Hey bud,
I'd seriously consider taking them to a pro
& have the heads done
Somebody sometime did something wrong. (song)
Maybe a bad aftermarket valve job
Using cheap valves?
Or like was said earlier
an Overheating situation
which could indicate
warped heads, soft springs, bad seats etc etc.
CCR in CO comes to mind?
They would probably take your heads as core.
Anyway, best of luck! You might be able to save them?
JC...

-------------- Original message --------------
From: pdooley <psdooley@VERIZON.NET>

> Are you talking about the pitting on the intake valve faces?
> The material is most likely inferior.
>
> Question- did you run the motor hot before?
> Maybe detonation hurt the valves, though it is unusual the damage only
> occurred on the intake valves.
> Back to inferior material of manufacturing process.
>
> The valves will probably go another 50-100k, but I would replace them anyway
> while everything is apart.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Andrew Martin
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:32 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: resealing heads - found missing metal on top of valves
>
> Since I cannot post photos here...
>
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3307618#3307618
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andrew