Date:         Tue, 26 Sep 2000 14:56:40 -0400
Reply-To:     Eric Nettles <enettles@CENTERSTAGE.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Nettles <enettles@CENTERSTAGE.ORG>
Organization: Center Stage
Subject:      Epic Journeys (Long... Frustrating)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I am also having two problems that other people have mentioned...

1) A well bled cooling system that used to never even get halfway now
rides a bit higher, is prone to overheating, and generally scary to
drive. Is it just the difference between the green stuff I used to use
and the new orange stuff?
2) Now that I've switched to the proper coolant, the coolant level
sensor doesn't register the fluid level properly.  New Sensor needed?
Just take it out and brush it off?

Keep reading for the story on how it happened ; )


A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I had just packed our 4-5 day packs
and picked up a new can of butane for the camp stove.  We were headed
off from her new place in Greensboro, NC to go backpacking in the
Smokies. Unfortunately, about fifteen miles out of town I got a coolant
warning light and when I checked found that I was experiencing
"catastrophic" head gasket failure.  SIGH!

So I filled it up with the remaining green stuff I had... (Yup, I knew
it was coming... The PO had used the stuff and the last time I changed
coolant was before I knew of this AMAZING list) and attempted to get
home.  Well, stopped one more time and added a gallon of water before
getting it home, certainly ruling out hopes of a trip to the mountains.

So, I began to take things apart, my first foray into engine work of
this kind, (having only done simpler things like water pumps and
alternators and steering racks I was a little bit nervous). I had to do
it myself, I was in NC, supposed to be on my way to FL in 5 days, and
then to drive from FL to my new address here in MD, but not a mechanic
in town would touch it.  The one guy that knew how to said that he
wouldn't do it because it cost the same and was less frustrating to put
a new engine into the car. I knew that that wasn't entirely the case
because it was also time to do things like replace hoses.  Dealership?
HahaHAhahahahaha...

Well, since I was working very intimately with Mr. Murphy, luck decided
to teach me about cylinder sleeves coming off with the heads. I called
around and around, couldn't even get anyone to put the SLEEVES back on
for me! About to have to scrap my van, I called Ken Wilford, (having
already ordered via overnight and 2day an almost complete kit of hoses)
wondering about getting a ring compressor.  The man saved the day for
me... In fact I will say that as far as my van goes, I simply wouldn't
have one today if he wasn't there that afternoon. Mr. Wilford told me to
use a hose clamp to go around the rings and tighten it down to the point
that the rings were compressed, and then use the sleeve to push the
clamp off of the back of the piston.  It worked like a charm, and
suddenly there was hope! (Actually I was having a LOT of fun getting so
far into my engine at this point)
As I scrubbed my old heads I began to find evidence of a little
cracking, and so out went an order to the busdepot, overnight of course,
for rebuilt heads. Doh, forgot to ask for the listmember discount, oh
well... But I did remember when I ordered that engine gasket kit...(2
Day Priority?) which I noticed didn't have a gasket for the oil cooler
in it, which of course was the only one from which I leaked oil... but
anyway!

Hoses, gaskets, heads arrived.  My engine looked clean enough to eat off
of.  I did not.  The girlfriend began to hate the smell of gojo... I got
more bloody and banged up (2 good scars from this job!) and the engine
went back together remarkably quickly.  Got everything on, together, and
in, and took her down to have that place I snapped the collector pipe
welded, and the guy even threw in a real tailpipe... (first time I'd
ever seen one on my van!) What a day...

But I noticed... This orange stuff doesn't seem to cool as well as the
green? And hey, the coolant level sensor doesn't seem to sense coolant
with this stuff either. (Solved that problem, shorted out the
connector... no blinky light!)
Hrm... Well.... After extensive bleeding (cooling system, the knuckles
were beginning to heal by this time) I set out for Florida... Cruised
along comfortably into South Carolina, although suffering a little from
WAY overfilled expansion and collection tanks, no real troubles.  Even
through most of South Carolina (at who knows what speed since I didn't
have a speedo cable yet) right until Hilton Head.
Looked in the rear view mirror to see lots of smoke billowing.  Pulled
into a gas station some time around 2am.  The owner of the gas station
happened to be driving by, seemed to be a little scared that there was a
vehicle spewing so much smoke from the back, right next to his gas
pumps... Told me there were fire extinguishers inside... looked
generally very concerned, as if he felt he were sitting on top of a
large bomb and I were a crazy and sleepy-eyed loon holding the
detonator.

Well, it was just coolant, Yup, that expensive orange stuff... (Good
thing I bought a whole case).   I looked underneath and lo and behold, a
heater hose had broken free of its 13 year old nylon ties, and fallen
into the drive axle, where it got caught up, tore the CV boot, and then
ruptured...(Catastrophic comes to mind again?).  Simple enough, I
thought, thinking I would just rout the remaining heater hose from the
coolant distributor on the driver's side to the collector on the
passenger side...

Until the years old plastic collector shattered in my hand... at 3am on
a saturday night. Well, it was either try to make something out of pipe
fittings from Wal-Mart or call AAA... It'd already been a long day so I
opted for the tow.  Of course 6 hours later, Bubba finally showed up
with his tow truck, for some reason with a cab full of passengers, so I
spent Sunday (my birthday) in the van with half of my worldly
possessions on top of the flatbed.. Every time Bubba whizzed by a state
trooper on our long journey to Florida, his fear was evident and I could
smell the sweat on his brow.  At least we didn't get arrested.

We arrived in Florida, Bubba charged about $150 more than the AAA stated
the cost would be, I replaced the heater hoses, and a new coolant
distributor was installed.  The system bled again, and hopefully all
would be ready for the ensuing trip to Maryland.

Of course not.  She overheated twice on the way back to Greensboro where
I picked up the other half of my worldly possessions, and when I left
there the van was only good for 30-45 minutes a hop before the bubbling
whistle of my now VERY expensive coolant pressure cooker returned.

So before I even made it into Virginia I stopped and got my radiator
cleaned out, just had the guy rod the junk out of it, he of course
charged $18 for a gallon of the red juice.  Thought all was well, but
instead the time to overheat was simply lengthened to about 45-60
minutes.  There went another couple of Franklins. Eeep. I continued
bleeding the system at every overheat, every stop for gas, and made it
into Baltimore about 14 hours late for my first day of work.  Had to go
to DC the other day for business, and it looked like everything was
going great, until traffic went from a crisp 70 in the slow lane to a
sudden standstill.  Took less than two minutes to overheat.  Fifteen
minutes later, back on the road again, but can't seem to get any more
air out of the system.

I'm at a loss.  Dunno if this still sounds like a bleeding problem and I
need to give it more RPMs or if new heads can make the engine hotter or
if its the coolant or something else entirely. I've already got $2000
into the problem, and at an $85 a week salary I can hardly afford the
minimum on the card, let alone drop a whole lot more into it.

Does anyone have any idea about this?

Thanks,
Eric

87 Wolfsburg
(Maybe unnamed is the root of my troubles?)