In a message dated 28/01/2007 3:38:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

87  vanagon. I finished the head job and only ran the van for about 1 hour.
I  then let the van sit for 3 weeks while i was on vacation.  temps were  well
below zero on some occasions while I was gone.  Upon returning I  looked for
noticeable head leaks and was to happy not to find any.  I  warmed up the van
a few times but did not drive it.  Yesterday I  checked the oil and there was
a lot of coolant in there.  So I drained  the oil.  So all I can gather is 2
things.  Oil cooler went south  while I was away and upon returning and
warmung up the van it allowed  coolant to get into the oil.  There is no oil
in coolant BTW.   The second thing is when I did the head job, the number 4
cylinder started  to come out with the head< I was able to free it before it
got past the  rings.  The cylinder did get past the last ring But I was able
to  slide it back into place.  Could this be where the leak is?  I  am
guessing that I disturbed that oring that is located at bottom of  cylinder
jug towards the block.  I am hoping though that it is the oil  cooler as that
would be the easier fix.  Do oil cooler fail like that,  and if so wouldn't
oil get in to the coolant and vice versa.  To recap  I only have coolant in
oil, not the other way around. Also would it be  possible that coolant could
have got into the oil during the head gasket  repair?  pretty frustrated
here.  what do do  next?

This is probably a classic case of why it is  necessary to change that 0-ring
on the bottom of the cylinders that everyone is  always trying to avoid
doing.  EVERYONE I've ever changed was as hard  as rock and comes out in dust
format having to dig it out of its groove with a  pick.  Now with that bit of
knowledge what makes you think that once you  remove the tension on the head studs
that the 0-ring will re-seal when your  torque down the head ?  I have posed
this message numerous time as have  others, the archives is full of this story
and I have a section on my website  about it >_VW Vanagon  waterboxer head &
gasket repair_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/gasket.htm)

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg  (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for  sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon  Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10,  2007