Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2011 12:48:48 -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: Overheating problem 91 2.1
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I usually never drill a hole in a vanagon t-stat.
Have not found the need to really ever.
sometimes I do that in subaru engine conversions .
I'll say this ..
'it's safer' to have a small hole drilled in the t-stat ..
might lengthen the time to fully warmed up very slightly ..
but a small hole can only help, and should not cause any problems really.
you're drilling in stainless steel, so need a pretty sharp drill bit.
1/8th an inch is too large ...smaller than that.
if wondering about your rad performance..
when well wamred up ...shoot various parts of the fin area with your IR temp
gun ..
if you find very varying temps here and there..
and the rad is 10 yrs or more old ..
I'd consider the rad ..
though at this time of year it doesn't take a lot of radiator to keep the
engine at the right temp.
warmer is better always, up to a point. I go for 195 F in the winter
sometimes...particularily on a diesel vanagon.
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: Overheating problem 91 2.1
Thanks, when the rain stops I'll get on it. Speaking of the relief
hole, the shop where I buy my parts suggest drilling one if it's not
there. What do you think?
Jim
On Sat, Mar 5, 2011 at 12:49 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> At 01:15 PM 3/5/2011, Jim Felder wrote:
>>
>> When I start the car from cold, the temperature needle climbs steadily
>> and slowly up past the middle through the 3.4 mark, no matter what.
>> Top of radiator, which spews coolant and not air when opened, is cool
>> to the touch. Thermostat? I will gamble the money and replace it next
>> week when I can get a good one.
>
> Doesn't sound like a huge gamble to me...but you can test it mostly with
> water or fully with coolant mix and a thermometer: should start to open
> around 185F/85C and be fully open (minimum 8 mm stroke) at around
> 220F/105C.
> Bentley 19.11.
>
> And as Dennis and others remind us, the correct replacement does *not*
> have
> a relief hole or check ball on the side, and *does* have a gasket on the
> edge of the moving plate. And it goes in with the spring facing down and
> the O-ring on top.
>
> Yours,
> David
>