Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:30:11 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: coolant light / temp sensor - need advice please!
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First thing that occurs to me is, aside from any level sensing issues......
your van is running much too cold.
It's very, very important it run up to temp ..........that's halfway up the
guage.
I'd say your thermostat is not doing it's job, a new one is in order. A new
German one.
Get the hotter one , 87 degrees C, I think they are.
thoght # 2 - it's not a float system that senses level in the pressure
coolant bottle.
It's just two prongs that stick into the coolant. And electronic circuit
'sees' what the level sensor is telling it.
thought # 3 ........they're not expensive, the level sensor, and not hard to
change. It's very little effort to see if a new one helps the situation.
That may not be it, but considering the ease and low cost ( and being sure
it's full of a proper 50/50 antifreeze/water mix. ) it's worth replacing to
see it
helps the situation.
I've never had to replalce the control unit for this system.........but
it's a plug-in device on the fuse box that looks like a relay .
For example, on page 97,102 of the Bently manual, for 87 Vanagon.......it
shows Relay # 3 is 'coolant level control unit.'
And as I've said, I've never had a bad one, but I'm sure they can fail.
You might say the year of your van......
as 83 to 84, 85, and 86 and above are each slightly different in various
ways.
a temprory 'fix' trick.......not recommending this, but sometimes to take
the level sensor itself out of the picture I have jumpered the two wires at
the level sensor with a resistor ..........if the rest of the circuit is
working, that will keep the LED from flashing due to it thinking the coolant
level is low .....not saying you should do this......it's could useful
information until a proper fix can be done.
I'd sure get that running temperature up where it belongs though !! VERY
important.
I find the temp guages of vanagons, the guage itself, to be very consistent
and reliable , but you should/could check your actual running temp on the
main hoses of the engine with an infrred temp gun, it's basically imperative
that you have one of those for trouble shooting. You'd like to see nice
warm temps of at least 170 F on the main coolant hoses.
'warmer is better' cooler is not.'
heck, I run a 195 degree F thermostat in winter often.
The ideal guage reading to me is what I call 55 % on the guage......for
winter........just to the right of the LED. Wamer is better.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joy Hecht" <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2008 8:57 AM
Subject: coolant light / temp sensor - need advice please!
> Hi folks,
>
> I think my coolant / temp sensor may be going, but I'm not sure, wanted
> your
> opinion.
>
> The blinking red light behind the temp needle has been going on when it
> shouldn't. Sometimes when I turn on the engine, it goes on to show that
> it
> works, and then goes off - all as it should be. But sometimes when I turn
> on the engine it turns on and then doesn't go off. If I turn the engine
> off
> and back on, it will behave properly - go on and then go off. or go on an
> stay on perhaps 60 seconds and then go off.
>
> So last night - of course after dark, in the cold and snow and ice - I'm
> driving with my aged mother from NYC to upstate. An hour from my
> sister's,
> in a small town with everything closed, on Christmas no less, the light
> comes on. I pulled over, jumped out, checked all the fluids. Lots of
> coolant (which I'd also checked before we started driving), lots of oil
> (which I'd checked when filling the tank a few hours earlier). The needle
> was maybe a quarter of the way up from cold, which is where it generally
> is
> when I'm driving. No signs of anything wrong. So I started driving
> again.
> Turn engine on, light comes on, goes off as it should. Five minutes later
> it comes back on. I did the rest of the drive really slowly with the
> light
> blinking the whole time, and the needle never above 1/4 of the way from
> cold.
>
> So this morning I decided to drive to Trumansburg (six miles) and get some
> oil and stuff. Turn on the engine, light comes on and goes off as it
> should. Drive half way and the light comes back on. Needle down near
> cold. I get to town, run into my sister's neighbors who are vanagon
> folks.
> (So's my brother-in-law, but he's an air cooled type.) They look at the
> wires connected to the float in the coolant reservoir - they all look
> fine.
> Plenty of coolant in there, plenty of oil.
>
> So I talked to the guy in the FLAPS while stocking up on oil (unrelated,
> Matilda drinks oil). He said that when the sensor is breaking it goes
> gradually, can come on and off erratically - it isn't all or nothing. Is
> that true, in your expert opinions?
>
> Then I drive back to my sister's. Turn the engine on, light comes on and
> goes off. And it didn't come back on at all. Needle still down near
> cold.
>
> What do you all think? Does this sound like the sensor needing
> replacement? Or something more disastrous? If I watch the needle like a
> hawk, can I take my aging and not-so-healthy mom back to NYC and then get
> it
> fixed when I'm back in NJ?
>
> And why do things like this always happen when it's Christmas, or
> Thanksgiving, or something like that?????
>
>
>
>
> Joy
> and Matilda, who doesn't like blinking all the time
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