too much of a good thing?

[Greg Smith]

Hello all. As some of you know I've been spending the
last several weeks (or is it months now?) up to my
ears in a 1986 VW Quantum Syncro. Was hoping to finish
up this weekend and have ran into yet another snag and
was hoping someone here could provide some insight. On
the back of the head there is a metal water pipe the
eventually leads to the heater core. VAG refers to it
as an adapter. Due to the previous owner(s) propensity
to use green coolant, the original one was quite
rotten. Syncros and 4000's both use the same part
#(034 121 143 B) and thankfully VAG has significantly
upgraded this particular part. (At $48 each, they
certainly should have!) The problem is they seem to
also have upgraded the rubber O-ring (N 900 351 03) to
the point that the adapter cannot be properly sealed.
The original O-ring was tiny compared to this one and
seemed to actually ride inside the head. This new one
is so thick there is no way to insert it and the
attachment flange only has one bolt. If one tries to
install this contraption like it appears it should be,
O-ring around the pipe-outside the head, the entire
assembly begins to tilt as the one bolt is tightened
up, negating any possibility of a seal.

Sorry to be so long winded. Has anyone else ran across
this kind of problem? Should I look for a smaller
O-ring or should I just glom on a bunch of Permatex
and hope for the best? (Doesn't sound very appealing
and I doubt very much it would work.)

Thanks for listening and sorry again for this long
ramble,

Greg

86 QSW "the money pit"



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