Hi vanagonians,
        Here's a new one for the List (at least I havn't heard of this particular
problem before!) I'm helping a friend with getting her '85 westie back on
the road. Origially we thought she needed a new engine based on the
recommendation of her regular mechanic. I extracted the engine and took a
good look at it and decided that it probably only needed head gaskets and
JB Weld. I gathered all the parts etc for the project and have reassembled
the engine but not reinstalled it at this point. I used a new tube of OEM
VW head gasket sealant from a dealer on the rubber gasket. I have noticed
that the stuff has not set up and become dry and flexible after 3 days. I
also tested it on another surface exposed to the air overnight indoors, it
was still was wet and runny. I believe that this sealant was too old and
now I have to disassemble and reseal the heads again :=( . Hopefully I can
clean this bad stuff off the gaskets and reuse them. I was thinking of
using alcohol to clean off this sealant. What do you all think?  Thanks.

Rick Koller
'90 syncro-westie
'91 auto box