At 01:44 PM 11/25/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>Good info, Herr Doktor!

>The PO did mention how he "never did believe all that VW propaganda about
needing to use their >overpriced coolant" and just used whatever was
available on sale,  Surprising that the heads >with 80K+ miles on them did
have a little corrosion,...  Chunks out of the top and side (of the
>piston), combustion chamber all beat >up,...  Guess the PO was lucky.

Not so lucky if you consider how much he had in it and how much you "stole"
it for, for reser-wreck-tion duties.

With the "pinch off the hoses and half drain" procedure used by most
dealers and others, and every two or three years with spec coolant, the
average life to first failure falls somewhere beween 115 to 130 thousand
miles. As can be seen by your input, non spec coolant and lesser procedure
gives less life and more damage to repair. I believe that life can be
doubled with yearly full enhanced spec service. This is just a subjective
opinion based upon review of the histories of a coupla dozen patients,
right auf der top uff mein knobben, above the brow ridge.

I have yet to see a documented history on a patient (vehicle) that has been
serviced throughout it's life in the enhanced manner. I do know how to
prevent coorosion from starting. I don't think it costs near as much per
mile and helps prevent trama from occuring, either to the patient (vehicle)
or to the schedule and budget of the parent (owner).

Doktor Tim
Maintenance Repair and Restoration of European Vehicles
San Juan Island, WA