Greetings.

I have an '80 Westy that I purchased about 2 months ago.  Right after
I got it, it cracked a head, to the tune of $1200 or so.  Got that
repaired (since I was not, and honestly am still not in a position to
do that big a job), and then had an oil leak on the head side of one
of the push-rod tubes.  The mechanic fixed that leak.  Then last
Thursday I went under the car to clean the engine (since it was
somewhat gunked up, and I read that keeping the cooling fins clean
helps extend engine life) and there was another oil leak, on a
different pushrod tube.

All that serves as background to this point, though - on the same
push rod tube as the new leak (passenger side, #2 in from the rear of
the vehicle) on the crankcase side, there was a small blob of red goo
of some sort.  It was tacky and soft, had no discernible smell, and
was about the color of clean automatic transmission fluid.  It
cleaned up fine, but now that Blue Midget is back in the shop getting
that second oil leak repaired, I am wondering if that red stuff is a
sign of something bad, or just something like a sealant that was
overzealously applied.  The engine (2.0L air-cooled, of course) was
rebuilt in the relatively recent past (have the pics from the
previous owner) and runs fine - no unusual noise, smooth idle, good
power (for a Vanagon), no excess heat as far as I can tell, and other
than the one little pushrod leak at the head, leaks no oil, and
doesn't appear to burn any - no smoke.

Any thoughts here?

Thanks for all the good info on the list, and for those who manage
it, too.
David.