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Date:         Sat, 10 Jun 2000 22:53:52 -0400
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject:      Re: Cooling System Weirdness
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

What a coincidence!! Last weekend, my brother, a PharmDoc (!), and I took my new Westy to Mt. Airy, NC, for its shakedown cruise with the new tranny. The temp on Thursday, when we went down, was about 90-95 degrees, but the van performed beautifully. Well, okay, we were frying without A/C, but the engine didn't overheat. My brother designed and built a canopy using PVC pipe (Sched 40) and UV filtering tarp. It had 8 legs, so we dubbed it the "Spiderdome"! Had one helluva storm on Saturday and everything fared well . . . the camper didn't leak and the spider didn't run away, so I suggested we write a song about our adventure called "Westy and the Spiderdome".

On the way back Sunday evening, with the outside temp at about 70, the coolant level red light came on and started blinking. Having heard (okay, read) the horror stories here about blown engines, I pulled over immediately and started checking everything. Temp needle was at about one-third, heat was about normal given there's no working fan, engine didn't feel very hot, and the reservoir was on Max.

After I turned the engine back on, the light stopped blinking . . . until we got a couple miles down the road. This time I pull into a gas station and start flipping through the manual. This is the part where I find out about the coolant expansion tank, inside and to the left of the coolant reservoir, where the coolant level sensor is. Aha! The level is at minimum! Of course!! Problem is, how did it get there?

I carefully pulled the small hose that connects the reservoir to the expansion tank . . . no pressure and nothing leaks out . . . so far, so good. I start to loosen the cap on the expansion tank when all of a sudden there's a hissing sound and the expansion tank fills rapidly! I tighten the cap and replace the reservoir hose and drive home with no further incident. What is going on here? It seems that the expansion tank built up enough pressure to prevent any further coolant coming in from the reservoir, but what caused the pressure buildup to begin with? Is this a symptom of a cooling system that needs to be burped?

I'm looking forward to finding an answer to this one. It had me a little nervous there for a while . . .

BTW, the coolant in this bad boy is green. I wonder just how much damage the PO (and me) has already done to the 8K engine? Needless to say, flushing the cooling system is high on my list of things to do to my Westy, along with getting A/C and fixing the fan and getting the propane fill valve rebuilt ($25 + Freight (COD) from Manchester Tank) and replacing the stereo and front speakers (left front doesn't work . . . sound familiar?) and a few other cosmetic things . . . I guess some of us just thrive on projects . . .

Marc Perdue '87 Westy, as yet unnamed . . .

John Rodgers wrote:

> I have the dread flashing red LED syndrome.....you know...the one in the > temperature indicator gage on the instrument panel. You knoww....the > coolant level sensor indicator light.. > > I was tooling down Interstate 65 heading South from Birmingham, AL to > attend a party in honor my neice who received her PhD in Pharmacology > this Friday past. > > All of a sudden I realize the red light is blinking....startled me! Then > I realized the temperature needle was only 1/2 needle width off the > "Cold!" peg. And this on a day of temperatures in the '90's. Spooked me. > I turned on the heat to see if I was getting water up front and I got > plenty of heat. As a matter of fact the needle moved towards an even > colder setting. > > I have a pretty good understanding of how the system is supposed to > work, but I never saw this before. That light blinking really worries > me. The sensor is relatively new as is the coolant. Coolant is topped > up, and no apparent air bubbles. > > My engine blew up on me last fall, and because of the type of failure, I > am really gun-shy about overheating., low oil, lean mixture conditions, > etc. > > Anyone on the list have any clues? Would appreciate hearing from you. > > BTW, I also learned the hard way last year that if you are going in a > fairly tight right hand turn for a time, as in on an entry or exit ramp, > and you get a white smoke behind you.......#3 cylinder is likely about > to fail. Have a compression check. > > Thanks, > > John Rodgers > "88 GL Driver


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