Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:26:49 -0500
Reply-To: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject: follow up/ Engine temp observatrions
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For those of you that travel in the Wausau, Wisconsin area, I had a chance
meeting with an import mechanic named Tom Schultz as he caught my son and I
ogling at a decent 87.5 Audi Coupe GT that was for sale(fair condition and
AT, but never talked price) in his parking lot. he runs a repair shop
called For-Com Specialty, just a mile or so down the street from Marathon
Co. Park. He had a few Vanagons around and we started talking about them
as well. We wasn't aware of the Vanagon list, but then he likely doesn't
have time to do that kind of stuff. I don't have his email address and
doubt he has a website, but he does have access to a decent stash of
Vanagon parts. How do I know?
I left his shop 8 days ago and headed on to our vacation further north and
east and luckily took one of his business cards. When the aforementioned
fuel pump of mine was caught spewing gas, I called him yesterday(found his
home number in the local phone book after calling the shop) and refreshed
his memory of our conversation a week earlier and asked if he had a donor
van with a good fuel pump on it. He was in the middle of something at home
and pretty much dropped what he was doing and came down to the shop and
opened up just to sell me a used fuel pump. We didn't talk price(I wasn't
in a position to haggle), but he loves to talk VW's. He wanted $55 for the
pump which was really fair in my book and another 30 minutes of VW stories
later we were headed back to fix the ailing pump. A 180 mile round trip
that was worth the drive. The fuel pump is quiet as a mouse and Car Quest
had a new metal filter(just to be on the safe side). the PSI is back up to
the 29/36 psi specs. and we got home in fine shape. My brother in law says
that this is fairly typical of shop and junkyard owners in this part of the
country, especially with such esoteric vehicles as we drive. I'm thinking
they've all been on the receiving end of similar help in the past and are
returning the karma or whatever. I don't want to vouch for his mechanical
skills as I didn't witness that, but he did help me out this time
around. If anyone needs his number, I can dish it out by p mail.
As for the fuel pump, I'm curious as to it's failure almost to the point of
doing some serious surface prep on the plastic and aluminum and seeing if a
carefully constructed kevlar/glass and Gougeon Bros. epoxy might not put
this pump back in service as an emergency spare anyway. It's fixed a lot
stranger things that this in the past.
Another anecdote on the trip home. I had the van loaded to the gills with
kayaks and golf clubs and tools and floor jack etc. and was able to monitor
the coolant and oil temps in some strange conditions. On the way up, the
temp was near 100 degrees F and Wausau was topping out at 98 while we were
there. The coolant temp(my radiator is near toast and keeping moving is a
BIG priority) stayed in the 100-103 degree C range until mid afternoon when
it was working its way to 110. The sending unit is in that skinny hose
towards the rear of the 3/4 cylinder side and for what it's worth, 100 C on
the factory dash gauge is right at the top of the red idiot light. Oil
temp(sending unit sticks up about an inch into the sump via drain plug
hole) didn't get any higher than that 110 either which is what you'd expect
I guess. Coming home today between Madison and Dubuque it was more like 80
degrees F and I needed to downshift into 3rd to climb a long hill. I'm
either getting really deaf, having the van loaded with stuff quiets the
motor too much, or I wasn't paying attention to the gauges(especially the
tach!!), I noticed the coolant had risen to 110 C. I flipped the switch to
see what the oil temp was and it was well over 130C!! Oil pressure was
under the 10 psi/1000 rpms too. Fuel pressure was fine, but then I looked
at the tach, and I was running 5600 rpms!!!!! I probably drove it that
way for 10 or 15 miles!!! With the 4.57 r/p and .82(or whatever) that was
about 67 mph in 3rd gear. I felt really stupid and really lucky at the
same time. Not since the dyno run had that motor been worked over like
that. Thankful it was still in one piece, I checked the temps and pressure
over the next 15 miles and the oil temps eventually cooled off and the
coolant dropped back to 100 C within the following 2-3 minutes. Took a
while for the oil pressure to get back to its previous position, but it did.
This is the first time I can recall that the oil has gotten hotter than the
coolant, but it kinda was my fault. The 15/50 Mobil One worked pretty well
today too.
DM&FS
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