So, does this mean I should ignore the leaks?  I'm not accustomed to
ignoring failures on a vehicle, but if this is truly "normal," then I
can sure use the money elsewhere.  But maybe this is just one more
reason for me to rethink whether the van is worth more to me than the
money I could get from one of the vanagon nuts around (there seem to be
a good number of them).

Thanks, David McNeely

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 7:01 PM, Allan Streib wrote:

> It's not the head gaskets proper but the rubber water jacket gaskets.
> Well... the head gaskets may be leaking as well, but in very cold
> weather there's evidently enough shrinkage between the metal and the
> rubber to cause some slow-drip leaks.  Mine does this too.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>
> Dave Mcneely  writes:
>
>> So, I've done about everything I thought I should to make my '91
>> camper
>> as reliable as it could be, including lots of cooling system fixes.
>> Just replaced all coolant hoses, since so many think that should be
>> done.
>>
>> First really cold weather of the winter last week.  Started up the
>> van,
>> only to see a coolant drip underneath.  Methinks, well, a loose clamp
>> on
>> a hose, not tightened adequately.  Take off the lid, search all over
>> for
>> a hose leaking.  Nada.  Continue searching, coolant drip diminishing.
>> Stops.
>>
>> Didn't drive the van for a week.  Cold weather returned, and methinks
>> the van should be driven a bit.  Start it up, and it drips, then
>> drips
>> more, then a larger drip, then drips from more than one place.  When
>> the
>> engine was warmed up, the leak quit.
>>
>> Head gaskets are leaking.  The question:  I find it difficult to
>> think
>> the gaskets just all of a sudden turned loose (I'd even removed the
>> tins
>> to look for evidence of leaks when I did the hoses, and saw none).
>> Could it be that the heads and or gaskets were already loose or
>> whatever, and the cold weather made them looser and so they leak?  If
>> I
>> run the engine a little while, the leaks dry up, suggesting to me
>> that
>> temperature plays a role -- expansion, contraction ..... .  So, could
>> the heads be sealed better even with the temperature difference
>> between
>> normal fall temps and the quite cold temps we've had lately?  I'm
>> just
>> trying to understand why this suddenly showed up, and wonder if it
>> being
>> coincident with the cold weather is more than a coincidence.
>>
>> How much should a fix cost?  If I need heads milled, am I better off
>> having a local guy mill them than buying rebuilt heads?
>>
>> The engine only has 30K on a rebuild, according to paperwork I got
>> with
>> the beast.
>>
>> Thanks, David
>>