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Date:         Sun, 6 Jan 2002 16:56:05 -0800
Reply-To:     swamps <matthiask@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         swamps <matthiask@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject:      After 3000 mi trip: 84h2o overheating,
              grinding gears(manual trans)
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi, all!!

I wonder if anybody can help me with my loaf: I just returned a week ago from a lenghty ski trip from L.A. To Seattle, Vancouver. All went fine during my trip, knock on wood, except my coolant temp indicator would randomly start flashing and quickly rise, then suddenly stop flashing and drop back down to normal. Normal in my case means: Never past the indicator light, mostly 1/4 past zero point. I thought that was just a shorted out sensor wire. No biggie, but definitely needed fixing as soon as I got back home, keeping a firm eye on coolant level and my radiator fan operation.

Now she overheated yesterday, going uphill for about 20 min and this time she's serious, it seems. My temp gauge would rise almost all the way to the top, but the light would not start flashing. I could sense a loss in engine power, though. I pulled over right away. The weird thing was that my radiator fan would not come on(I verified the functionality of the fan and switch), the radiator wasn't even hot, and the radiator hoses weren't either. So I let her cool down, check for leaks, nada, except for a crack in the plastic connector that sits between the two hoses(not the little vent one) that clamp to the coolant reservoir. What's that for, anyway? So I go about removing the thermostat, bleed her, or try to, but my radiator still doesn't get warm, as do the hoses, and there doesn't seem to be any pressure when I pinch the hoses coming from the thermostat housing. My guesses are: water pump (I replaced this a year ago (10000mi)), or worse: something blocking the coolant passages. I can't tell for sure whether or not there's coolant returning to the coolant reservoir, but it sure spews once it gets hot. The drive belts are on tight, and so are the h2o pump pulley, too, it seems. How can I surely tell whether my h2o pump is working or not?? Disconnect some hoses and see if water spews? If my passages are blocked or corroded, possibly in the block, how would or could I at my house go about flushing it out? Anybody willing to sell me their working Vanagon. Dou, hope she didn't hear that. Also, since the overheating, I can't shift into first or reverse while idling, clutch released, off course. I can only shift into those gears with engine off. Dunno about the other gears. Can overheating smoke the synchros? I am going to do a compression test on the engine, see how that reads. I don't seem to have a gasket (head) leak either. Would love to get her running again, but don't want to spend $2000-$3000 at my mechanic for it, necessarily. I used to be a member off this list for almost a year, but had to quit due to email overload. Any help is greatly, greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Matthias


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