I would be more concerned about the steady stream of bubbles. Yes, some
expansion is normal and in warm weather, there will be more as the entire
coolant system will run hotter. The bubbles should stop after a few
heat/cool cycles. After bleeding, there will be some as the top of the
pressure tank gets purged along with the hose to the expansion tank. If the
stream continues and increasing engine speed increases the amount, you have
a problem.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Kurt Camealy
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 11:09 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?

I guess the fact that the behavior is new is what bothers me.  The water
cooled has a Min/Max and it will go from the middle of that range to
halfway past the fill cap.

Thanks,

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
From: Courtney Hook [mailto:courtneyhook@shaw.ca]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 10:51 PM
To: Kurt Camealy; vanagon
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?

Kurt, my coolant in all my vehicles rises after it is hot. That is why
my
coolant tank has a max - hot level and a max - cold level. In fact the
radiator has a hose that rises out of the top radiator cap, and pours
water
into the tank. When the engine cools down, it sucks the water back into
the
radiator. Water expands when it's hot. Are you sure this just isn't
normal?
I have an aircooled westy, so can't give you exact westy info, but my
shiny
new Mazda 3 has a max level for coolant marked hot and cold.
Courtney
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kurt Camealy" <camealy@CTSR.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:01 PM
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?

I just drained all the coolant and oil and can't find any evidence of
cross contamination.  It runs great with no loss of "power".  Is there
anything else that would cause the coolant level to rise after driving?
It will raise about two to three inches in the coolant fill bottle.  I
bled the system with the nose raised and all the air seemed to come out.
There is no coolant leakage out of the outer water jacket gasket either
which last time my head gaskets leaked the combustion gasses seemed to
force coolant to leak out of those.

Don't know what to look for next.  I would hate to tear down my top end
to find out it was something else.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Frank Condelli
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 7:11 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Head leak again.... What next?

In a message dated 09/02/2007 12:48:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

I have a  2.1 that was rebuilt top and bottom at 150K and now it seems
to be
leaking  through the inner head gasket again.  I have 215K now and the
engine
runs great but my coolant level will rise significantly during  driving
and
has a slow steady stream of small bubbles in it.  I  remember this
happening
last time before a catastrophic head blowout.   (engine had a roaring
boil
coming of the coolant bottle and never started  again after cooling off)
Is
roughly 70K average for a head problem on a  rebuild?

My real questing is what next.  I am still not ready to  part with my
Vanagon, but I don't have a ton of money to spend on it right  now.  If
I
continue to drive it will I ruin the top of the Cylinders  requiring
more
than a top end rebuild?  If I do just a top end will I  most likely need
new
heads instead of just gaskets?  Should I try to  re-torque the current
heads
or will I most likely just crack  them?

Thank you for everyone's insight,

If the head gaskets are  installed correctly they will not leak - ever !
See my _VW Vanagon waterboxer head &  gasket repair_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/gasket.htm)  webpage.  They are now
leaking, corrosion has started ,  it
will only get worse,  re-torqueing will do noting but stretch the
studs.  Maybe
they are already stretched and that's why the leaking.   New heads vs
old
heads, if the old ones are not cracked or pitted beyond  reasonable
reuse use
them otherwise it's better to have new AMC heads for  many reasons
explained in
the archives over years of postings.

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