You could. There are plenty of people that would just add some Bars Leaks or
that Surbaru stuff and keep going for a few more months to years.  Me, I
have the kind of luck where the heads would blow in P-Town, MA on a late
Sunday afternoon in 98 degree heat.  A thunderstorm would roll in shortly
thereafter while waiting for AAA.

Actually, my heads are doing the exact same thing right now so I'm looking
at a rebuild at the moment.

Bryan

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Dave Mcneely
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 9:36 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: head gaskets

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
>>