You'll notice more leakage during Summer months
and also with change of climate where there
is a big temperature change during the day. I would
restrict my driving to local only, wouldn't want to
venture to far off the beaten path.  Realize, the longer
you wait to fix the problem the bigger the problem will
get and more damage it might cause.  If it's leaking it's
also getting air in the cooling system which will lead
to cavitation and heat transfer problems. Air in your
cooling system prevents heat from transferring from rings,
pistons, cylinder walls. This will eventually lead to
ring collapse and piston skirt scoring from overheating.
Could be just gaskets leaking, or it could be pitting
of the cylinder head surface.

You got AAA. I'm a Good Sams member!!

Jerry
KY 88 GL BUS-ter

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Mark Brush
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 3:19 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: limping with leaking heads

Hi all -

Anyone have experience with pushing leaking head gaskets to the limit?  How
long can one expect to resonably drive with leaking head gaskets?  It's a
tiny drip in the summer (about a susan b. anthony in size on the driveway
after two days), and a small puddle in the winter.  Can I keep adding
coolant until she goes?  Any dangers in doing this other than being stranded
somewhere?

thanks for any insights.

Mark B.
1990 Westy