The advice seems to be unanimous.. plus I must say, after driving safely
home I am feeling a bit wimpy about the whole thing.. given all that us
vanagon owners go through, this is indeed a very simple and solvable
problem. Its my first expansion tank, so its the first time down the road
for me. Thanks to all who took the time to give me some advice (Ken Lewis,
John Lauterbach, etc..!).

Bill

At 08:53 PM 10/3/99 -0700, you wrote:
>> dismayed to find coolant and steam leaking out of a small crack
>> in the coolant reservoir. I never heard the fan come on, so I'm
>> wondering if I've got a coolant bubble somewhere.
>>
>> In any event, I'm assuming that the crack is a serious matter,
>> and that the coolant system needs full vacuum to function
>> properly.
>>
>> Questions:
>>
>> 1) Is my premise correct, or can I get by with such a small
>> crack?
>
>Not for long, assuming this is the expansion tank, not the overflow tank.
>>
>> 2) Is this repairable? The crack can't be more than half an inch
>> at most... (David Marshall.. did this happen to you?)
>
>If expansion tank, replace sensor/washer/tank/tank cap   every 90K miles.
>They just go bad.  Been through several sets.
>
>>
>> 3) If not repairable, any suggestions as to where to get a new
>> reservoir? I'm in Seattle, WA area.
>>
>
>The Bus Depot would probably be cheapest.  See vanagon.com web page.
>
>Cheers, Tom Neal