Date:         Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:03:03 -0500
Reply-To:     Andrew Philbrick <herrschildkrote@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Andrew Philbrick <herrschildkrote@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Coolant level sensor
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hey Volks,

I'm trying to determine if I need to replace my coolant level sensor or the
entire expansion tank.  Here are the symptoms.

'86 GL (Westy) with the 2.1 motor.  We just got back from a 3200 total mile
trip with no problems.  However, I noticed during the trip that if the
coolant temp was above halfway and I honked the horn, the coolant level/temp
LED would flash.  I checked the coolant level frequently and never lost
coolant so I assumed this was caused by an electrical gremlin.

Then today, I noticed the Vanagon is leaking some coolant from the seal
between the expansion tank and coolant level sensor.  So my question is - do
I need to replace the level sensor, both the sensor and the expansion tank,
or could I just get away with putting some high temp sealant around the
treads of my current sender to stop the leak.  I'm not sure what caused the
LED to go off when honking the horn but if that is a sign of the sensor
going out, I'd appreciate knowing.

PS - I would have checked this against the archives but apparently I cannot
access them today.  Are they down?

Andrew