Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 23:07:34 +0000
Reply-To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Hello - Idiot oil light keeps coming on!
In-Reply-To: <4cd727bc.cefde50a.3582.ffff8b3e@mx.google.com>
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David, what's your phone number? Maybe someday this will happen at a time
that I really could stop & call.
No time soon, I'm in Morocco at the moment, don't expect to be taking
Matilda much of anywhere before the end of January.
Next time I'm near the van, though, I shall take a photo and indicate which
light I mean. It is indeed the one on the lower left that blinks for a
couple of seconds when you turn the key on, then stops. Which I should
think is indeed the overheat/low coolant light. I'm pretty sure that's the
only light that goes on when I turn the key on - but I could be all wrong
about that.
Joy
On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 10:25 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> At 05:00 PM 11/7/2010 +0000, Joy Hecht wrote:
>
>> Mine has mysteriously gone on and off for years. Assuming we're talking
>> about the same light - the one that's at around "eight o'clock" on the
>> dial
>> with the tach. The one that should come on for a second or two when you
>> turn the engine on, just to check that it's working, and then go off.
>>
>
> Joy, there are three lights, two in between the speedo and tach and one
> smack in the middle of the temp gauge. On your 2.1l (Matilda *is* a 2.1l,
> right?), when you turn the key on you should see solid red on the left (ALT)
> light, blinking red on the right (OIL) light and blinking that stops after
> 2-3 seconds on the OVERHEAT/LOW COOLANT light.
>
> I think you're talking about the third one, yes?
>
> Wait until a time when the intermittent problem surfaces and talk to me --
> It's a simple system and we can solve its problem. Seriously.
>
> Vis-a-vis the rest of your tale -- on both those occasions the lights did
> exactly what they were supposed to. The buzzer was from low oil pressure.
>
> Just because it needs to be said as often as possible -- any of those three
> lights lighting on the road should be a "stop Right Now and diagnose before
> proceeding" warning. These aluminum engines do not suffer overheating
> gladly -- and if the ALT light goes, there's a fair chance it's a broken
> belt, in which case you have no cooling.
>
> Yours,
> David
>
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