Date:         Tue, 4 May 2004 12:02:53 -0400
Reply-To:     rdawson@UOGUELPH.CA
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ryan Dawson <rdawson@UOGUELPH.CA>
Subject:      Battery and Cooling Questions
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hey everyone,

I just bought an '84 Westy and drove her back from Long Island, NY, to Toronto,
Ontario.  She ran fine the whole way home, but after sitting in the driveway
overnight the battery was dead.  I made sure that the fridge was not set on the
battery setting and that all the interior lights were off as well as the
radio.  The one thing that I thought might have done it was that the fan switch
for the front was left on the "1" setting.  Does the fan run when the van isn't
running?  Any thoughts on my battery mistery?

Also, I'm a little confused as to how the cooling system works with the
reservoir and the expansion tank.  We had one little problem with the
temperature running high when the tank behind the license plate was full (way
over the "max" line) and the tank further to the left was virtually empty.  Any
thoughts?

One more thing, the engine temperature was consistent the whole way home, but a
little hot for my liking.  It was approx. 2-3 needle widths above the LED I
think.  What is a normal running temperature and what can I do to bring the
temperature down?  I thought of trying a radiator fan? or an external oil
cooler?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Ryan