> ----- "David White" <sirgrumpsalot@GMAIL.COM> wrote: 
> 
> 
> I've got an 84 vanagon with a 1.9L engine with unknown hours of run 
> time. I just returned from a 400 mile trip and in those miles I never 
> stopped to look at the engine because things sounded fine. The temp 
> gauge works and it never gave me any indication things were getting 
> bad. Sitting in the driveway overnight it is now leaking coolant from 
> the driver's side through the tin that protects the pushrods. The 
> water pump and thermostat areas are bone dry. When I start the engine 
> coolant drips out the rear exhaust port (closest to the muffler) 
> immediately, but I haven't run the engine to temp. I am waiting in 
> line to borrow a leak down tester at the local auto parts store.  My 
> question is: can I have a bad head gasket without any symptoms (such 
> as overheating, white smoke, loss of power)? Am I just not noticing 
> the symptoms? 

You can have coolant leaking past the rubber gasket that seals the cooling system without the symptoms you mention.  Overheating does not occur until the coolant leak has caused enough coolant loss to impair cooling effectiveness.  White smoke would be due to the gaskets that seal the combustion chamber, not the rubber gaskets that seal the outside perimeter of the heads.  Loss of power would occur for the same reason as white smoke (coolant leaking into the combustion chamber and causing misfire).  My '91 camper showed the same leaking that your van seems to.  I had the heads redone.  It has been colder this winter than last, and no leaks.  But redoing the heads is fairly expensive.  Some suggest that we just tolerate the leaks until they get really bad and begin to impair cooling.  I travel long distances, and to backwoods locations.  Leaking seems risky to me.

mcneely