QUESTION: Should I be concerned about the damage on
the crankcase body? Has anybody else had such a
problem?
the block will be fine and not affect the coolant flow

Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Georgios A. Stylianides, PhD" <gstylia@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 7:31 PM
Subject: Water Pump Damage

> Hi All,
>
> I just finished with some maintenance with the cooling
> system. In the process, I replaced the water pump
> because a drop or so has been dripping from the peep
> hole for a year now. In the process, I found out a
> couple of things:
>
> 1) The pump's propeller somehow (seal went bad?) moved
> towards the crankcase and has done some damage to the
> crankcase body (see picture). It kind of shaved some
> of the crankcase's metal. I guess it was rubbing on
> the crankcase, I don't know for how long. Water pump
> was made in Germany.
>
> http://www.esu.edu/~gstylia/vw/WaterPumpDamage1.jpg
>
> 2) The water pump itself was really held by only 2 out
> of the 3 nuts. The third one seemed to not have been
> tightened all the way when the pump was replaced.
> Still, there was no leak at that particular point, or
> probably some that I did not notice.
>
> The pump was replaced 8 years ago. We were going on
> vacation driving to Destin, Florida and about 1 mile
> from our hotel, the previous water pump went into
> pieces. What a time! Anyway, we found a place to have
> it fixed. The person who did the job was very nice and
> very helpful. It just turned out that in the midst of
> things, he did not tightened the third nut all the
> way. So, all these years, we may have been driving on
> 2 nuts. Is that fun, or what? I am not sure for how
> long the rubbing took place.
>
> QUESTION: Should I be concerned about the damage on
> the crankcase body? Has anybody else had such a
> problem?
>
> During that process, I also noticed that one of  my
> water/coolant long pipes that go under the van needed
> some work. I will share soon.
>
> Thanks,
>
> geo
> Vanagon 86, 2.1
>
>
>
>
>
>
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