Date:         Sun, 7 May 2000 18:11:27 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve Schwenk <steve@SYNCRO.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Schwenk <steve@SYNCRO.ORG>
Subject:      Overheated, now what?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On my testing run over the mountains and
to the desert, my water pump belt self
destructed...apparently from a rock that
got kiced up since it was only 1 year
old.  I was heading up-hill with tight
turns and big drop off, so i did not
notice the light until the gauge had
reached close to the upper limits.  By
the time I shut it down, the water was
boiling inside the engine.  I was about
50 miles from the nearest town or gas
station.  Yes, i had a spare belt and
coolant with me.

The van ran fine afterward and all the
way home (another 400 miles), adn ran
cool as ever.  there has been no coolant
leakage.

My question is what damage might have
been done?  What got weakened?  I've
heard that there are some plastic
coolant pipes that go into the engine
that VW later replaced with metal. Is
this true?  Perhaps I should replace
them?  Ron or Ken, if you're listening,
can you get me these?

I was so proud of my syncro on that
trip.  It handled beautifully.  My
comftorable cruising speed on the ditrt
roads was quite fast.  I passed a few
macho-looking SUVs on the dirt like they
were standing still.  they would not
pull over to let me by, so i blew by
them, i felt like i was racing dirt
bikes again.  I could tell from watching
their wheels that the ride was a bit
rougher for them than me, too.  I did
hit a good sized rock at about 40 mph,
but the front diff gaurd took the hit
fine, with only a small dent.

As for power, I like my wasserboxer
better every year.  When I first got it,
I wanted to put in a biger engine.  Not
any more.  It is a bit underpowered, but
the power band is great, the torque is
good, the opposed twin cruises like a
BMW motorcycle, and with 100,000 miles,
it is still going stong with no oil
consumption.  Hope my overheating did
not do any damage.  Doesn't VW make a
gaurd for thge belts for syncros to
prevent rocks from getting in there?
steve