Date:         Sat, 9 Aug 2008 23:16:56 -0400
Reply-To:     Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Limited high coolant temps
Comments: To: kayakjr@COMCAST.NET
In-Reply-To:  <081020080248.8489.489E5712000E24E20000212922120592149D06050E970E05@comcast.net> (John Reynolds's message
              of "Sun\, 10 Aug 2008 02\:48\:50 +0000")
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

John Reynolds <kayakjr@COMCAST.NET> writes:

> I've experienced high coolant temps occasionally - like 3/4 gauge
> readings.  At highway speeds, the needle is just to the right of the
> LED, or bit more.  If the van is allowed to idle too long, or see
> slow city speeds, I'll see the 3/4 reading, but then it seems that
> it takes forever for the temp to return to it's normal condition.

I'm not sure this is unusual.  As long as the motor does not overheat,
some variation over the "normal" range on the gauge is not a cause for
alarm.

When you're in slow traffic, or idling, you have two things that will
contribute to higher temperatures: the vehicle is not moving so you
don't have as much air flow over the radiator, and also the water pump
is not moving as much water at slow engine speeds.

I'm still pretty new to Vanagons; it seems like a lot of folks worry
about the temperature, but in my experience with other cars, as long
as you're not getting up into the "warning" end of the gauge, i.e. not
actually overheating, then you really don't need to worry about some
variation within the "normal" range on the gauge.

Allan
--
1991 Vanagon GL