Date:         Fri, 1 Mar 2002 23:02:01 -0800
Reply-To:     Joseph Tu <joetoo2@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joseph Tu <joetoo2@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Cooling System Surprise
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Was driving home today and first the red light on for the coolant level,
then the needle rose to the highest I've ever seen it, almost to the 3/4
line! As I pull into the driveway steam starts billowing out of the right
side. This is so strange, the van was running fine for a while. Open up the
engine hatch, look in, nothing in that area visibly leaking, must of popped
on one the hoses on the right side that lead up to the radiator as that is
where all the fluid came out. The main tank was almost empty, expansion dry,
I opened up the main, and let the pressure off. Filled the tank up with some
water, started it up, watched the coolant return flow, nothing strange
looking about it, blue as can be, so no oil in there, thats a good sign. But
what I want to know is what caused the rise in temp so fast! I was sitting
at a stop light and the red light went on, then the needle slowly rose up,
just made it home before who knows what else could of happened! The heads on
the engine were recently done less than 15K miles ago so I don't think they
are the problem. I did notice a leak from the thermostat housing a while
back, but then it mysteriously disappeared. I just topped off the expansion
tank a few times and it went away. Did the hose fail before or after the
heat went up is what I want to know, how can I figure that out. It's not
gushing out, more like streaming from "undetermined" area ahead of the
plastic distribution block thingamajig (it was nighttime and all I had was
flashlight). So did the hose fail then overheat or overheat then hose fail?
I like my van, but I hate it when it breaks down like this!

Joe
90 2.1L with a few modifications