[Vwdiesel] cartastrophe

[mark shepherd]

It could be simply a leaking gasket. If  the engine restarts easily then it 
hasn't lost tension in the rings. I had a catastrophic water loss, from a 
sudden gasket failure which blew up the top rad hose [6" split]. I thought 
the coolant on the  wndshield was from a selfish passing 4 x 4 with super 
washers. 2miles later I pulled over because the gauge was playing up. I had 
been towing a caravan. All it needed was a new gasket and a little head skim 
for reassurance.Still running today , although I did waste a head gasket 
last year for my $22 rering!

Good luck,
Mark
 I know the plastic flanges are rubbish, they are all over the GTD, with the 
push and clip connectors as a final development, but I wonder if the top one 
was introduced to protect the rad hose from the direct head heat?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "peter blake" <pila47 at yahoo.com>
To: "diesel" <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 11:22 PM
Subject: [Vwdiesel] cartastrophe


>
>  On a long climb out of downtown LA up the Glendale Freeway I
> smelled coolant, by the time I was able to get over and off the
> freeway I had lost most of the coolant. The culprit?  A plastic
> flange on the drivers side of the cylinder head which feeds the
> heater core. It simply broke off!
>  Is it just me who wants to know why VW would use plastic in a
> situation that begs for aluminum?  I had it towed home and haven't
> assessed the damage yet. Worst case is the head gasket is blown
> and the head is warped. Which sucks because I replaced the gasket
> 30k miles ago.
>  I'm not really asking any questions just venting to the list.
> Peter
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