Allan,
This unit was delivered in Germany but is a us spec
car. We live in CA. We have always been careful to
purge the coolant at 2 yr intervals and fill with
appropriate anti freeze mix. I can not say why we had
the problem way back when  nor why no recurrence. I
seem to recall some updates in the gaskets and there
may have been a service bulletin on replacement of
gaskets that had leaked. Whatever the reason we have
had years of faithful service since that one leak
incident. Moving toward a rebuild somewhere after
200,000. This engine has certainly earned my respect.
         Rob
--- Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:

> Rob Durham <rdurham_92037@YAHOO.COM> writes:
>
> > Our 1990 Westie is at 190,885 and going strong on
> the original
> > engine. Fixed head leak back about 65,000 and
> since then nothing but
> > routine matters.
>
> I recall reading here that the head leak problems
> are unique to North
> America and virtually unheard of in Europe?  If so,
> why?  Different
> coolant?
>
> Everything I've read about it suggests it's just
> inherent in the
> design and so I don't understand why it would happen
> more in some
> locales than others.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>

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