Hi Madeline,

Tears of antifreeze might be cured by a $20 treatment with the magic
Subaru head sealant elixir. I'd certainly give that a try before
spending major $$$.

I guess the "best" course of action depends a lot on the history and
condition of the van.  How many miles are on the current engine? If
the existing engine has more than 180,000 miles on it I would suggest
that you'd be better off with a factory rebuilt than putting a $2K
fix-up into it.

The "Subaru Cooling System Conditioner" part number is  available at
a subaru dealer as P/N SOA 635071.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
www.pottsfamily.ca
www.busesofthecorn.com

On 3-Mar-07, at 10:21 AM, mad madeline wrote:

> Well....
>   Its time to do something with our trusty engine since the right
> side is crying tears of antifreeze.  The way I see it I have 4
> choices:
>   1.  pay $2K to have a head job done
>   2.  pay $4K to buy a factory rebuild and pay to have it installed
>   3.  pay $6-10K to switch to another type of engine
>   4.  loose $7K by driving it off a cliff
>
>   All things considered (including , and crossing my fingers, I'm
> about to have Doug's Bugs in Mesa implement choice #1.  I think it
> should last quite some time this way since the bottom end of the
> engine seems just fine.  Last minute thoughts??  Madeline