Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 15:26:23 -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: Spooked!
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=response
Hey John..
sounds like you're still mobile and not too worried at the moment.
with that oil and those miles, you 'should' be all right, I'd think.
and re
"The needle normally rides halfway between the bottom mark and the warning
light in the center."
I would say your van has been running too cool all along perhaps.
I'd put in a new 80C t-stat, which should/could put your needle to just left
of the LED.
I don't even consider just to the right of the LED to be running too hot .or
'overheating' ...but in higher ambient temps that's nerve-wracking some of
course.
What I do ...
just did this today ..I'm driving a 'looks new' ...cleanest 29 year old
diesel vanagon I've ever seen ..
sunroof model too, new freshly rebuilt engine ..
It's been running a few days after sitting 3 years, most of that indoors
too ..
it's going up to 70 % on the gauge .
I'm running the heater and fan and all that and it helps..
and it has a brand new german 87C t-stat in it , and I just bled the
radiator ..
so I whip out my IR temp gun ..
and ...it's only about 175F at the cyl head hot water outlet ..
like actually very normal temp.
I'm changing the temp gauge sensor.
so maybe ...you've been running too cool all this time when temp load is low
..
and it's still not running that extremely hot when it is on the LED or
slightly to the right.
I am now regarding t-stats as a wear item. They just don't work like they
once did after say ...5 years.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2011 6:27 AM
Subject: Re: Spooked!
> A bit more as followup on this subject. - I drove my '88GL to my art
> show as planned. No problems. OAT coming home was 97F plus. Traffic was
> trudging along at about 40-45 mph, and I watched the temp gauge like a
> hawk. Half way home the temp guage was showing a very slow rise. The
> needle normally rides halfway between the bottom mark and the warning
> light in the center. It was now at the bottom edge of the light. Slowly
> the needle continued to move towards Hot. When the bottom edge of the
> needle touched the top edge of the light, I set the heater lever to full
> hot and turned the blower on hi-speed. In a little bit the needle was
> back down one needle width below the coolant warning light. It stayed
> there the rest of the way home. It got mighty hot IN the van, but I
> never got the low pressure warning horn nor the warning light.
>
> I'm going ot keep my eye on this situation. I've been using Mann and
> Mahle oil filters and Mobil one 15W50 for 10 years in this van. Has
> 120,000 or so miles on the engine since rebuild. Never had the oil light
> problem and warning horn this way before. Only happened once when a belt
> broke and knocked the wire of the pressure switch at the pulley end of
> the engine.
>
> John
>
> John Rodgers
> Clayartist and Moldmaker
> 88'GL VW Bus Driver
> Chelsea, AL
> Http://www.moldhaus.com
>
>
> On 6/3/2011 7:28 PM, John Rodgers wrote:
>> While driving my manual tranny 88GL home this afternoon the oil
>> pressure alarm sounded and the oil pressure light came on. I killed the
>> ignition immediately, noted all the gages seemed normal, and being very
>> close to my house just coasted on down the street, around the corner,
>> and halfway up my up-slope driveway and stopped. All the while I'm
>> thinking "Omigosh! What now?" ( I have an important art show to
>> participate in on Sat. and have to set up by 6 am -- this is not good!)
>>
>> After getting stopped, I sat for a moment, the turned the ignition on.
>> All the lights did their normal thing. I hit the switch, the engine
>> started right up, oil pressure light went out. I noted no strange
>> sounds, and the oil pressure alarm did not sound. I drove the remaining
>> 100 feet up the hill to the house - all was normal.
>>
>> Today was extraordinarily hot - 100 plus degrees, driving was slow
>> coming off the highway home, and even though the temp gauge needle was
>> in the middle, nothing seemed wrong. I did note that at very slow speeds
>> the fan kept coming on frequently. I was poking along about 30 mph when
>> the alarm sounded and the oil pressure light came on.
>>
>> I opened the hatch, and noted the engine seemed really hot. The heat
>> just came boiling out. I looked for oil leaking, coolant leaking, etc,
>> but found nothing. Oil dip stick measures halfway between the marks, and
>> the coolant level is up. I checked the rear oil pressure switch, and the
>> wiring connector, but it was tight.
>>
>> I let the van sit a while with the hatch open to cool the engine, then
>> started it up. After Idling a minute, I revved the engine up to 3000. I
>> ran perfect. No lights, no alarms. I have tried several times now, but
>> cannot reproduce the event. Of course the circumstances have changed as
>> the atmosphere is cooling down.
>>
>> Anybody have any ideas? Can the engine oil get so hot under normal
>> driving conditions as to cause low oil pressure. Surely that is not a
>> good thing. But how can I avoid that in the common daily summer weather
>> here in the South. I'm afraid this event might repeat itself at a
>> tremendously inopportune time - as such events usually do.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>> --
>> John Rodgers
>> Clayartist and Moldmaker
>> 88'GL VW Bus Driver
>> Chelsea, AL
>> Http://www.moldhaus.com
>>
>>
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