Date:         Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:34:31 -0400
Reply-To:     Wade Shen <swade@UMIACS.UMD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Wade Shen <swade@UMIACS.UMD.EDU>
Subject:      Overheating problem
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Fellow Romans,

Thanks for your very informative responses to my previous clutch related
inquiry.  They were all very helpful.

Unfortunately, I come before you today with an even more disturbing problem.
My '85 Westy seems to run REALLY hot in stop and go traffic - like close to
the upper line.  The rest of the time it's close to 2/3, just left of the
LED.  I suspected that the radiator fan wasn't functioning properly, but I
and my mechanic both notice that it cycles when the thermoswitch(es) close
the circuit.  To make thing even stranger, idling in the driveway, the temp
gauge never seems to go beyond the 2/3-3/4 mark, and the fan cycles on and
off.

I've never let her boil over, but the temp never seems to get lower in
traffic, so I pull over before anything happens.  I'm  a relatively new
owner, and we live here in the Washington, DC heat (upper 80's lower 90's
all summer) ,so maybe I'm just paranoid?  The mechanic can't reproduce this
problem, but he hasn't driven it for more than 15 minutes.

wade

PS, the coolant LED hasn't turned on.