Date:         Thu, 31 Jul 2003 17:29:10 -0700
Reply-To:     mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Temp warning light blinking...
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Agreed, if the blinking is steady and continuous without relay '43' it
is likely the gauge. John did not give any detailed description of the
blinking. I have seen blinking and needle weirdness caused by the sender
wire being routed too close to the exhaust pipe near the thermostat
housing on a 2.1. The insulation had melted through and whenever
vibration caused the bare wire to touch the pipe the led would flash. If
it touched solidly for long enough the temp needle would rise too but
when you pulled over to the side of the road it would drop to normal and
stop blinking. Drove my friend crazy.

A few months ago I finally fixed an intermittent blinking on my sister's
82 diesel Vanagon. It was a long standing problem that was getting more
frequent. She finally came to visit so I started fixing things on her
van. The blinking problem drove me batty until I noticed that her
alternator output voltage dropped completely at certain rpms. The led
blinking seemed to be rpm related too and was worse when the headlights
were on so I looked at grounds first. Finally I replaced the alternator
and the blinking episodes ended. Too bad I couldn't look at the dash
voltage with a scope as I bet it would have shown some drops that fooled
the led circuit into thinking that the key had been turned of and back
on.

Mark

David Beierl wrote:
>
> At 04:36 PM 7/31/2003, mark drillock wrote:
> >The 82 does not have a relay '43' and the problem would have to be with
> >the gauge, or with the temp sender, or with the wiring for one of them.
>
> Except that without the [newer-type] control relay, no likely combination
> of events will result in the light blinking that does not also peg the
> gauge.  So the overwhelming likelihood is that it's the gauge -- especially
> in humid weather.  It *could* be an intermittent ground, but I doubt
> it.  Ah! -- it could be an intermittent problem with the +10v supply to the
> gauge, or the gauge ground.  I still bet it's the gauge.  Mine right now
> after a humid week blinks for quite a while until the heat from the working
> element dries out the circuit board.
>
> david
>
>