Sorry to bad-mouth audi's .......but I consider them a difficult case. A far
better car when new than when getting older, put it that way.  A thermostat
seal shouldn't be that tricky a technical operation to get at, in interests
of practicality, but that's not been much of a consideration on more modern
cars for a while.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Zeitgeist
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 7:24 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Wifes Audi - Oil Leak - NVC

I found that when I removed the valve cover, the breather hose and the
breather filter were nearly occluded with gunk.  After some time in my
solvent tank, I got everything back in tip-top shape.  The VC seal was
so brittle (original?), it came off in pieces.  The only problem I
have with these engines is focused entirely on the timing belt. I
strongly feel that no interference engine should have a timing
belt--period.  I had to buy the special camshaft holding bar, and
crank positioning pin in order to R&R a leaky thermostat seal.  I wish
VAG would finally drop timing belts altogether, especially on their
diesels.