Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:09:09 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: a newbie with some problems: hissing 2.1 L WBX and thrown belt
In-Reply-To: <0fc501c8ed07$8b8a4db0$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Your right, the head studs on the waterboxer do not pull out like they did
on the air cooled engines. They do stretch though and their failure is the
real reason you get the internal combustion gas leaks into the cooling
system.
As for the AMC heads being junk you are right. I try my best to find good
used heads and refurb them as needed.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:03 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: a newbie with some problems: hissing 2.1 L WBX and thrown
belt
you'd think he would have mentioned or noticed bright red LED warning
lights......
so maybe none were on, or just at the last minute.
and sure..........he could have cooked the engine pretty badly.
I have never seen studs pull from overheating, and given that the heads
are
not long or flat-bottomed.........
can't say I've seen 'warped' but I SURE can say you need to pay very
careful
attention to how much the other 'water retention gasket' is compressed
when
the head is bolted down.
( btw........everyone always mentions AMC heads - I have an AMC head that
only has 10K miles on it, and it is massively out of correct dimension.
Like it's a joke. The outer water gasket pinched and leaked after those
10K miles - so be careful there )
but .......all you can do is get some liquid for coolant in it to see if
it'll still run, find an external leak if there is one........fix that....
and hope you still have a viable engine.
And besides............unless the head gaskets have a known and reasonable
history - like say only 50K max on them..........
ALL used waterboxer engines need headgaskets ( and freshen up the valves
is
nice too ) ..
it's a joke system. And it sure can't work for 10 years, in most cases
anyway.
I generally use high quaility regular green anti-frz, mixed 50/50 with
decent water......and I had machinist's water solubable
oil..........'cutting oil'..........as a water pump lube and rust
inhibutor.
Been doing that to cars and Vanagons for 25+ years.....it works just great
!
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:58 AM
Subject: Re: a newbie with some problems: hissing 2.1 L WBX and thrown
belt
> The belt was the alternator and water pump drive belt. Whan it failed
the
> alternator warning light should have came on to let you know that
> soemthing
> was wrong and you need to immediatley shut the engine down and check it
> out.
>
> If you continued to run the engine without the water pump turning, then
> you
> overheated the coolant in the engine and the heads to the point that it
> boiled out probaly vilently and this sudden steam creation with all the
> oter
> physics invleved exposed your engine to what I call a trauma. You have
to
> accept that you did some damage. The head gaskets take the first hit
with
> warped heads, cases, pulled head studs and other nasties to follow.
>
> As for coolant type there is a lot of opinons. To me the most important
> thing is to avoid mixing coolant types and if you are in an area with
hard
> water, use distilled. I am taking a liking to the Zerex GO-5 and some of
> the
> long life pink coolant such as is used for Diesels. I realy have not
seen
> any problems with regular Prestone Green or the nwer univesal stuff. I
> find
> that the recomended VW Blue coolant and Dex-cool will sometimes leave
> clumping deposits. Note that the VW RED coolant is not Dex-Cool.
>
> Why folks wait until something is wrong to learn about how the warning
> lights are supposed to work is a bit beyond me. Any car can have cooling
> system and oil system failures. Knowing how the lights work and what to
do
> is extremly important. They are self testing and should be checked
> whenever
> the engine is started.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Dennis
>
>
>
>>From: Thomas Kortus <tkortus@HOTMAIL.COM>
>>Reply-To: Thomas Kortus <tkortus@HOTMAIL.COM>
>>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>Subject: a newbie with some problems: hissing 2.1 L WBX and thrown belt
>>Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:27:56 -0700
>>
>>Help!
>>
>>I just bought a 89 vanagon and i had just turned ont on my street after
a
>>5
>>hour drive only to hear a very loud hissing sound from the engine. I
>>pulled
>>over immediately and the hissing continued and eventually died out.
There
>>is coolant on the engine and a belt was off. the belt goes around the
>>pulley to the far right of the engine. the coolant tank is bone dry.
>>
>>I am completely new to vanagons and to this engine (2.1. L wbx) i had a
>>'67
>>split window for about 7 years.
>>
>>i am thinking and hoping that this is just a hose, but i don;t even know
>>what to put in this engine for coolant. or where to put it.
>>
>>any help would be very appreciated.
>>
>>also as i was coming home the fan up front was working overtime at
points
>>in the trip. i am assmuning that this fan is designed to help the
cooling
>>process is that right?
>>
>>thank you- i am looking forward to learning more about this van nd these
>>engines- i guess owning one is the best way to do this- my lessons just
>>started sonner that i thought they would.
>>
>>thanks-
>>
>>
>>thomas
>>
>>durham ,NC
>>'89 vANAGON gl Wolfsburg
>>
>>_________________________________________________________________
>>Stay in touch when you're away with Windows Live Messenger.
>>http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_mes
senger2_072008
