Club 80-90 Forums

Hi there, been around the site for years, but first post!
Here goes, been checking round the van as we plan a few long drives into Europe in summer, it's also my daily drive. Amongst various niggles noticed the most concerning at the moment is the Tinyest drip coming from one corner of the right hand head rubber head gasket. Van is a 1986 1.9 Dg. Van runs pretty well.

I'm interested in people's thoughts really, options in my mind are

1 do nothing and monitor leak to see how it progresses, if still good by summer risk a long journey into Europe!

2 drop engine, try to replace gaskets, probably get into a world of trouble, end up needin recon engine££££

3 recon engine£££££

any thoughts or experiences would be welcomed regards Nick

I'd go for option 2, as the recon engine is 20% cheaper than option 3!

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My seals both leaked for approx 3 years. Not saying that that's your time scale, but might help you choose. I don't think they ever catastrophic fail, it's more of a gradual death . Then maybe a big failure. Don't hold me to it though!

leaking seals = air getting in when they get worse, this means rusted head studs which means you may not be able to fit xit yourself.

It's not hard with basic skills, attention to detail , clenliness and methodical thinking, if you don't have these maybe option 3

If you are inclined to do it yourself then I'd wait until the summer camping season is over and do it as a winter project, lots of help on here and some rebuild threads to get inspiration.
just make sure the tank in the engine bay ( not the number plate tank) is always full, leaks mean it may not suck replacement coolant back from the numberplate tank ( hence air getting sucked in)

of course the studs could already be rusted, maybe 50% of the engines I have stripped have broken a stud.

Aye, been here, twice

The only trouble with a DIY job is that the consequences of something going wrong or you making a mistake can be expensive and demoralising.
Like, spending all that time and money, putting the motor back in, only to find a major problem. I've had this and it wasn't me who did the work on the motor the first time, it was someone who was supposed to know what they were doing. I ended up buying a used motor of a VW breaker guy on here (Billy739). That turned out ok for 10 years.

The next time it happened I bought another used motor from someone I didn't know. It turned out OK after a bit of messing about.

If this were I, and it happened again, I think I would run it, keeping an eye open for problems with air locks, and obviously closely watching coolant levels.
I would put a can of K-Seal (no other make) in it now, I know it's a bodge, but it kept mine going, curing the leak for a year. Then I would, when it gets too bad, think about a re-con. Ask Andrew ("ajsimmo" of Campershack ) above ^^^ for a price on a repaired motor / reconned motor.

Mines been leaking for last 3 years. Only does it when it cools down. I just top up accordingly.

I had the same problem with mine many years ago and bodged it for a couple of years before going down the recon route. I slapped some flexible heat resistant epoxy resin on the offending area. I forgot what it was but it was acquired after a lengthy conversation with a manufacturer who supply resins for the aviation industry. Each application held out for about 2,000km, after which I cleaned it off & re-applied. Did the trick pretty well before I could afford a recon engine - (and that's another story!!)

I have had a couple of surprisingly good and long lasting experiences on non t25’s with K seal ,as recommended by Ghost.
Suspected cracked head - leaking radiator.
Worth a try I would say . I guess you need 2 bottles for the coolant capacity of a t25 and I think you would want to flush and renew the coolant first if it is near to the end of its life .

I always got the impression from reading various posts, that using K Seal on these engines was a bit of a no no.

I think its the copper content. Seems to work ok (sort of) with metal cylinder head gaskets on other vehicles but its a right mess to remove when you come to strip the engine. Still, if it gets you out of trouble, perhaps it doesn't matter.

Yes, that's the point ^^^
if it gets you out of trouble for a year or more, you're quids in.

Also agree that, whilst it's not designed for fixing rubber head to case seals, experience has shown that it does, for a while anyway.

Just, when you eventually sort it out properly, give the cooling system a flush.

It's not cheap though, but don't be tempted by the cheaper stuff, it doesn't work in the same way. The K-Seal is worth the money if it gives you a year (or more) motoring.

Thank you one and all for you responses/experiences, sounds like I'm in good company with a slight leak in the water jacket gasket!
Fingers crossed the leak is tiny at the moment (not dripping to the ground) so i think I'll probably just monitor the leak and coolant level for the time being until the hand is/will be forced to do something.

Just spent most of weekend welding up the alternator bracket, which was in 4 pieces, and I'll be replacing metal water pipe from water pump to thermostat and the radiator this weekend. She's a good old girl tho had her 6 years and had 35k miles of reasonably trouble free motoring and haven't been left at the side of the road ......yet

Many thanks everyone hopefully speak/contribute soon. Nick

I had a leak at the front right of the engine and thought nasty things about head gaskets! In the end it was a slight leak on the pipe from the choke housing. It was not visible when the engine was hot because it evaporated away. Some of it dropped onto the cylinder underneath and ran around the head gasket. Only visible underneath the engine when cold and on the floor. Before doing anything drastic tighten up the hose clips on the choke?

Good advice Trundletruc

You never know, it might be summat as simple as that.