Date:         Wed, 30 Jul 2003 20:22:48 -0700
Reply-To:     Steve W <croatoa@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve W <croatoa@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: MINOR? COOLANT CATASTROPHE HELP NEEDED
In-Reply-To:  <3F28794D.7050307@flatblack.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Chris,
Pray first.  ;)  Water is fine for very short
periods.  I'd fill it with water and see if it
runs good.  Check your oil to make sure no
coolant got in there and if it did don't go
anywhere.  Make sure there is enough
water/coolant in it before you go though.  If I'm
wrong someone will yell at me.  ;)
Steve
--- Chris ALmida <chris@FLATBLACK.NET> wrote:

---------------------------------

Well the wife calledabout twohours ago to
announce that she was stranded in our 84 Westy
and therewascoolant everywhere.  I found her high
on a mountain road near our housewithcoolant
dripping from the open slider door.  So I
proceeded to liftthe rear seat and take the cover
off of the rear heater.

Sure enough theconnections wherethe hoses and the
heater come together were covered in coolant crud
andtherewas a large puddle under the heater.  I
had done a coolant flush overthispast weekend and
installed a tee near the front of the Westy
betweenthe two heaters;luckily there was already
a splice there with a knobbed connector
whichIreplaced with the tee.  So I took said
connector disconnected the hosesfrom the heater
and connected them together. This allowed me to
startup the Westy, turn it around and then coast
it all the way down the hill (5 miles)the
tempgauge was buried to the right and the coolant
level light was flashingso I ranthe engine as
little as possible from the bottom of the hill to
a gasstationabout half a mile up the road.  It
now sits parked in front of thestation.



 Myquestion is what best to do next? Should I
just fill it with straight coolant still?  Can I
run it withtheheater by passed until I sort out
what part failed and replace it?(Connectingtwo
straight hoses with a plastic straight connector
creates a slightkink inthe hose)  Should I risk
limping it home after it cools (maybe
twomilesmostly flat a little gradual rise)?  Can
I just top it off till it#8217;stheright level
again or should I now re flush it again to make
sure I getpropermixture? What about mixing
coolant types?  Ifilled it with the sierra brand
but live ina small town and can#8217;t get any
more until tomorrow when I head out tothe
bigcity. The gas station where it is parked sells
a brand that is safe foraluminum engines but uses
EG instead of PG.



Sorry for all thequestions but Idon#8217;t want
to make a bad situation worse and am a little
paranoid aboutblowingthe heads or something.



=====
Steve
croatoa@yahoo.com

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