Date:         Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:33:39 -0400
Reply-To:     "T.M." <tinkerman007@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "T.M." <tinkerman007@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Caution! (was: Coolant problems)
Comments: To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>

Please note that that "crack" in the sensor might be TERMINAL to your
motor!
I had my motor go south once. Post-mortem analysis revealed that it had a
serious overheating situation. The cause was a water leak in the oil
cooler, and during the night all water dripped away so when I drove the
van the next day it had a major meltdown after 15 minutes.
And why didn't the coolant level warning system warn me?
Because the sensor had a crack, causing coolant to ooze out slowly and
dampen the wiring, so that even if there was no coolant the system thought
there was...:=(
And the dash temp meter did't indicate a problem either, because the
sensor was measuring AIR temperature (the thermostat housing, where it is
installed, was drained too...).
Lousy engineering from those Germans IMO.
Solution?
Put a temp sensor on the motor head, like in the air cooled.
With a LOUD buzzer...:-)