In response to this message:

>The gaskets (water jacket) do not fail "catastrophically" They will
seep
for a
>time then leak and then leak worse. I takes time for them to fail. Its
just
>something that one has to keep an eye on.
>

Tell this to my wife and four kids when we were on our two week vacation
over in Red Deer Alberta.  (we live in Seattle) They blew
catastrophically and cost me three days and over $1500 to get repaired
(including new heads) That was my labor too.  Yes there were indicators
that they were going to blow but at the time I was totally in the dark
about how chronic this problem was.  So when the VW dealer mechanic told
me I needed new heads by after looking up underneath my motor I thought
he was just thinking about how stupid I must be and how much money he
was going to make off me.

When they went they went all at once and I was lucky I didn't blow the
whole motor up because I had to limp it in to where I could work on it.

Take my advise, If they are seeping, GET THE DAMN THINGS REPLACED!!!
Don't wait till you are million miles from home and in a place where it
would be the last place to break down.
Brian G. Backus