[Vwdiesel] cartastrophe

[peter blake]

Mark,
  Good question about the radiator hose, I don't know if that was a 
consideration or not. I'm not even convinced that the hose would see
less heat because of the plastic. As far as just replacing the head
gasket, I think I'm ok. It does start easily and runs good so my 
plan now is to just put in a gasket and go.  I did have a head gasket
failure on this engine 25,000 miles ago and skimmed the head at that
time.  This time it is just going back on as is.  I follow some of 
your posts on the other forums, you always have something interesting
to say.
Peter

--- On Tue, 11/29/11, mark shepherd <mark at shepher.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:

> From: mark shepherd <mark at shepher.fsnet.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] cartastrophe
> To: "vw fans" <Vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 1:21 PM
> 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Vwdiesel mailing list
> > Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> > http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> > 
> 
> 
> 
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