Club 80-90 Forums

So coming back from the Forest of Dean on Monday the van started letting out white smoke and losing drive, so pulled over on the M4 and got her recovered back to Bath.
After calling the local specialist it seems it’s probably the head gasket gone. He can’t fit me in till at least January
To be honest I’m not sure if I have the time and motivation to get it done so thinking of selling as is…any thoughts?
It’s a really tidy 1984 Autosleeper Trident 1.9DG which I’ve owned and looked after for over 10 years. Excellent condition inside and very original….bit of seem rash on the outside but nothing serious.
MOTD till end of March, currently on Carat wheels with decent van rated tyres, big bumpers, newish leisure battery etc.
Maybe I’ll regret it but in two minds about what to do, and not sure what it would be worth as is?

Plus fitted VW Speedshop stainless exhaust

Not really such a thing as a head gasket on a Waterboxer, theres the water jacket seals between the heads and the crank case and seals within the head on top and bottom of the cylinders. The job can be done with the engine in the van still. You'd get a lot more for the van with a working engine if you were to sell it.

Cheers yes should have said water jacket. It’s just getting someone to do it and getting it there etc

Is it worth having a crack at it yourself, of course it depends on facilities and tools but there is a lot of good advice and guidance on this forum. 

As soon as I see those words “ local specialists " I cringe …..
specialists in what ?
wbx ? Mostly they never are ……

if it’s water jackets , it’ll be easy to see, without starting the engine , pour coolant in. The header tank , ( this is assuming it’s empty ) and it will be dropping out the bottom within a couple of hours normally .

the trick is to dry everything first , because white smoke / steam and loosing power could just be a pipe given way , or it could be a head bolt snapped , or it could be the jackets …. Using your own eyes under it might just save you a fortune .
sadly many of these places just want to swap engines rather than work on them these days , or just don’t want to do anything to them .

 

First of all, you say suspected failure of the water jacket. Your specialist has not actually viewed engine. So it could be a blown waterpipe or such like and not the death of the engine. White smoke could be steam. Did the recovery company diagnose same?
Google for a local classic VW specialist that is willing to view vehicle. The Dub Shop for instance is near Bristol.
Besides, January is not that for off.
You will regret selling once spring arrives.

Cheers guys yes I’ve contacted a couple of VW specialists in the area just waiting for them to get back to me. I’ll try and have a better look at the header tank tomorrow too. It’s just that it’s not even on my drive and I’ll need to get it towed wherever it goes!
The recovery guy was great but as it was such a busy section of the M4 he was instructed just to get me home.

Buy a towing bar for little money and easy to drag about then. Then your be able to take it to the garage yourself


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