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Subject:Re: Too Much Head Sealant?
From:Frank Condelli
Date:Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:28:14 -0400

Walter, unfortunately you have a BIGGER problem.  That sealant that comes with the head gasket set is CRAP and should have been thrown in the garbage, the heads WILL leak again soon.  See my document here <http://www.frankcondelli.com/gasket.htm>

On 2013-04-09, at 3:20 PM, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:

> Finally, I have installed rebuilt heads on my 1.9. Unfortunately I had a
> situation where I had to pull one head off approx. 15 minutes after I had
> applied the sealants, installed the head, and started tightning up the cap
> nuts enough to compress the rubber gasket. I forgot to insert the metal
> sealing rings! Yes, it was late. I pulled the head off just as the black
> Renizosil sealant was starting to set. I added another film of black
> sealant, added some more yellow sealant under the cap nuts, left the 51813
> on the pushrod tube seals as they were, and then re-assembled everything.
> It pretty much was a mad scramble. I'm afraid there's too much Reinz
> sealant in there now, or that a piece of partially hardened sealant will
> compromise the seal. It was painful to make such a basic mistake on
> assembly after so much careful prep, and more painful to do such a sloppy
> job on the sealants. Now I'm wondering if this is going to cause me a leak
> later on. Should I bite the bullet and pull the head, clean everything,
> and start over with new geakets? Its not that big of a problem at this
> stage as I haven't installed any other components yet. Or, will it be OK
> as is? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Cheers,    

Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
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