On the Diesels it is very common for the heads to crack. If the gasket failed you need to find out why. Sometimes they just fail. Once the head is off both the head and the deck on the block has to be carefully checked for straightness and flatness. I have seen the decks fail between the cylinders. After that you then have to look for cylinder wall failure. The cylinder can crack and more common cavitation erosion from the outside can wear through and make the cylinder walls porous. Diesels really need special antifreeze and the cooling systems have to really maintained. Not being able to maintain pressure and regular additions of coolant or water make this happen surprisingly fast. 

Dennis
    

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Sudhir Desai
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 11:07 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: '82 diesel head leaking gas into the coolant.. need some advice on a fix.

Is it at all possible that the head is warped?

To replace the head gasket: new stretch bolts and head gasket are a given; anything else needed?

(yes, i know better and should be searching the archives first)

cheers,
Sudhir