2.1 water jacket seals crack repetitively

[DanHoug]

hi Mark-
good to hear from you. i read thru your thread with interest because i've always wondered if the Elring or the VR gasket sets were better. and now it sounds like one needs some parts from each set! i did an engine in 2017 but had used VR gaskets with a Sabo crankshaft seal.

did you ever hear from anyone else with the split rubber Elring seal?
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-dan

'87 Westy, ratty but drive anywhere.
'89 Westy, gorgeous but not ready

Past projects can be found at--
thefixitworkshop.com

[tencentlife]

Mostly I used VR gasket sets but at times only Elring was available. The Elring jacket seals had a different texture and were a bit stiffer rubber but there was nothing wrong with them, I built at least 20 with those and never had any leakage problems. But a bad run of parts is always a possibility.

I will say the Elring flywheel seal is the flimsiest of all the ones I have checked out. Never used that or the VR purple ones in the gasket sets anyway, it was only Sabo or the VR orange silicone ones, they are both of superior construction. I did a review of these here awhile back. If anyone wants a stack of about 70 or 80 purple Reinz ones, I can let you have them cheep!
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[ALIKA T3]

Thanks for chiming in Mark!

as for the crankshaft seal, VR was never good on the rear main seal for the WBX, Go Westy mentioned it for years too. Sabo made in Brazil ( VW) is the brand to use in this location.
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[mark-hans]

thank you for the advise on rear crank seals. I'll follow that up tomorrow.

Mark
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Mark, Amsterdam.

[SlalomVan]

Just experienced the exact same thing with Elring water jacket seals.

See my other post here:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9984453#9984453
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[DanHoug]

uff ta. those cracks make me sick. i was thinking you had a clearance issue but those cracks scream poor material quality after only 5k miles. would they have cracked similarly prior to install? dunno but might be a possible fore-warning if we 'bend test' new seals. i suspect all would pass initially, that this is a heat issue with poor materials that shows up after baking a while.
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-dan

'87 Westy, ratty but drive anywhere.
'89 Westy, gorgeous but not ready

Past projects can be found at--
thefixitworkshop.com

[xflyer]

The question I have about the gaskets is: Do they have a manufacture date on the package? Last time I did Vanagon head gaskets was about 1 1/2 yrs ago and I don't recall if there was a date on the packaging. The gasket sets were Victor Reinz. Still working fine with near 10 K miles. One of the reasons I wondered about the date of manufacture is that after I got out of full time working on vehicles, I worked at an aircraft company. All plastic, rubber, and silicone seals/gaskets for aircraft (at least in the USA) have a manufacture date and in some cases a use by date. So even if it sits in climate controlled storage in a sealed package, many seals are not to be used after a certain time. Otherwise they may quickly look like the photos the others posted.
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[DanHoug]

no dates that i've been able to find.
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-dan

'87 Westy, ratty but drive anywhere.
'89 Westy, gorgeous but not ready

Past projects can be found at--
thefixitworkshop.com

[xflyer]

Oh well. I have seen dates on some cooling system hoses and fuel hose. There's probably a manufacture code, but you would need a key to read it.
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1989 Campmobile, 1984 7 passenger beater Vanagon
Both with cool A/C

[IdahoDoug]

Never seen s date, either. Someone smart once mentioned to buy rubber parts from a high volume source, even if you pay more. Avoids a part that sat on a shelf for years...
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[mark-hans]

Good Morning from Amsterdam. I got a nudge in my Inbox saying this subject of cracked head seals was still alive! To my knowledge there are no date stamps on the major gasket makers for the wbx. Namely VR or Elring. We had a bad batch of Jacket Seals some years back with a whole lot cracking as in your photographs... Elring refused to accept responsibility. Anyway, 3 Engines were affected, EXACTLY as the photographs here. I've come to the endless conclusion that it's a question of luck!...... bad luck. I would advise using the rubber sealant that VR supplies, as I find this very stable. Maybe it's an idea NOT to use too much and whatever is instructed, I use sealant on both sides of the cylinder seal, a very small amount on the lower and 0.5mm on the upper. When the heads are bolted down into position (50Nm), there should be a tiny beed squeezed out, then you know you've done well. Don't use too much as this can cause distortion of the rubber seal. Good Luck..... and maybe stay away from obviously NOS Gasket Sets!......
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Mark, Amsterdam.

[xflyer]

Thanks for the info from Europe Mark. We've been dealing with WBX head seals for 35 yrs. When the first leaker came in, 1984, a little examination of the parts revealed what was happening. It was clear that the major problem was the coolant getting between the rubber gasket and the head. Then the aluminum would corrode, expand and break the seal. Of course any overheating situation will pinch and break the seals. So our cure, which turned out to match VWs later service bulletin, was to use silicone sealer on the rubber gasket to prevent the coolant from getting in there. We used what, in the USA, is called Ultra silicone or Oxygen Sensor Safe sealer. That has worked well. It was some yrs before Victor Reinz started including the sealer in their kits. On a few occasions the sealer in the gasket kits had hardened lumps in it and was unusable, too old. That was another item that had discard dates on it in the aircraft industry; silicone sealers. Some of them had a procedure where you get a certain amount out of the tube and if there were no hard lumps in it the discard date could be extended.
Funny that I used to worry about buying a new tube of sealer for the head gasket job, but $10 is nothing compared to the whole job and chance of failure.
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1989 Campmobile, 1984 7 passenger beater Vanagon
Both with cool A/C