Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:17:22 -0700
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: I should Have Known Better, I Brought it on Myself!
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re
so now I am
> suspecting a crack in the tank that only leaks under pressure-sound
> reasonable? Jeff
sure does.
the normal or good way to test the pressure bottle is with a cooling system
pressure tester ..
or one you make.
Pump it up to around 13 to 15 psi ...
a good tester has a gauge on it ...,..so besides looking for leaks you can
see if the system holds pressure, which it should for a good while...
and sometimes you'll see something coming out of a crack in the bottle.
Tightness of hose clamps should be checked once in a while....screw type
clamps.
sometimes there will be a slight leak under spring type hose clamps if there
is corrosion under the hose...especially hoses on aluminum hose nipples or
parts.
it does take months sometimes of fine tuning and sorting out until the whole
van is really right.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ry" <rylincoln@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: I should Have Known Better, I Brought it on Myself!
>I had a weird problem, related to this subject.
>
> Parking lot at work I usually park on a slight incline, with front of van
> higher than rear. Two days in a row I came out to find coolant had leaked
> out of the expansion tank, I discovered I had left it slightly loose and
> therefore leaky. The reason stuff flowed out so much though was that
> later
> that week I discovered I had a small hole somewhere about halfway up on
> the
> radiator. By having my expansion tank loose not much pressure could build
> up in the system to make the radiator leak much, thus I didn't notice it
> at
> first. Once I tightened up that cap it stopped leaking out the rear and
> started leaking out the front. My engine never overheated(I keep a
> watchful
> eye on all my gauges temp/oil pressure etc..) I've now replaced the
> radiator and the hoses. No more coolant leaks. :) Funny thing was that
> leaky radiator was only 4 years old... seems awful short life to me.....
>
> This most certainly NOT what happened with your van, just sharing a
> similar
> experience. Good luck with your coolant leak issue.
>
> -Ry
> http://www.google.com/profiles/rylincoln
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 5:03 AM, J Stewart <fonman4277@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> So Sunday I take the family shopping in the '85, which I've owned now for
>> 4
>> months. On the way into town I look down a t the odometer and realize
>> I've
>> driven this Vanagon more than any other I've owned, I've already put 2K
>> miles on it, and my other two I barely put 3K a year on. So I start
>> thinking
>> about how it's been pretty reliable (I know, one should never think about
>> such things) So I drop the wife and daughter off at Kohls and head to
>> another store a couple of miles away. When I come back out, I find a good
>> size puddle (OK, maybe 3/4 of a cup) of coolant on the ground under the
>> van.
>> I start hoping that maybe it was from the car parked there before me, but
>> soon realize thats wishful thinking. Pop the engine cover off to find
>> coolant dripping from under the expansion tank. The top of the tank is
>> dry,
>> as are the two hose connections into it, but the bottom of the tank is
>> wet.
>> I head back over to pick up the wife and daughter and we head for home.
>> The
>> temp gauge never rose above normal. Once home I thoroughly clean the
>> engine
>> compartment around the tank. Can't find anything wrong but suspect a
>> crack
>> in the bottom of the tank. The van has been sitting in the same spot
>> since
>> Sunday afternoon and has not leaked a drop of coolant, so now I am
>> suspecting a crack in the tank that only leaks under pressure-sound
>> reasonable? Jeff
>>
>>
>>
>> Jeff Stewart
>>
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