On Fri, 10 Jan 1997, Tony Moore wrote:

> Happy Friday!
> 
> I'm looking at an '86 Weekender GL that has these symptoms. After the van
> has been sitting for a long period of time (> 10 hours), the van will idle
> rough and spew white smoke from the tail pipe. After letting it idle a
> couple minutes, it smooths out, the white smoke disappears, and the van
> runs fine. The PO says it doesn't overheat and has been doing this for
> about six months. She took it to VW dealer and they diagnosed it as leaky
> head gaskets and quoted her $3000 (Yikes!). Anyway, now she's selling it
> for a song. She's been driving it like this for 6 months and she says the
> condition hasn't gotten worse and she keeps checking the coolant and has
> only has to add very small amounts on 2-3 occasions, "a splash or so".
> 
> I haven't heard of this symptom for a head gasket leak before? Any ideas?
> 
> Also, I'll need to drive the van about 300 flat miles to get it home. Is
> this ok as long as I keep checking the temp and coolant in both tanks?
> 
> BTW, this may lead to the sale of my trusty '83.5 wasserboxer weekender gl,
> but that's another post...
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> tony
> 
> 
> 
  BY running a motor with coolant I the combustion chamber you
      run the risk of cracking the head(s). 300 miles will easily
      do that.                       Eric Zeno