Date:         Wed, 2 Oct 2002 09:27:46 -0400
Reply-To:     David Brodbeck <gull@CYBERSPACE.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Brodbeck <gull@CYBERSPACE.ORG>
Subject:      Re: On the Vanagon Cooling System
Comments: To: Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <74.23f80a7b.2acbe4c3@aol.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

On Wed, 2 Oct 2002, Frank Grunthaner wrote:

> Among those threads that triggered a negative response on my part were
> several that addressed the apparently accepted wisdom of the marginal
> capacity of the vanagon cooling system.

I thought this until I realized I had a cracked head.  Then I realized the
cooling system was doing its darndest to keep a hopelessly wounded engine
from cooking itself, and had actually succeeded for over 200 miles of
mountainous terrain before finally vapor-locking.  I have a bit more
respect for it, now. ;)  (Though I'm a bit suspicious of my radiator fan
switches -- neither the high nor low speed kicked in.  On the diesel those
are mounted high, though, and it's possible they were in a gas pocket.)

> Of course, at 87 C, the hot spots in the block are probably
> well above 170 C!

Small quibble -- just because the thermostat is stamped '87 C' doesn't
mean that's where the engine will run.  It starts to open at 87 C, but
isn't fully open until 100 C.  The actual running temperature seems to end
up somewhere in the middle, from what I've seen, but I can't say anything
definative because I don't know how far to trust the calibration on my
temperature gauge.

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
 / _` | | | | | |  +-----------------------------------------------------
| (_| | |_| | | | @ cyberspace.org
 \__, |\__,_|_|_| "There is something ironic when the developers name
 |___/             housing development after what they bulldozed to build
                   it, but I think you have to allow some latitude in
                   naming, so that not every street is called "Suburban
                   Drive." -- Jan Wolter