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Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives?
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:33 am    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

man that's a BIG easy out..
and I'm glad you managed to get the pipe out.
but I wanted to slip in here an FYI
they make an "Internal pipe Wrench" you can buy at your local big box hardware store. or online..

https://www.toolexperts.com/pipe-wrenches-internal-general-tools-139.html

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borninabus
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

termuehlen wrote:
I'm curious, were you able to replace the o-ring without disconnecting the coolant hoses on the oil cooler and draining the coolant? Or did you drain the coolant and service some of the coolant hoses while you were at it anyway?

if you completely remove the pipe, then yes, you can replace the o-ring without disconnecting any hoses or losing any coolant.
also, i would say the water jacket reseal is fairly easy to do with the engine in situ. i would NOT recommend trying to do a complete top end (p&c) job with the engine in Wink
i have performed both these tasks without issue. YMMV Smile
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westofcenter
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:42 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

termuehlen wrote:
I'm curious, were you able to replace the o-ring without disconnecting the coolant hoses on the oil cooler and draining the coolant? Or did you drain the coolant and service some of the coolant hoses while you were at it anyway?


Yes, just remove oil filter, the 27mm nut, and then reverse that pipe out.
Clean any gook on the services and put the new o-ring in place.

No disconnect or loss of coolant. (unless you pull too hard on your hoses)
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westofcenter
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

danfromsyr wrote:
man that's a BIG easy out..
and I'm glad you managed to get the pipe out.
but I wanted to slip in here an FYI
they make an "Internal pipe Wrench" you can buy at your local big box hardware store. or online..

https://www.toolexperts.com/pipe-wrenches-internal-general-tools-139.html

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Yah, i looked a that one in Lowes 1/2" i think? but it was too small. I'm glad I went BIG because that pipe was reeeally in there good.
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dhaavers
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

FWIW, any standard, reasonably-sized ham-fisted pipe a/k/a "monkey" wrench is
all you really need to remove the OC "pipe" (nipple, actually), with no concern
for broken/jammed internal wrenches & associated potential complications... Rolling Eyes

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Just move the OC down the pipe away from the block, get the wrench in behind
it on the middle part of the pipe & you're almost done before you begin... Cool

- Dave
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markswagen
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:12 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

It's not a big ordeal, I've done the job on two different vans in the last 6 months.
I have another booked to do in mid April.
Never say never Smile


djkeev wrote:
Bobbyblack is a better man than I...... I would NEVER do heads without pulling the engine..... well maybe I would if I were on a trip and stuck in a campground...... but I'd use the Subaru stuff and keep driving..... (I carry some 😂 )

It is far Far FAR easier to do this task when you can easily access everything.

Heads done in the car...... no thank you very much.

Dave

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westofcenter
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives Reply with quote

So I finally changed my water jacket seals... with engine in. Everything was running and 2 days later the same side jacket is completely split / blown out.

Could something else be causing too much pressure to cause failure? I'm pretty sure I tightened to correct torque 37 is lbs.
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danfromsyr
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:34 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

I assume you replaced the sealing ring on the top of the cylinders to cylinder head.

maybe a bad coolant bottle pressure cap? though the system shouldn't really get up to dangerous pressures if working properly.

did you replace the thermostat? is it running hot/overheating then?
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westofcenter
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Yes, I replaced the green o-ring and metal gaskets on top. I didn't replace the bottom black o-ring from what I read rarely goes bad...

Yes, it was running hot before and after I replaced the head gaskets and assumed it was just needing bleeding. I have replaced the thermostat and radiator to start. When taking temperature readings on thermostat and water tank, around 180-200 F

It did boil over once when i had just plain water in the system with cap off.? Could that have blasted out the seal?

Starting to really appreciate my air-cooled...
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:51 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Oy Vey,

Sorry to hear this has happened, for sure! The boil over with just water and no cap on would suggest that it had not built up dangerous pressure.

I think it a good point made to look at the thermostat. Get it out, put it in water on a stove, and heat it. When it gets warm, it should open up, for sure before boiling. Other issues that could cause that same floppy gasket to blow could be too little torque when assembling, or having somehow gotten the water passages clogged somewhere. It would be good to know that your lines forward to radiator and back are flowing, you should use a garden hose and some kind of adapter/plug to run a good bit of water through to flush it, and KNOW its flowing okay.

Also as suggested, if it were the cap, there must be a way to test that. I don't have a direct know-how on that, but when I used a bit of pressurized air blast into the system and it blew back a bit of fluids until whatever 13ish #'s it seemed rated at. But, that was with a system that held pressure, not with the big floppy having blown.

Again, sorry to hear of this distress, hope you get the gumption to try again, after sorting the T-stat and other lines (even the heater ones)

I guess it could be the water pump too.

Hope things turn out better soon!

-bobby
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Westofcenter, did you use a click type torque wrench or a beam torque wrench? this is an instance where you want a beam torque wrench to apply a steady torque until it doesn't turn, I have also found cheap torque wrenches to be rather inaccurate which could lead to under torqued heads.
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westofcenter
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 7:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Yes it was a cheap HF torque wrench but I also checked it with a old school craftsman non click. I bought the gasket seal kit from busdepot, could that be crap? Anyways I just about have it all apart one more time and will post pics. It literally looks split. Could I have over torqued?
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:49 am    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Just to give some closure here... I did replace the water gasket again with a nicer one from Autohausaz.com The gasket seemed much stiffer with nicer rubber. Knock on wood, after a couple hundred miles, no coolant leak at all.

So my theory is that i nicked a corner putting it in or something.

For the cooling issues, i replaced the thermostat, temp sending sensor, and radiator. This also seems to have resolved the overheating issues, if it even had any. Temp gauge sits around 2/3 most of the time. Will climb a little more in traffic.

Hope this is the end of this Vanagon story.
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:58 am    Post subject: Re: Bad head gaskets, then all oil came out! What gives? Reply with quote

Glad you got it resolved and that you worked on this stuff yourself.
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