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Date:         Sat, 15 Jul 2000 20:02:32 -0500
Reply-To:     arbosch@ra.rockwell.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alan Bosch <arbosch@ra.rockwell.com>
Subject:      Cooling woes and the aborted trip to TBTT (somewhat longish...)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

In preparation for this weekends Transporters by the Tunnel, I did a little prepping and primping on old Phred. Nothing severe - change the oil and filter, drain the coolant, install a new lower-temp thermostat, install a new temp II sensor, refill, and bleed. Took the bus out for a drive Thursday afternoon and noticed the temp needle settling about half way between the LED and the top of the guage. Not to worry, I told myself, just do another bleed tomorrow. And I did. Friday came, loaded the bus with my gear and 4 year old son, and headed East for a relaxing six hour drive. Well, never made it half way - turned around in Syracuse.

About fifty or so miles in to the drive, the LED on the temp guage starts flashing and the needle shot up to just under the hot zone. Pulled over and let the bus cool down. Upon restarting, the needle went up to a needle-width over the LED and stayed there. After another thirty or so miles, the LED started to flash again and the needle shot up. With my son in the bus, I deceided I couldn't chance it and turned around and limped home, thirty miles at a time.

This morning, I went over my bleeding check list and found that I missed nothing. I started up the bus and within a minute the LED flashed it's wicked little flicker. Pulled the bus up on the ramps and crawled under. Nothing. No leaks. I then removed the protective tin around the cylinder heads and found the drivers side has some dried orange coolant residue on it. But that could be from the coolant the spilled during the change.

So here are some questions for the lists collective wisdom:

(1) What, exactly, does the flashing coolant LED mean? I've heard it means low coolant, and I've heard it means it's over heated.

(2) Presuming the worst, how does one go about establishing that the heads and/or head gaskets are shot? The presence of dried coolant - no visible leaks - can not be the only way. Never having experienced this failure - but perhaps due - I was under the impression "you'll know it when it happens". Catastrophic failure comes to mind.

(3) Having done the fill and bleed routine twice on Thursday (and three times in the past) what are the chances that I've got an air bubble in the cooling system that is causing these problems?

(4) Again, presuming the worst, do I go for gaskets and heads? Just gaskets? One side? Both? Or chuck the whole engine with 114K, and install one from Boston Engine?

(5) What else is there to check? I've been over the cooling system with a fine tooth comb and I can't figuire this out.

Any and all help appreciated. My son was so looking forward to his first camping trip. I feel terrible that I could not fix whatever's wrong so we could have gone. Please, volks, help me out here. I'm dreading the news...

Alan Bosch & a lame Phred ('88 Wolfsburg) Rochester, NY


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