At 08:29 PM 4/26/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I was rolling around the idea in my head about buying an older Vanagon Camper
>for just a fun car to take off in for weekends or road trips.  
>

I'm sort of toying with this idea too.  Although I don't have any fears
about driving my '91 around the US and Canada, I'd prefer an air-cooled
beater for Mexico.  This is mostly because in Mexico, I wouldn't want
to have to deal with any kind of cooling system mishap.  There air
cooled systems are pretty self reliant and you don't have to carry
extra coolant for them.  The worst scenario for the water-cooled 
vans is loosing all of your coolant.  That would mean having to
carry at least 3 jugs extra gallon jugs just for that possibility.
That's too much extra weight and bulk for me.  

So I'll keep my eyes open for a good deal and maybe.....

>Now I've heard a lot about this head gasket problem that afflicts
>water-cooled Vanagons.  I owned my '89 Wolfsburg for 3 & 1/2 years without
>experiencing this but others  on the list seem to have dealt with this a 

I've not had this affliction yet, but others say it's only a matter of
time.  I'm sure it's true.  I've already got a couple small bottles of
Barsleak for when it starts to happen.  But I don't think it would stop
you on a trip unless you were losing lot's of coolant.  

I think the key is keeping a constant knowledge of the condition of
your van.  If you do your own maintenance and take of the thing, then
you shouldn't have any trouble on the road.
Steven

sjohnson@calweb.com