-stop
on the freeway for a couple of hours, I would coast to a stop on an off-ramp
and the van would start to overheat and and coolant would spill out of the
reserve tank onto the ground. I assume that coolant was leaking out the back
while I was driving on the freeway, I was just unable to see it at that
speed.

I had a second "german auto mechanic" look at the problem and they couldn't
duplicate the problem in their shop.  They replaced various parts at their
whim and then charged me $350 and said they said it was working. I continued
to have problems.  So I really though I was going crazy.  I replaced every
part of the cooling system (e.g hoses, heat exchangers, clamps, caps, tanks,
plastic fittings). Eventually I discovered there was gas/air getting into
the coolant system at the rate you would find leaving a bicycle intertube
with a pinhole in it.  This little tiny leak over two hours was enough to
fill the cooling system with some air and block the correct flow of water to
the radiator under idle speed.  Things seemed to be working fine at higher
engine speeds on the freeway.

Finally I found the solution and it was very simple.  All I did was
correctly torque the head bolts and the problem went away.  It has been gone
for about 3 years (30,000 miles) now and never resurfaced.  It was like
turning off the light switch to my coolant problems.  To bad it took me
about 3 years to find.

Here is more of my information
http://www.home.surewest.net/heinlein/engine.htm

--
Blake Heinlein
1984 Westfalia
Sacramento, CA
blakeheinlein@gmail.com
http://www.home.surewest.net

On 1/26/06, Zoltan <zolo@foxinternet.net> wrote:
>
> You mean, you went for 25 000 miles with the heads badly torqued?  What
> were
> the symptoms you noticed?
> Zoltan
>