Thanks for the reply. I'm assuming that you had boil over due to the heads cooking the coolant because the plugged radiator wasn't allowing flow. If I can't confirm exhaust gasses, I'll chalk it up to the radiator. Either way, I'm replacing it anyway. Thanks, this really helps. jamie
-----Original Message----- From: Loren Busch [mailto:starwagen@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 3:35 PM To: Jamie Foust Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com Subject: Re: [VANAGON] overheating & radiators
Jamie asked : Could you tell me some symptoms of your overheating and radiator issues. I had an '85 Westfalia. I drove it many miles over the first five or six years I had it. I was always dealing with overheating under any condition that required an efficient radiator. Climbing mountain passes was always done with the front and rear heater wide open, their fans on full. Winter driving was usually no problem, but given a high ambient temp I'd get the dreaded red light and boil over. Everyone (VW mechanics at the dealership) kept telling me "Head gaskets". But the one competent mechanic (NOT at a VW dealership) that worked on it had run a sniffer test for exhaust in the coolant and there was none. The best way to describe the whole situation is to say that the cooling system acted like it didn't have the capacity to get rid of the extra heat under heavy load. My gut had told me "Put in a new radiator" for several years but I didn't. Result: engine, after a lot of work on all the cooling system pipes, hoses, etc. popped a freeze plug! The cooling system was so tight that the steam pressure in the block got that high. At that point I had a new engine put in. As soon as it was started up it overheated. New radiator, problem was gone. I put 6550 miles on that engine, again climbing several mountain passes on a regular basis, with only minor heating problems. When the '85 was rolled and totalled the whole thing was purchased by a guy that needed the engine. It's still running as far as I know. |
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