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Tue Feb 04, 2025 11:05 am

Nitramrebrab72 wrote: What weight/viscosity of oil did you put in the engine when you refitted it?

I ask this as you have recently had the coldest nights this century in Scotland and an inappropriate oil in these conditions can increase oil pressure expedentially, combined with elastomer seal shrinkage and hardening in extreme cold could of been enough to allow some oil to temporarily blow past an internal oil seal or sealing point.

Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:34 pm

Thanks guys for reply can't believe how helpful and knowledgeable u all are .
Just to clarify
I only did 50 miles in van when I brought it home after purchase.
Exhaust studs snapped so engine out , full cooling system stripped from back to front correct orange / pink coolant removed befor3 engine removed no signs of any debris or oil at any point and no residue in either tanks at that time.

Did remove coolant from both tanks today to near bottom of tanks ,filled clear bottle let it sit no residue at top and no sediment at bottom .
There shows a dirty ring about an inch into main tank but that was when I ran it just below top of main tank at no time was red light on .

Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:36 pm

There should small bubbles in one picture of bottl3 but i dropped it just before picture .

Tue Feb 04, 2025 1:39 pm

That looks more encouraging to me.

As others have said, clean any residue and run it awhile. If no new crud shows up — or at least not in the same quantity as before — you may have dodged a bullet and I hope so!!!

Stay on it and keep us informed. You’re the type of owner we like to help.

Wed Feb 05, 2025 7:56 am

Matt dooey wrote:

looks like the remains Subaru Coolant Conditioner in the pressure tank!! that sealer can also form a "bathtub ring" in the top of the tank and can be very black from contaminants from rubber hoses, oxidation, etc and LOOKS oily.

Wed Feb 05, 2025 8:10 am

Ingenious thought right there! :shock:

I’ve never seen that with the Subaru product myself, but it sure makes sense even if from a cheap, tablet-style sealer.

Hmmm……….

New coolant waste aside, Kammy’s idea of flush and new coolant seems the right next move.

Tue Feb 18, 2025 3:33 pm

Evening all or good afternoon depending on where u are .
Emptied both tanks removed and washed out .
Removed, old coolant and put in clear plastic containers, no gunk no sediment nothing floating on top crystal clear .
Refilled system same process as before with exact same results .
Held revs up header level dropped and cointinued to bleed raditor did this couple of times t9 couldn't get and more coolant in .
Van ran didn't over heat fan went hot then back to cold same as before .
Header tank dropped about 30mm and resoivour was fill to near top .
Let it cool, to next day but didn't draw coolant back into header tank .
Removed coolant from resoivour and filled header tank again , so header tank full to top and resoivuer filled to max but left with about half litre of coolant so still air in there.
Iv never had hot air from heater without revs held up once warm ,
Do I still have air in there renewed everything?

Tue Feb 18, 2025 4:00 pm

Get the kit to test of combustion gases in your coolant.

Tue Feb 18, 2025 11:32 pm

Will get one order3d and post my findings

Wed Feb 19, 2025 2:56 am

Nitramrebrab72 wrote:

How old was the cooling liquid? I ask this cause you have had the coldest nights this century in scotland recently.

There is always a reason a fault comes up . It is easy to go around changing parts before finding the fault. Without determining the cause of the fault you can waste time and money either changing the part only for it to beak again as you havn't determined the cause or changing the wrong part.
Good rule to stick to is determine both cause and fault.
Before wasting time and money .

Ex .. Low brake fluid. You just don't add more brake fluid determine if there is a leak if so fix the leak first or check if it is just warn brake pads.

So I ask again how old was the cooling liquid you just wasted your time changing?
Cause you have had the coldest nights this century up there and if it was old you might have your culprit. Take some of the old liquid and put it in a bottle with the screw top super glued on marked poisonous and put it in the freezer overnight and see what happens. If it freezes you have found the cause and from there look for the fault.

Wed Feb 19, 2025 12:36 pm

Please read first post this will explain history of my problem

Wed Feb 26, 2025 12:40 pm

Evening all did leak test and went yellow straight away got problem.
Did compressiontest as well
Two cylinders 165
One 150
One 115
One of my lifters is drained down so don't know if this will affect readings .
What are my options , haven't had a night in the van since purchase been working on and around engine , and have stripp3d inside and redoing that .
Had engine out due to all exhaust studs snapping so would image head bolts will be a problem .
Don't want to spend any more on engine at the moment as iv did my funds in

Wed Feb 26, 2025 1:24 pm

Matt dooey wrote: Please read first post this will explain history of my problem

The one where you wrote this:

"No oil in water beforehand have noticed small oil deposit at header tank and resoivuer"

If so I did.

So as you wrote

'no oil in water beforehand'

then you had the coldest nights this century,
and then you wrote this

'noticed small oil deposit at header tank and resevoire'

There is no oil cooler so how does oil get into the water so quickly from zero oil to oily deposits on first start up for a while??. Not through the head gasket as there are no oil passages there .It is only connected the combustion chamber which is sealed off by the piston rings from oily parts of the engine (any minute residue is burnt by the combustion and so woudn't suddenly appear)
Only way to have both exhaust leak into coolant and rapid apparition of oil in coolant is through a cracked cylinder wall. Most likely to be the cylinder wall on the cylinder with 115 compression as only a crack on the cylinder wall will test positive for both exhaust gasses and rapid oil ingression.

Wed Feb 26, 2025 2:11 pm

It's always difficult to know what's going on in any case, especially when the vehicle is in another country with possible different configurations of parts. Unfortunately, I agree with what others have mentioned, this seems like a head gasket/fire ring problem. This is very common on water boxer engines and usually is caused by overheating: loss of coolant due to large leaks, blocked exhaust, failed thermostat (not opening), contaminated cooling system (inside and or outside), ignition timing way off and or fuel air mix way off.
Symptoms of the fire ring leak are: motor runs fine at lower speeds/short trips, but coolant is forced out when driven on longer trips, up hills, and any other time the engine temp is at or above normal operating level.
The only fix for this is to remove the engine and the heads, replace the head gaskets. The gaskets come in a kit with all the necessary pieces. If you do not have the workshop (Bentley) manual, get one. It has a section on replacing the head gaskets. Any short cuts in the procedure will lead to poor results.
Oily coolant can happen from internal leaks (not the head gaskets) or possible contamination from additives. I've seen people put in all sorts of things that do not belong in a liquid cooling system for who knows what reason. One of those is "soluble oil", which is used in some machining operations to make the cutting tools last longer. It has no benefit in a vehicle cooling system and will likely ruin the rubber hoses.
Make sure if the cooing system is opened/drained to bleed the air out. The VW factory method can work, but is time consuming and often messy.
Try this:

Also, and I await the flamethrowers, most any antifreeze will work in the Vanagon water boxer, IF the system is clean and the proper mix (percentage) is there with distilled or purified water.