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June 6, 2002: Cleaning the Head
I'm not certain that I know what I'm looking for here. I can't see any clearly visible signs of coolant leakage around this old head gasket goop.
The seal seems pretty much intact around the entire periphery of the head. I see no obvious coolant residue, as I would expect to find at a point where there was leakage. |
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One thing that was very noticeable, however, was a build up of some substance on the head surface between the two combustion chambers.
It scraped off easily with a razor blade. |
Next step was to scrape off the old gasket sealant. For this, I employed a single edged safety razor.
With the sealant removed, I could see the many pits that had formed in the aluminum from the corrosive effects of the coolant over the past 18 years and 170,000 miles.
I'm going to try the JB Weld treatment. We'll see how it works out. |
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After doing this bit of work on the head itself, I went back out to the van to examine the cylinder sleeves. One of the members of the Vanagon Mailing List suggested that I look for a set of small tabs that would need to be properly aligned before the sleeves could be shoved back into the engine. Alas, I could not find anything like this, nor could I return the sleeves to their fully inserted position.
I've also been receiving recommendations on how to secure the pistons and sleeves that entail attaching things to the lower part of the assembly. I must admit, with the engine intact and in the van, I am at a loss how to get to these parts of the motor.
June 7, 2002:
Good news! I found two posts on the vanagon.com mailing list archives that describe a procedure for reinstalling pistons and sleeves without removing the engine. They both admit that it's not an easy job, but it is possible. If it saves me having to drop the engine, I'm all for it! Basically, the procedure calls for installing the front piston through the space left by removing the rear piston, then installing the rear piston and putting the final circlip in place on the wrist pin while working through the port in the water jacket just below the alternator bracket (see photo below).
While I'm at it, I'm going to try to replace the broken right stud that holds the alternator bracket in place.
I removed the remaining two coolant pipes still attached to the right side of the engine. The top one appeared to be rigidly attached to the water pump, but when I unbolted it from the right side of the engine and gave it a tug, I saw that it was merely inserted into a water pump port and sealed with an O ring. It pulled right out. The bottom one came free after I removed it from the block and loosened a small flexible coupling to which it was attached. Next step is to remove the oil filler tube so I'll have more room to work. The innermost bolt is a real bear to reach. I can get a wrench on it, but have no space to turn the wrench. I picked up a universal coupler for my 1/4 inch ratchet wrench. I'll try that along with a short extension and see if I can make something work. If I need more room to work, I may have to remove the muffler splash shield. That would be a pain, as there is a lot of stuff attached to it.
It's the weekend now, and I'm going to take a day off. I'll get back to this Monday. Stay tuned!
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