Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:26:50 -0500
Reply-To: "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Gauge too high ...
mike:
doubt this would work on the 1.9 l, but i'm pretty sure the analogous
trick would be to unbolt the upper thermostat housing from the block.
anyway, your suggestion revived my interest in replacing that thermostat.
how vw could have made replacing the thermostat such a chore is beyond me.
the electrical resistance between the upper thermostat housing and block
is high on this engine, 800 ohms last time i checked, which suggests that
the bolts are corroded and may not be so trivial to remove in one piece.
therefore, i use a special bonding wire from the block to the lower
thermostat housing, which then grounds the upper housing via two attaching
bolts, which in turn grounds the threads of the temperature gauge sending
unit.
dan
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:53:11 -0800, Mike Miller <mwmiller@CWNET.COM> wrote:
>I don't know if the cases are different but I have a 2.1 case in my '85
with
>all the 1.9 bits. I managed to change the thermostat without dropping the
>exhaust by taking off the bolts holding the water pump on and moving the
>pump out [that's towards the driver's side of the van] enough so that the
>thermostat clears the exhaust pipes below it. Worked OK.
>
>Mike
>
>On 1/12/05 1:23 AM, "Daniel L. Katz" <katzd54@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>> al:
>>
>> with engine optimized for 87 C thermostat, the 80 C unit would reduce
fuel
>> economy, increase emissions, and limit heat available inside, especially
>> in bitter cold weather. i think lower temp thermostat might be helpful
in
>> extremely hot weather, especially off road or for really high speed
>> driving, or to compensate for another problem, but is not necessary for
>> most applications.
>>
>> the thermostat on our '84 1.9 l evidently failed open, which was lucky,
>> because without lowering the exaust pipes on this particular van, it is
>> impossible to remove the lower thermostat housing. believe me, i've
spent
>> hours jiggling, and it is impossible. the van runs great, but a little
>> cool in our mild w oregon winters. we more or less have a rule against
>> driving it in sub-freezing weather anyway, which allows me to leave well
>> enough alone, and also run 20W50 dino oil year round.
>>
>> incidently, i had a thermostat fail closed in another car last week, and
>> it was tedius driving 1/2 mi, letting the engine cool off, then another
>> 1/2 mi, and so on, a few miles across town, with, conveniently, napa the
>> last stop before home. i think the thermostat gave a little warning the
>> day before, but it was ambiguous because i had had the coolant drained,
>> and just refilled the system after several days and therefore wasn't too
>> surprised by the car running a little hotter than usual, maybe purging
>> some trapped air in a short drive around the neighborhood. curious as to
>> whether anyone has had experience with a line of beck arnley
thermostats,
>> which are engineered to fail open.
>>
>> dan
>>
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