Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2009 13:39:05 -0400
Reply-To: mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: What Should I See On the Temperature Gage?
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Loren, the 2nd one you describe is how I'd want it to behave (and how
mine behaves now that I've corrected several things, including new
radiator, new temperature switch on the radiator, new temperature sender
on the thermostat housing). Mine is '01 camper 2.1L engine, 4 speed
manual transmission, and it behaved in part like the 2nd one you
describe (except mine got too hot, needle rising to near the top of the
"normal" range when climbing or even when in hot summer temperatures
(over 100 F).
Wow, what a big engine you have (21.L). Speedy?
Dave Mc
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 11:58 AM, Loren Busch wrote:
> Okay, I've posed this question before in a slightly different form but
> here
> goes again.
> I'll describe the appearance/behavior of the temperature gage on two
> different vehicles, both running 21.L WBX w/automatic tranny, both
> with the
> GL dash (small temp gage under the tach)
> First vehicle the needle of the temp gage rises slowly when starting
> from
> cold, never gets up to the LED, stays just below in normal outside
> temps.
> When climbing steep mountain passes the needle will climb up to the
> LED and
> at just above the LED the fan will come on. But when going down the
> other
> side of such a pass the needle drops way down almost to or sometimes
> against
> the bottom mark on the gage. Normal running at highway speeds in the
> flat
> the needle will be about half way up to the LED, maybe a little
> higher.
> Second vehicle the gage, from a cold start, quickly runs up to about
> the
> center of the LED and stays there. Rises a little to the top of the
> LED
> when climbing a mountain pass, fan may come on if the needle gets to
> the top
> of the LED. But running down the other side of the pass needle stays
> up at
> the LED, never drops down to the bottom like the first vehicle. And
> needle
> stays centered on the LED when running at highway speeds on the flat.
> I'm assuming that the second is correct and the first has a thermostat
> that
> is sticking open or at least passing more coolant to the radiator than
> it
> should. And that the second is the way I'd expect: Thermostat
> opening and
> closing based on the temperature of the coolant and keeping the engine
> at a
> constant operating temperature.
> So, which is normal? Which is 'right'?
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