[Vwdiesel] Quantum questions?

[William J Toensing]

I am still satisfied with my Quantum but there is one big issue I suspected when I bought it. Loss of coolant & overheating. The left side of the engine bay shows signs of overheating. The owner also left two gallon jugs of water & while taking the car on a longer test run it started to overheat, so I added water & the temperature came down. However, today, I had to add more water & then pressure tested it up to 17# & no water leaked out. When it starts up, there is no puff of white smoke indicative of a head gasket leak & the engine runs fine, nice & quiet. It handles nicely & I consider this car a keeper. I hear some air leaking from what appears to be from my pressure tester. The plastic container where water is added was replaced with another as the old one was cracked & came with the car. The last owner said the car "overheated once for his wife". I suspect he tried to correct the coolant loss problem, couldn't find it, & gave up on the car. What is the best way of determining whether the head gasket is allowing water to be sucked into the engine? Could the water pump leak when it heats up but not leak with a pressure test? There is no signs of oil leaking into the cooling system. I had that problem with some other diesels I have owned so know the sign.
Next: The clear coat is pealing off the hood & roof. Some of it I can chip away with my finger. The dark blue paint under it appears good. Is there any way I can remove the clear coat & salvage the paint under it?
The car has some rear end collision damage which I think I can fix myself. Will need a new left rear Quantum tail light. Haven't checked the local Sacramento junk yards yet.Don't know how hard a replacement will be to find. The prior owner stuck on a Toyota tail light lens, just to make it legal. This type of fix is not the way I like to do things. He did not fix the A/C & said he just drove it in the winter. I think he was using this car as a "winter beater" & did not give it the care it disserves.