Date:         Wed, 24 Jul 2002 14:18:09 -0500
Reply-To:     Larry Alofs <lalofs@ENTERACT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Larry Alofs <lalofs@ENTERACT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Why no reverse lights?  Why is coolant light flashing? 85
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>
> Ryan,
>
> If you added straight water (or straight antifreeze), the concentration of
> antifreeze may be off enough to cause the light to blink non stop.
>
>
The above theory has been around the list for a while, but a believe
that I disproved it (at least to my own satisfaction) about a year ago.
The post with my results should be in the archives as: "Coolant
resistance thru coolant level probe" on July 27, 2001.  My conclusion
was that except for pure distilled water, any mixture of water and
antifreeze should be sensed by the probe with no problem IF its
associated circuitry is working correctly.  Since the probe is simply
two metal prongs, there is nothing that can go wrong with it; you could
clean it I suppose if it makes you feel better.  Many of use have
experienced random, unexplained flashing of the light for no good
reason, and attributed it to flaky electronics, gremlins, or angry
Vanagon gods.


> > Since I have bought the Vanagon, I have battled the blinking coolant light.
> > Everything had been fine, up till Thursday night.  When it was 92 degrees
> > out, I had two buddies in the van and most of a Scirocco (motor, both doors,
> > hatch, everything electronic, most of the interior, wheels).  So the van was
> > working a bit.  Anyway the light started blinking.  I checked the fluid
> > level yesterday and it was down a little.  I topped it off, but the light is
> > still blinking.  I didn't bleed the system (rushing to beat the rain).  But
> > is it possible the sensor in the tank is bad?


Unlikely.  See above.
  Be sure that you don't have a big bubble of air in the pressure tank
and that the refill tank isn't empty.


 The sensor in the tank
> > controls the blinking light?  The sensor in the radiator controls the temp
> > gauge.  Is this correct?

The sensor in the radiator controls only the radiator fan.  The
temperature gauge gets its info from a sensor near the thermostat.

Larry A.
91 GL  with no blinking lately